Minimum percentage of taxable income to be distributed

  
  
2.    SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued)  
Income taxes  
We are organized and operate as a REIT pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). Under the Code, a REIT that distributes at least 90% of its REIT taxable income to its stockholders annually (excluding net capital gains) and meets certain other conditions is not subject to federal income tax on its distributed taxable income, but could be subject to certain federal, foreign, state, and local taxes. We distribute 100% of our taxable income annually; therefore, a provision for federal income taxes is not required. In addition to our REIT returns, we file federal, foreign, state, and local tax returns for our subsidiaries. We file with jurisdictions located in the U.S., Canada, China, and other international locations. Our tax returns are subject to routine examination in various jurisdictions for the 2016 through 2021 calendar years.  
Employee and non-employee share-based payments  
We have implemented an entity-wide accounting policy to account for forfeitures of share-based awards granted to employees and non-employees when they occur. As a result of this policy, we recognize expense on share-based awards with time-based vesting conditions without reductions for an estimate of forfeitures. This accounting policy only applies to service condition awards. For performance condition awards, we continue to assess the probability that such conditions will be achieved. Expenses related to forfeited awards are reversed as forfeitures occur. All nonforfeitable dividends paid on share-based payment awards are initially classified in retained earnings and reclassified to compensation cost only if forfeitures of the underlying awards occur. Our employee and non-employee share-based awards are measured at fair value on the grant date and recognized over the recipient’s required service period.  
Forward equity sales agreements  
We account for our forward equity sales agreements in accordance with the accounting guidance governing financial instruments and derivatives. As of September 30, 2022, none of our forward equity sales agreements were deemed to be liabilities as they did not embody obligations to repurchase our shares, nor did they embody obligations to issue a variable number of shares for which the monetary value was predominantly fixed, varied with something other than the fair value of our shares, or varied inversely in relation to our shares. We also evaluated whether the agreements met the derivatives and hedging guidance scope exception to be accounted for as equity instruments and concluded that the agreements can be classified as equity contracts based on the following assessment: (i) none of the agreements’ exercise contingencies were based on observable markets or indices besides those related to the market for our own stock price and operations; and (ii) none of the settlement provisions precluded the agreements from being indexed to our own stock.  
Issuer and guarantor subsidiaries of guaranteed securities  
Generally, a parent entity must provide separate subsidiary issuer or guarantor financial statements, unless it qualifies for disclosure exceptions. A parent entity may be eligible for disclosure exceptions if it meets the following criteria:  
•The subsidiary issuer or guarantor is a consolidated subsidiary of the parent company, and•The subsidiary issues a registered security that is:•Issued jointly and severally with the parent company, or•Fully and unconditionally guaranteed by the parent company.  
A parent entity that meets the above criteria may instead present summarized financial information (“alternative disclosures”) either within the consolidated financial statements or within the “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations” section in Item 2. We evaluated the criteria and determined that we are eligible for the disclosure exceptions, which allow us to provide alternative disclosures. We present alternative disclosures within the “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations” section in Item 2.  
Distributions from equity method investments  
We use the “nature of the distribution” approach to determine the classification within our consolidated statements of cash flows of cash distributions received from equity method investments, including our unconsolidated real estate joint ventures and equity method non-real estate investments. Under this approach, distributions are classified based on the nature of the underlying activity that generated the cash distributions. If we lack the information necessary to apply this approach in the future, we will be required to apply the “cumulative earnings” approach as an accounting change on a retrospective basis. Under the cumulative earnings approach, distributions up to the amount of cumulative equity in earnings recognized are classified as cash inflows from operating activities, and those in excess of that amount are classified as cash inflows from investing activities.  
Restricted cash  
We present cash and cash equivalents separately from restricted cash within our consolidated balance sheets. We include restricted cash with cash and cash equivalents when reconciling the beginning-of-period and end-of-period total amounts shown in the consolidated statements of cash flows. We provide a reconciliation between the balance sheets and statements of cash flows, as required when the balance includes more than one line item for cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash. We also provide a disclosure of the nature of the restrictions related to material restricted cash balances.  
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