Beginning of period contract liability recorded as customer contract revenue during period

AT&T INC.SEPTEMBER 30, 2022  
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (UNAUDITED) - ContinuedDollars in millions except per share amounts  
  
Our contract assets primarily relate to our wireless businesses. Promotional equipment sales where we offer handset credits, which are allocated between equipment and service in proportion to their standalone selling prices, when customers commit to a specified service period result in additional contract assets recognized. These contract assets will amortize over the service contract period, resulting in lower future service revenue.   
When consideration is received in advance of the delivery of goods or services, a contract liability is recorded. Reductions in the contract liability will be recorded as we satisfy the performance obligations. The following table presents contract assets and liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets:

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|   | September 30, |  | December 31, |
| Consolidated Balance Sheets | 2022 |  | 2021 |
| Contract asset | $ | 5,047  |  |  | $ | 4,389  |  |
|    Current portion in “Prepaid and other current assets” | 2,827  |  |  | 2,582  |  |
| Contract liability | 3,938  |  |  | 4,133  |  |
|    Current portion in “Advanced billings and customer deposits” | 3,597  |  |  | 3,766  |  |

  
Our contract asset balances for the quarter ended September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021 reflect increased promotional equipment sales in our wireless business. We expect the amortization of these promotional costs to increase throughout 2022 and the contract asset to flatten in 2023.  
Our beginning of period contract liability recorded as customer contract revenue during 2022 was $3,527.  Remaining Performance ObligationsRemaining performance obligations primarily relate to our Communications segment and represent services we are required to provide to customers under bundled or discounted arrangements, which are satisfied as services are provided over the contract term. In determining the transaction price allocated, we do not include non-recurring charges and estimates for usage, nor do we consider arrangements with an original expected duration of less than one year, which are primarily prepaid wireless and residential internet agreements. Remaining performance obligations associated with business contracts reflect recurring charges billed, adjusted to reflect estimates for sales incentives and revenue adjustments. Performance obligations associated with wireless contracts are estimated using a portfolio approach in which we review all relevant promotional activities, calculating the remaining performance obligation using the average service component for the portfolio and the average device price. As of September 30, 2022, the aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to remaining performance obligations was $34,309, of which we expect to recognize approximately 70% by the end of 2023, with the balance recognized thereafter. NOTE 6. PENSION AND POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS Many of our employees are covered by one of our noncontributory pension plans. We also provide certain medical, dental, life insurance and death benefits to certain retired employees under various plans and accrue actuarially determined postretirement benefit costs. Our objective in funding these plans, in combination with the standards of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), is to accumulate assets sufficient to provide benefits described in the plans to employees upon their retirement. We do not have significant funding requirements in 2022. We recognize actuarial gains and losses on pension and postretirement plan assets in our consolidated results as a component of “Other income (expense) – net” at our annual measurement date of December 31, unless earlier remeasurements are required. Total distributions from the pension plan exceeded the threshold of service and interest costs for 2022, requiring us to follow settlement accounting and remeasure our pension benefit plan assets and obligations at each quarter-end in 2022. These remeasurements resulted in the recognition of an actuarial gain of $216 in the third quarter and $2,573 for the first nine months of 2022. Similar to 2022, in 2021, we were required to follow settlement accounting and remeasure our pension benefit plan assets and obligations at each quarter end.  
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