This caption includes liabilities for various items including non-current compensation and benefits, deferred income, interest on tax liabilities, accrued participation and residuals, environmental remediation, asset retirement obligations, derivative instruments, product warranties and a variety of sundry items.
Accruals for non-current compensation and benefits amounted to $17,214 million and $13,856 million for year-end 2006 and 2005, respectively. These amounts include postretirement benefits, international and supplemental pension benefits, and other compensation and benefit accruals such as deferred incentive compensation. The increase in 2006 reflected our adoption of SFAS 158, Employers’ Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans, as of December 31, 2006.
We are involved in numerous remediation actions to clean up hazardous wastes as required by federal and state laws. Liabilities for remediation costs at each site are based on our best estimate of undiscounted future costs, excluding possible insurance recoveries. When there appears to be a range of possible costs with equal likelihood, liabilities are based on the low end of such range. Uncertainties about the status of laws, regulations, technology and information related to individual sites make it difficult to develop a meaningful estimate of the reasonably possible aggregate environmental remediation exposure. However, even in the unlikely event that remediation costs amounted to the high end of the range of costs for each site, the resulting additional liability would not be material to our financial position, results of operations or liquidity.
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