Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation (Policies) |
3 Months Ended |
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Mar. 31, 2026 | |
| Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract] | |
| Nature of Operations | S&P Global Inc. (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “S&P Global,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”) is a global, diversified, and highly differentiated provider of benchmarks, data, analytics and workflow solutions in the global capital, energy and commodity, and automotive markets. Our operations consist of five reportable segments: S&P Global Market Intelligence (“Market Intelligence”), S&P Global Ratings (“Ratings”), S&P Global Energy (“Energy”), S&P Global Mobility (“Mobility”) and S&P Dow Jones Indices (“Indices”). •Market Intelligence is a global provider of multi-asset-class data and analytics integrated with purpose-built workflow solutions. •Ratings is an independent provider of credit ratings, research, and analytics. •Energy is a leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the energy and commodity markets. •Mobility is a leading provider of solutions serving the full automotive value chain including vehicle manufacturers (Original Equipment Manufacturers or OEMs), automotive suppliers, mobility service providers, retailers, consumers, and finance and insurance companies. •Indices is a global index provider maintaining a wide variety of valuation and index benchmarks for investment advisors, wealth managers and institutional investors. On April 29, 2025, we announced that our Board of Directors decided to pursue a full separation of our Mobility segment, creating a new publicly traded company. The name of the new publicly traded company, Mobility Global Inc., will be effective on day one of the separation. The transaction, which would be implemented through the spin-off of shares of the new company to S&P Global shareholders, is expected to be tax-free for U.S. federal income tax purposes for S&P Global shareholders and is expected to be completed mid-2026, subject to the satisfaction of customary legal and regulatory requirements and approvals.
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| Basis of Presentation | The accompanying unaudited financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and notes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. Therefore, the financial statements included herein should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes included in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 (our “Form 10-K”). In the opinion of management, all normal recurring adjustments considered necessary for a fair statement of the results of the interim periods have been included. The operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2026 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year.
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| Use of Estimates | On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions, including those related to revenue recognition, business combinations, allowance for doubtful accounts, valuation of long-lived assets, goodwill and other intangible assets, pension plans, incentive compensation and stock-based compensation, income taxes, contingencies and redeemable noncontrolling interests. |
| Restricted Cash | Restricted Cash We had no restricted cash included in our consolidated balance sheets
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| Contract Assets, Unearned Revenue, Remaining Performance Obligations and Costs to Obtain Contracts | Contract Assets Contract assets include unbilled amounts from when the Company transfers service to a customer before a customer pays consideration or before payment is due. As of March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025, contract assets were $107 million and $89 million, respectively, and are included in accounts receivable in our consolidated balance sheets. Unearned Revenue We record unearned revenue when cash payments are received in advance of our performance. The decrease in the unearned revenue balance at March 31, 2026 compared to December 31, 2025 is primarily driven by $1.8 billion of revenues recognized that were included in the unearned revenue balance at the beginning of the period, offset by cash payments received in advance of satisfying our performance obligations. Remaining Performance Obligations Remaining performance obligations represent the transaction price of contracts for work that has not yet been performed. As of March 31, 2026, the aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to remaining performance obligations was $5.7 billion. We expect to recognize revenue on approximately half and three-quarters of the remaining performance obligations over the next 12 and 24 months, respectively, with the remainder recognized thereafter. We do not disclose the value of unfulfilled performance obligations for (i) contracts with an original expected length of one year or less and (ii) contracts where revenue is a usage-based royalty promised in exchange for a license of intellectual property. Costs to Obtain Contracts We recognize an asset for the incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer if we expect the benefit of those costs to be longer than one year. We have determined that the costs associated with certain sales commission programs are incremental to the costs to obtain contracts with customers and therefore meet the criteria to be capitalized. Total capitalized costs to obtain contracts were $349 million as of March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025, and are included in prepaid and other current assets and other non-current assets on our consolidated balance sheets. The capitalized asset will be amortized over a period consistent with the transfer to the customer of the goods or services to which the asset relates, calculated based on the customer term and the average life of the products and services underlying the contracts which has been determined to be approximately 2 to 5 years. The expense is recorded within selling and general expenses in the consolidated statements of income. We expense sales commissions when incurred if the benefit of those costs is one year or less. These costs are recorded within selling and general expenses in the consolidated statements of income.
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| Equity in Income on Unconsolidated Subsidiaries | Equity in Income on Unconsolidated Subsidiaries On October 10, 2025, the Company and CME Group completed the sale of OSTTRA, an investment in a 50/50 joint venture arrangement with shared control with CME Group that combined each company’s post-trade services into a joint venture.
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| Recently Issued or Adopted Accounting Standards | Recently Issued or Adopted Accounting Standards In November of 2025, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued accounting guidance to more closely align hedge accounting with the economics of an entity's risk management activities. This guidance is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2026, and interim reporting periods within those annual reporting periods, and early adoption is permitted. We do not expect this guidance to have a significant impact on our consolidated financial statements. In September of 2025, the FASB issued accounting guidance that clarifies the guidance on which contracts are subject to derivative accounting and guidance on accounting for share based payments on contracts with customers. This guidance is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2026, and interim reporting periods within those annual reporting periods, and early adoption is permitted. We do not expect this guidance to have a significant impact on our consolidated financial statements. In September of 2025, the FASB issued accounting guidance which removes references to prescriptive software development stages and includes an updated framework for capitalizing internal software costs. This guidance is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2027, and interim reporting periods within those annual reporting periods, and early adoption is permitted. We do not expect this guidance to have a significant impact on our consolidated financial statements. In July of 2025, the FASB issued accounting guidance that provides an optional practical expedient for estimating future credit losses based on current conditions as of the balance sheet date and assuming those conditions do not change over the remaining life of the accounts receivable. The guidance was effective on January 1, 2026, and the adoption of this guidance did not have an impact on our consolidated financial statements. In May of 2025, the FASB issued accounting guidance to improve the requirements for identifying the accounting acquirer in ASC 805, Business Combinations. The amendments in this update revise current guidance for determining the accounting acquirer for a transaction effected primarily by exchanging equity interests in which the legal acquiree is a VIE that meets the definition of a business. This guidance is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2026, and interim reporting periods within those annual reporting periods, and early adoption is permitted as of the beginning of an interim or annual reporting period. This guidance is required to be applied prospectively to any acquisition transaction that occurs after the initial application date. We do not expect this guidance to have a significant impact on our consolidated financial statements. In November of 2024, the FASB issued accounting guidance which requires that an entity disclose, in the notes to financial statements, additional information about specific expense categories. The amendments in this update are effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2026, and interim reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2027. We are currently evaluating the impact of this guidance on the Company’s disclosures.
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