Impairment Charges - On April 15, 2018, Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation, of Shenzhen, China, and certain affiliated entities (collectively "ZTE") were added to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security's List of Denied Persons. Fiscal year 2018 includes expenses associated with the impairment of property and equipment, inventory and other assets associated with ZTE which are not expected to have any future value. We believe these charges are one-time in nature and are not correlated to future business operations and including such charges does not reflect our ongoing operations.
Restructuring Charges - includes amounts primarily associated with approved plans to reduce staffing and manufacturing, research and development or administrative footprints. We believe these amounts are not correlated to future business operations and including such charges does not reflect our ongoing operations.
Warrant Liability Expenses/Gains - are associated with mark-to-market fair value adjustments which are largely based on the value of our common stock, which may vary from period to period due to factors such as stock price volatility. We believe these amounts are not correlated to future business operations and including such charges does not reflect our ongoing operations.
Non-Cash Interest, Net - includes amounts associated with the amortization of certain fees associated with the establishment or amendment of our Credit Agreement and Term Loans that are being amortized over the life of the agreement. We believe these amounts are non-cash in nature and not correlated to future business operations and including such charges does not reflect our ongoing operations.
Litigation Costs - includes gains, losses and expenses related to the resolution of other-than-ordinary-course threatened and actually filed lawsuits and other-than-ordinary-course contractual disputes and legal matters. We exclude these gains and losses because they are not considered by management in making operating decisions. We believe such gains, losses and expenses do not necessarily reflect the performance of our ongoing operations for the period in which such charges are recognized and the amount of such gains or losses and expenses can vary significantly between companies and make comparisons less reliable.
Acquisition, Integration and Restructuring Related Costs - includes such items as professional fees incurred in connection with pre-acquisition and integration specific activities, post-acquisition employee retention amounts, contingent consideration adjustments, severance and other amounts accrued or paid to terminated employees of acquired businesses, costs including salaries incurred which are not expected to have a continuing contribution to operations or are expected to have a diminishing contribution during the integration or restructuring period and the amortization of the fair market step-up value of acquired inventory and fixed assets. We believe the exclusion of these items is useful in providing management a basis to evaluate ongoing operating activities and strategic decision making.
Production and Product Line Exits - includes costs associated with our decision to exit certain production facilities and product lines. The costs are primarily inventory reserves associated with products that are considered excess and may not be internally consumed due to the production process change, have potential reliability issues that will not be resolved due to our decision to exit production and or may not be sold to customers. In addition, there are certain other costs incurred associated with the production process that is being exited that are not expected to occur in the future. We believe the exclusion of these items is useful in providing management a basis to evaluate ongoing operating activities and strategic decision making.
Discontinued Operations excluding consulting income - includes the profit and loss amounts of discontinued operations, with the exception of consulting income associated with a consulting agreement we entered into at the time of our Automotive business divestiture. We believe excluding gains and losses associated with historically divested businesses from our net income provides management with a comparable basis to our current ongoing operating activities. We do not exclude the consulting agreement income classified as discontinued operations because management views this income as part of our ongoing operations and correlated with future operations since we both derive income and incur ongoing costs associated with the consulting services available under the consulting agreement.
Equity Investment and Sale of Business Losses - includes losses associated with non-marketable equity investments we have in a private business as well as the $34 million loss associated with the third quarter of 2018 sale of our LR4 business. We believe the investment losses are non-cash in nature and the sale of the LR4 business is not correlated to future business operations and including such amounts does not reflect our ongoing operations.
Other - primarily includes transaction expenses incurred as part of our Credit Agreement Amendments in the second, third and fourth fiscal quarters of 2017. We believe these amounts are not correlated to future business operations and including such charges does not reflect our ongoing operations.
Tax Effect of Non-GAAP Adjustments - adjustments to arrive at an
estimate of our Adjusted Non-GAAP tax rate associated with our Adjusted
Non-GAAP income over a period of time. We determine our Adjusted
Non-GAAP income tax rate by using applicable rates in taxing
jurisdictions and assessing certain factors including our historical and
forecast earnings by jurisdiction, discrete items, cash taxes paid in
relation to our Adjusted Non-GAAP Net Income before income taxes and our
ability to realize tax assets. We generally assess this Adjusted
Non-GAAP income tax rate quarterly and have utilized 12% for our first
fiscal quarter of 2017, 10% for our second, third and fourth fiscal
quarters of 2017 and 8% for our fiscal year 2018. Our historical
effective income tax rate under GAAP has varied significantly from our
Adjusted Non-GAAP income tax rate. Items that have historically resulted
in significant difference between our effective income tax rate under
GAAP and our Adjusted Non-GAAP income tax rate include changes in fair
values of the common stock warrant liability, which is excluded from our
Adjusted Non-GAAP net Income and is neither deductible nor taxable for
tax purposes, income taxed in foreign jurisdictions at generally lower
tax rates, non-deductible compensation, research and development tax
credits and merger expenses, as well as the establishment of a valuation
allowance against our U.S. deferred tax assets during the three months
ended March 31, 2017. We believe it is beneficial for our management to
review our Adjusted Non-GAAP income tax rate on a consistent basis over
periods of time. Items such as those noted above may have a significant
impact on our U.S. GAAP income tax expense and associated effective tax
rate over time. Our Adjusted Non-GAAP income tax rate is an estimate,
and may differ from our effective income tax rate determined under GAAP.