SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D. C. 20549







FORM 11-K







For fiscal year ended December 31, 2017





For the transition period from ___________ to _____________





Commission File number 1-3247







THE CORNING INCORPORATED
INVESTMENT PLAN FOR UNIONIZED EMPLOYEES





CORNING INCORPORATED
ONE RIVERFRONT PLAZA
CORNING, NY 14831







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Documents filed as part of this report:













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SIGNATURES



Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Corning Incorporated Benefits Committee has duly caused this annual report to be signed by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.









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Corning Incorporated
Investment Plan for
Unionized Employees
Financial Statements and Supplemental Schedule
December 31, 2017 and 2016

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM



To the Corning Incorporated Benefits Committee and

the Participants of the Corning Incorporated Investment Plan for Unionized Employees



Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statements of net assets available for benefits of Corning Incorporated Investment Plan for Unionized Employees (the Plan) as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, the related statement of changes in net assets available for benefits for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the related notes to the financial statements. In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the net assets available for benefits of the Plan as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, and the changes in net assets available for benefits for the year ended December 31, 2017, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.



Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Plan’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Plan’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Plan in accordance with U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.



We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.  The Plan has determined it is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. Our audits included consideration of internal control over financial reporting as a basis for designing audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Plan’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.



Report on Supplemental Information

The supplemental information in the accompanying schedule of assets (held at end of year) as of December 31, 2017 has been subjected to audit procedures performed in conjunction with the audit of the Plan’s financial statements. The supplemental information is presented for the purpose of additional analysis and is not a required part of the financial statements but includes supplemental information required by the Department of Labor’s Rules and Regulations for Reporting and Disclosure under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.  The supplemental information is the responsibility of the Plan’s management. Our audit procedures included determining whether the supplemental information reconciles to the financial statements or the underlying accounting and other records, as applicable, and performing procedures to test the completeness and accuracy of the information presented in the supplemental information. In forming our opinion on the supplemental information in the accompanying schedule, we evaluated whether the supplemental information, including its form and content, is presented in conformity with the Department of Labor’s Rules and Regulations for Reporting and Disclosure under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. In our opinion, the supplemental information in the accompanying schedule is fairly stated in all material respects in relation to the financial statements as a whole.









/s/ Insero & Co. CPAs, LLP

Certified Public Accountants



We have served as the Plan’s auditor since the year ended December 31, 2004.



Rochester, New York

June 15,  2018

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(in thousands of dollars)



























































The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

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(in thousands of dollars)































The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

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1.Description of Plan



General
The following brief description of the Corning Incorporated Investment Plan for Unionized Employees (the “Plan”) is provided for general information purposes only.  Participants should refer to the Plan document and summary plan description for a more complete description of the Plan’s provisions.



The Plan is a defined contribution profit-sharing plan established in January 1984 and is subject to the provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”).



Administration
The Plan is administered by the Corning Incorporated Benefits Committee (the “Benefits Committee”), which is appointed by either the Vice President of Human Resources or the Senior Vice President of Human Resources of Corning Incorporated (the “Company”).  With the exception of matters relating to the Plan’s investment funds, the Benefits Committee administers the Plan in accordance with its terms and applicable laws and has all necessary and appropriate powers to carry out the provisions of the Plan.



The Investment Committee, appointed by the Treasurer, is generally responsible for the investment funds under the Plan.



Trustee and Recordkeeper
The Plan’s assets are held by The Bank of New York Mellon, as trustee (the “Trustee”).  The recordkeeper is Conduent Incorporated. 



Eligibility
The Plan covers all union represented employees of participating unions which contract with the Company.  An employee is eligible for participation in the Plan upon reaching the age of 18 and completing one year of eligible service.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, an employee who has attained age 18 and is scheduled on a normal basis to work at least 16 hours a week shall be immediately eligible.    As of December 31, 2017, the union employees at the following locations participated in the Plan:





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Participant Accounts
Each participant’s account is credited with the participant’s contribution and allocations of (a) the Company’s contribution and (b) Plan earnings, and charged for withdrawals and administrative expenses.  Trustee and investment management fees are deducted from the earnings credited to participants’ accounts.  A flat monthly fee is charged to each participant’s account to subsidize administrative expenses of the Plan and is determined by the Plan administrator.   The benefit to which a participant is entitled is the benefit that can be provided from the participant’s vested balance.



Vesting
Participants are vested immediately in their contributions plus actual earnings thereon.  Company contributions to the Plan are fully vested after three years of service.  All Company contributions become fully vested upon total and permanent disability, death or retirement.



Contributions – Employer
The Company makes matching contributions as a percentage of a participant’s first 5% of eligible pay contributed according to years of service as of December 31 of the prior year as follows:





With respect to all employees eligible to participate in the Plan, beginning in January of the year the participant is expected to reach ten years of vested service and irrespective of whether such employee has elected to contribute to the Plan, the Company contributes weekly or monthly (based on employee’s pay frequency) a supplemental contribution to the Plan equal to 1.175% of such employee’s eligible compensation.



Forfeiture balances of terminated participants’ nonvested accounts are used to reduce future employer contributions to the Plan.



Contributions – Participants
Generally, participants may contribute up to 75% of their eligible compensation to the Plan on a before-tax basis, after-tax basis or any combination of the two. 



The maximum amount a participant could contribute to the Plan on a before-tax basis in 2017 was $18,000.  The Plan permits employees who have attained age 50 or older during a given year to contribute additional before-tax amounts up to the prescribed Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) limitation for “catch-up contributions.”





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The Plan includes an auto-enrollment provision whereby all newly eligible employees are automatically enrolled in the Plan unless they affirmatively elect not to participate in the Plan.  Automatically enrolled participants have their deferral rate set at 6% of eligible compensation.  New employees have 90 days in which to change or opt-out of this provision before deferrals begin. 



A participant who is making tax-deferred contributions and after-tax contributions, in the aggregate, at a rate less than 10% of the employee’s eligible compensation, as defined in the Plan document, shall have his or her tax-deferred contribution automatically increased annually in 1% increments until the employee’s contribution percentage reaches 10% of eligible compensation, provided the employee has not elected to opt-out of the automatic increase feature.



Participants may elect, with the exception of the Corning Common Stock Fund, to have their contributions invested in the investment options listed below.



Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund
State Street U.S. Short-Term Government/Credit Bond Index Fund 
Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund
Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities Fund
Vanguard Balanced Index Fund
Vanguard Value Index Fund
Vanguard Institutional Index Fund
Fidelity Contrafund
T. Rowe Price Large Cap Growth Fund
Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund
Prudential Jennison U.S. Small Cap Equity Fund
Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund
BlackRock MSCI ACWI ex-US Index Fund
Dodge & Cox International Stock Fund
Corning Common Stock Fund



The T. Rowe Price Large Cap Growth Fund is a separately managed account solely for the benefit of the Plan participants. 



Payment of Benefits
Benefit payments are made upon retirement (i.e., at least age 55 with five years of service), or in the event of a participant’s total and permanent disability, death or other termination of employment.  A retired participant can elect to receive distributions in a lump sum, installments, or intermittent withdrawals.  The Plan also provides for withdrawals by participants prior to termination.



Administrative Expenses
Plan expenses can be paid by the Plan or the Company.



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Notes Receivable from Participants
Participants are eligible to obtain loans from the Plan.  Loans are limited to one loan per participant with a repayment term not to exceed 4.5 years, except for primary residence loans in which the term may not exceed ten years.  The maximum amount of any loan is the lesser of one-half of the vested account balance or $50,000 (with a $1,000 minimum).  The interest rate on a loan is established by the Benefits Committee.  Participants are charged a fee on all loans, which reduces the loan proceeds.



2.Summary of Significant Accounting Policies



Basis of Accounting
The accompanying financial statements are prepared on the accrual basis of accounting.



Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of net assets available for benefits and changes therein.  Due to the inherent uncertainty involved in making estimates, actual results reported in future periods could differ from those estimates.



Basis of Allocation from the Corning Incorporated Master Investment Trust
The Plan has a specific interest in the Corning Incorporated Master Investment Trust (the “Master Trust”) in which another plan sponsored by the Company also participates.  The Plan’s specific interest in the Master Trust is credited or charged for contributions, transfers, and benefit payments relating to its participants.  Realized gains and losses and changes in net unrealized appreciation or depreciation on investments, income from investments and expenses are allocated to the Plan based on the Plan’s specific interest in the net assets of the Master Trust.  At December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Plan’s percentage interest in the net assets of the Master Trust was approximately 11% and 12%, respectively. 



Valuation of Master Trust Investments
Investments are reported at fair value.  Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability at the measurement date.  See Note 4 for further discussion of fair value measurements.



Interest is accrued by the Master Trust as earned, and dividends are recorded on the ex-dividend date.



Purchases and sales of securities are recorded by the Master Trust on a trade-date basis.  Realized gains and losses for security transactions are reported using the average cost method.  Unrealized gains and losses represent the difference between the cost and fair value of securities.  Net appreciation/depreciation includes unrealized and realized gains and losses on investments bought and sold as well as held during the year.



Payment of Benefits
Benefits are recorded when paid.

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Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In February 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-06, Plan Accounting: Defined Benefit Pension Plans (Topic 960) Defined Contribution Pension Plans (Topic 962) Health and Welfare Benefit Plans (Topic 965), Employee Benefit Plan Master Trust Reporting. The amendments in this ASU clarify presentation requirements for a plan’s interest in a master trust and require more detailed disclosures of the plan’s interest in the master trust. The amendments in this update are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted and requires retrospective presentation for all periods in which financial statements are presented. The Plan has elected not to adopt for the current plan year, and is reviewing the impact that adoption would have on its financial statements.



Risks and Uncertainties
The Plan’s investment securities are exposed to various risks, such as changes in interest rates, credit risks and market returns.  Due to the level of risk associated with certain investments and the level of uncertainty related to changes in the value of these investments, it is at least reasonably possible that changes in valuations in the near term would materially affect participants’ account balances and the amounts of such investments reported in the Plan’s financial statements.



Notes Receivable from Participants
Notes receivable from participants are measured at their unpaid principal balance plus any accrued but unpaid interest.  Delinquent participant loans are reclassified as distributions based upon the terms of the Plan document.



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3.Investments (in thousands)



The following presents the Master Trust’s investments, at fair value, at December 31:





Investment income of the Master Trust for the year ended December 31, 2017 is as follows:





At December 31, 2017, forfeited nonvested accounts totaled $92, which are included in the Master Trust.



4.Fair Value Measurements



Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 820, Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure (“ASC 820”) defines the fair value as the price that would be received from selling an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date.  When determining the fair value measurements for assets and liabilities required to be recorded at fair value, the Plan considers the principal or most advantageous market in which it would transact and considers assumptions that market participants would use when pricing the asset or liability, such as inherent risk, transfer restrictions, and risk of nonperformance.

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ASC 820 also establishes a framework for measuring fair value. That framework provides a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). The three levels of the fair value hierarchy:





The asset’s or liability’s fair value measurement level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level of any input that is significant to the fair value measurement.  Valuation techniques maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs.



Following is a description of the valuation methodologies used for assets measured at fair value. There have been no changes in the methodologies used at December 31, 2017 and 2016.



Corning common stock, equities, mutual funds, and short-term investment funds:  Valued at the closing price reported on the active market on which the individual securities are traded.



Collective trust funds:  Valued at the net asset value (“NAV”) of shares held by the Plan at year end. The NAV is used as a practical expedient to estimate fair value. The NAV of the underlying investments is obtained from information provided by the investment advisor using the audited financial statements of the common collective trust at year end.



Preferred stock: Valued at a fixed price as per information received from investment managers.



While the Plan believes its valuation methods are appropriate and consistent with other market participants, the use of different methodologies or assumptions to determine the fair value of certain financial instruments could result in a different fair value measurement at the reporting date.

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The following tables set forth by level, within the fair value hierarchy, the Master Trust’s assets at fair value as of December 31, 2017 and 2016 (in thousands):















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The table below sets forth a summary of changes in the fair value of the Plan’s Level 3 investments for the year ended December 31, 2017:





5.Plan Termination



Although the Company has not expressed any intent to do so, it has the right to terminate the Plan subject to the provisions of ERISA and the IRC.  In the event of Plan termination, all amounts credited to participants’ accounts will become 100% vested and will be distributed to participants in accordance with Plan provisions.





6.Tax Status



The Plan received a favorable determination letter dated September 6, 2017 from the Internal Revenue Service indicating that it meets the requirements of Section 401(a) and 501(a) of the IRC and has qualified status as an employee retirement plan.  The Plan has been amended since receiving the determination letter.  The  Plan administrator and the Plan’s benefits counsel believe that the Plan is designed and is currently being operated in compliance with the applicable provisions of the IRC.



Accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America require Plan management to evaluate tax positions taken by the Plan and recognize a tax liability (or asset) if the Plan has taken an uncertain position that more likely than not would not be sustained upon examination by the Internal Revenue Service.  The Plan administrator has analyzed the tax positions taken by the Plan, and has concluded that as of December 31, 2017, there are no uncertain positions taken or expected to be taken that would require recognition of a liability (or asset) or disclosure in the financial statements.  The Plan is subject to routine audits by taxing jurisdictions; however, there are currently no audits for any tax periods in progress. 



7.Related Parties (in thousands)



Certain investments in the Master Trust are shares of the money market account managed by the Trustee.  Transactions with this investment qualify as party-in-interest transactions.  Notes receivable from participants also qualify as party-in-interest transactions.

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The Master Trust held common stock issued by the Company amounting to $413,667 and $345,703 as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.



8.Reconciliation of Financial Statements to Form 5500 (in thousands)



The following is a reconciliation of the financial statements at December 31, 2017 and 2016 and for the year ended December 31, 2017 to the Form 5500:







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(in thousands of dollars)







* Denotes Party-in-interest



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