INTERIM UPDATE TO SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

9 Months Ended

Nov. 02, 2018

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

INTERIM UPDATE TO SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

NOTE 2 — INTERIM UPDATE TO SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

As mentioned previously in Note 1 of the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, the Company adopted amended guidance on the recognition of revenue from contracts with customers during the three months ended May 4, 2018, using the full retrospective method. The following accounting policies have been updated as part of the adoption of the new standard.

Revenue Recognition — The Company enters into a variety of agreements to provide a wide portfolio of products and services offerings to its customers. These agreements have varying requirements depending on the goods and services being sold, the rights and obligations conveyed, and the legal jurisdiction of the arrangement.

Revenue is recognized either over time or at a point in time, depending on when the underlying goods or services are transferred to the customer, in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the Company expects to be entitled in exchange for delivering those goods or services. The following five steps are applied to recognize revenue:

(1) Identify the contract with a customer. The term “contract” refers to the enforceable rights and obligations provided in an agreement between the Company and one or more other parties in exchange for payment. The Company evaluates facts and circumstances regarding sales transactions in order to identify contracts with its customers. An agreement must meet all of the following criteria to qualify as a contract eligible for revenue recognition under the model: (i) the contract must be approved by all parties; (ii) each party’s rights regarding the goods and services to be transferred to the customer can be identified; (iii) the payment terms for the goods and services can be identified; (iv) the customer has the ability and intent to pay and it is probable that the Company will collect substantially all of the consideration to which it will be entitled; and (v) the contract must have commercial substance. Judgment is used in determining the customer’s ability and intent to pay, which is based upon various factors including the customer’s historical payment experience or customer credit and financial information.

(2) Identify the performance obligations in the contract.  Distinct promises within a contract are referred to as “performance obligations” and are accounted for as separate units of account. The Company assesses whether each promised good or service is distinct for the purpose of identifying the performance obligations in the contract. This assessment involves subjective determinations and requires management to make judgments about the individual promised goods or services and whether such goods or services are separable from the other aspects of the contractual relationship. Promised goods and services are considered distinct provided that: (i) the customer can benefit from the good or service either on its own or together with other resources that are readily available to the customer (that is, the good or service is capable of being distinct); and (ii) the Company’s promise to transfer the good or service to the customer is separately identifiable from other promises in the contract (that is, the promise to transfer the good or service is distinct within the context of the contract). The Company’s performance obligations consist of a variety of products and services offerings which include: hardware, such as servers, storage, networking, personal computers, workstations, and peripherals; third-party software; proprietary software licenses; support and deployment services, which include hardware support that extends beyond the Company’s standard warranties, software maintenance, and installation; professional services; training; software as a service (“SaaS”); and infrastructure as a service (“IaaS”).

(3) Determine the transaction price.  Transaction price reflects the amount of consideration to which the Company expects to be entitled in exchange for transferring goods or services to the customer. If the consideration promised in a contract includes a variable amount, the Company estimates the amount to which it expects to be entitled using either the expected value or most likely amount method. The Company’s contracts may include terms that could cause variability in the transaction price, including, for example, rebates, sales returns, and volume discounts. In determining the transaction price, any variable consideration would be considered, to the extent applicable, if it is probable that a significant future reversal of cumulative revenue under the contract will not occur when the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is resolved.

(4) Allocate the transaction price to performance obligations in the contract. Many of the Company’s contracts include promises to transfer multiple products and services to a customer, and the transaction price must be allocated to each performance obligation in an amount that depicts the consideration to which the Company expects to be entitled in exchange for transferring the promised goods or services. For these contracts with multiple performance obligations, the transaction price is allocated in proportion to the standalone selling price (“SSP”) of each performance obligation.

If the contract contains a single performance obligation, the entire transaction price is allocated to that performance obligation.

The best evidence of SSP is the observable price of a good or service when the Company sells that good or service separately in similar circumstances to similar customers. If a directly observable price is available, it must be utilized for the SSP. If a directly observable price is not available, the SSP must be estimated. The Company estimates SSP by considering multiple factors including, but not limited to, pricing practices, internal costs, and profit objectives as well as overall market conditions which include geographic or regional specific factors, competitive positioning, and competitor actions. SSP can include fixed and variable components. Variable components are estimated based on the most likely outcome or expected value of the variable components.

(5) Recognize revenue when (or as) the performance obligation is satisfied. Revenue is recognized when obligations under the terms of the contract with the Company’s customer are satisfied. Revenue is recognized either over time or at a point in time, depending on when the underlying products or services are transferred to the customer. Revenue is recognized at a point in time for products upon transfer of control. Revenue is recognized over time for support and deployment services, professional services, training, software support, SaaS, and IaaS.

The Company reports revenue net of any revenue-based taxes assessed by governmental authorities that are imposed on and concurrently with specific revenue-producing transactions.

The Company has elected the following practical expedients with the adoption of the new revenue standard:

• The Company does not account for significant financing components if the period between revenue recognition and when the customer pays for the product or service will be one year or less.

• The Company recognizes revenue equal to the amount it has a right to invoice when the amount corresponds directly with the value to the customer of the Company’s performance to date.

• The Company does not account for shipping and handling activities as a separate performance obligation, but rather as an activity performed to transfer the promised good.

The following summarizes the nature of revenue recognized and the manner in which the Company accounts for sales transactions.

Products

Product revenue consists of hardware and software license sales that are delivered, sold as a subscription or sold on a consumption basis. Hardware includes notebooks and desktop PCs, servers, storage hardware, and other hardware-related devices. Software license sales include non-essential, stand-alone software applications. Software applications provide customers with resource management, backup and archiving, information security, information management and intelligence, data analytics, and server virtualization capabilities.

Revenue from the sale of hardware products is recognized when control has transferred to the customer, which typically occurs when the hardware has been shipped to the customer, risk of loss has transferred to the customer, the Company has a present right to payment, and customer acceptance has been satisfied. Customer acceptance is satisfied if acceptance is obtained from the customer, if all acceptance provisions lapse, or if the Company has evidence that all acceptance provisions will be, or have been, satisfied. Revenue from software license sales is generally recognized when control has transferred to the customer, which is typically upon shipment, electronic delivery, or when the software is available for download by the customer. For certain arrangements, including software subscriptions and certain software license agreements which provide customers control to certain product performance obligations over time, revenue is recognized based on usage or ratably over the term of the arrangement based on the pattern of delivery of the product to the customer. 

Invoices for products are generally issued as control transfers, which is typically upon shipment or electronic delivery. There was no significant revenue in any period presented related to performance obligations satisfied or partially satisfied in prior periods.

Services

Services revenue consists of revenue from sales of support services, including hardware support that extends beyond the Company’s standard warranties, software maintenance, and installation; professional services; training; SaaS; and IaaS. Revenue associated with undelivered performance obligations is deferred and recorded as control is transferred to the customer over time. Revenue from fixed-price support or maintenance contracts sold for both hardware and software is recognized on a straight-line basis over the period of performance because the Company is required to provide services at any given time. Other services revenue is recognized when the Company performs the services and the customers receive and consume the benefits.

Invoices for services may be issued at the start of a service term, which is typically the case for support and deployment services, or as services are rendered, which is typically the case for professional services, training, SaaS, and IaaS.

Other

Revenue from leasing arrangements is not subject to the revenue standard for contracts with customers, and remains separately accounted for under existing lease accounting guidance. The Company records revenue from the sale of equipment under sales-type leases as product revenue in an amount equal to the present value of minimum lease payments at the inception of the lease. Sales-type leases also produce financing income, which is included in products net revenue in the Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss) and is recognized at consistent rates of return over the lease term. The Company also offers qualified customers fixed-term loans and revolving credit lines for the purchase of products and services offered by the Company. Financing income attributable to these loans is recognized in products net revenue on an accrual basis.

Disaggregation of Revenue — The Company’s revenue is presented on a disaggregated basis on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss) and in Note 18 of the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements based on an evaluation of disclosures outside of the financial statements, information regularly reviewed by the chief operating decision maker for evaluating the financial performance of operating segments, and other information that is used to evaluate the Company’s financial performance or make resource allocations. This information includes revenue from products and services, revenue from reportable segments, and revenue by major product categories within the segments.

Contract Assets — Contract assets are rights to consideration in exchange for goods or services that the Company has transferred to a customer when such a right is conditional on something other than the passage of time. Such amounts have been insignificant to date.

Contract Liabilities — Contract liabilities primarily consist of deferred revenue. Deferred revenue is recorded when the Company has a right to invoice or payments have been received for undelivered products or services, or in situations where revenue recognition criteria have not been met. Deferred revenue also represents amounts received in advance for extended warranty services and software maintenance. Revenue is recognized on these items when the revenue recognition criteria are met, generally resulting in ratable recognition over the contract term. The Company also has deferred revenue related to undelivered hardware and professional services, consisting of installations and consulting engagements, which are recognized as the Company’s performance obligations under the contract are completed. See Note 9 of the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information about deferred revenue.

Costs to Obtain a Contract — The incremental direct costs of obtaining a contract primarily consist of sales commissions and employer taxes related to commission payments. The Company has elected, as a practical expedient, to expense as incurred costs to obtain a contract equal to or less than one year in duration. For contracts greater than one year in duration, the associated costs to obtain a contract are deferred and amortized over the period of contract performance or a longer period, generally the estimated life of the customer relationship, if renewals are expected and the renewal commission is not commensurate with the initial commission. Deferred costs to obtain a contract are typically amortized over a period of three to seven years, depending on the contract term and expectation of the period of benefit for the costs, which may exceed the contract term. Amortization expense is recognized on a straight-line basis and included in selling, general, and administrative expenses in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss).

The Company periodically reviews these deferred costs to determine whether events or changes in circumstances have occurred that could impact the carrying value or period of benefit of the deferred sales commissions. There were no material impairment losses for deferred sales commissions during the nine months ended November 2, 2018 and November 3, 2017.

Deferred costs to obtain a contract as of November 2, 2018 and February 2, 2018 were $1.1 billion and $0.8 billion, respectively. Deferred costs to obtain a contract are classified as current assets and other non-current assets on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Financial Position, based on when the expense is expected to be recognized. Amortization of costs to obtain a contract during the three months ended November 2, 2018 and November 3, 2017 was $145 million and $89 million, respectively. Amortization of costs to obtain a contract during the nine months ended November 2, 2018 and November 3, 2017 was $364 million and $204 million, respectively.