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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
3 Months Ended
Apr. 30, 2011
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
(2) Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Principles of Consolidation

The condensed consolidated financial statements include our financial statements and those of our wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

We do not have off-balance sheet arrangements, financings, or other similar relationships with unconsolidated entities or other persons, also known as special purpose entities. In the ordinary course of business, we lease certain equipment and certain real properties, primarily field sales offices, research and development facilities, and equipment, as described in Note 9. “Commitments and Contingencies.”

Revenue Recognition

We report revenue in two categories based on how the revenue is generated: (i) system and software and (ii) service and support.

System and software revenues – We derive system and software revenues from the sale of licenses of software products, emulation hardware systems, and finance fee revenues from our long-term installment receivables resulting from product sales. We primarily license our products using two different license types:

1. Term licenses – We use this license type primarily for software sales. This license type provides the customer with the right to use a fixed list of software products for a specified time period, typically three years, with payments spread over the license term, and does not provide the customer with the right to use the products after the end of the term. Term license arrangements may allow the customer to share products between multiple locations and remix product usage from the fixed list of products at regular intervals during the license term. We generally recognize product revenue from term license arrangements upon product delivery and start of the license term. In a term license agreement where we provide the customer with rights to unspecified or unreleased future products, we recognize revenue ratably over the license term.

2. Perpetual licenses – We use this license type for software and emulation hardware system sales. This license type provides the customer with the right to use the product in perpetuity and typically does not provide for extended payment terms. We generally recognize product revenue from perpetual license arrangements upon product delivery assuming all other criteria for revenue recognition have been met.

We include finance fee revenues from the accretion on the discount of long-term installment receivables in system and software revenues.

Service and support revenues – We derive service and support revenues from software and hardware post-contract maintenance or support services and professional services, which include consulting, training, and other services. We recognize revenue ratably over the support services term. We record professional service revenue as the services are provided to the customer.

 

We determine whether product revenue recognition is appropriate based upon the evaluation of whether the following four criteria have been met:

1. Persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists – Generally, we use either a customer signed contract or qualified customer purchase order as evidence of an arrangement for both term and perpetual licenses. For professional service engagements, we generally use a signed professional services agreement and a statement of work to evidence an arrangement. Sales through our distributors are evidenced by an agreement governing the relationship, together with binding purchase orders from the distributor on a transaction-by-transaction basis.

2. Delivery has occurred – We generally deliver software and the corresponding access keys to customers electronically. Electronic delivery occurs when we provide the customer access to the software. We may also deliver the software on a compact disc. With respect to emulation hardware systems, we transfer title to the customer upon shipment. Our software license and emulation hardware system agreements generally do not contain conditions for acceptance.

3. Fee is fixed or determinable – We assess whether a fee is fixed or determinable at the outset of the arrangement, primarily based on the payment terms associated with the transaction. We have established a history of collecting under the original contract with installment terms without providing concessions on payments, products, or services. Additionally, for installment contracts, we determine that the fee is fixed or determinable if the arrangement has a payment schedule that is within the term of the licenses and the payments are collected in equal or nearly equal installments, when evaluated on a cumulative basis. If the fee is not deemed to be fixed or determinable, we recognize revenue as payments become due and payable.

Significant judgment is involved in assessing whether a fee is fixed or determinable. We must also make these judgments when assessing whether a contract amendment to a term arrangement (primarily in the context of a license extension or renewal) constitutes a concession. Our experience has been that we are able to determine whether a fee is fixed or determinable for term licenses. If we no longer were to have a history of collecting under the original contract without providing concessions on term licenses, revenue from term licenses would be required to be recognized when payments under the installment contract become due and payable. Such a change could have a material impact on our results of operations.

4. Collectibility is probable – To recognize revenue, we must judge collectibility of the arrangement fees on a customer-by-customer basis pursuant to our credit review process. We typically sell to customers with whom there is a history of successful collection. We evaluate the financial position and a customer’s ability to pay whenever an existing customer purchases new products, renews an existing arrangement, or requests an increase in credit terms. For certain industries for which our products are not considered core to the industry or the industry is generally considered troubled, we impose higher credit standards. If we determine that collectibility is not probable based upon our credit review process or the customer’s payment history, we recognize revenue as payments are received.

Multiple element arrangements involving software licenses – For multiple element arrangements involving software and other software-related deliverables, vendor-specific objective evidence of fair value (VSOE) must exist to allocate the total fee among all delivered and non-essential undelivered elements of the arrangement. If undelivered elements of the arrangement are essential to the functionality of the product, we defer revenue until the essential elements are delivered. If VSOE does not exist for one or more non-essential undelivered elements, we defer revenue until such evidence exists for the undelivered elements, or until all elements are delivered, whichever is earlier. If VSOE of all non-essential undelivered elements exist but VSOE does not exist for one or more delivered elements, we recognize revenue using the residual method. Under the residual method, we defer revenue related to the undelivered elements based upon VSOE and we recognize the remaining portion of the arrangement fee as revenue for the delivered elements, assuming all other criteria for revenue recognition are met. If we can no longer establish VSOE for non-essential undelivered elements of multiple element arrangements, we defer revenue until all elements are delivered or VSOE was established for the undelivered elements, whichever is earlier.

We base our VSOE for certain product elements of an arrangement upon the pricing in comparable transactions when the element is sold separately. We primarily base our VSOE for term and perpetual support services upon customer renewal history where the services are sold separately. We also base VSOE for professional services and installation services for emulation hardware systems upon the price charged when the services are sold separately.

Multiple element arrangements involving hardware – For multiple element arrangements involving our emulation hardware systems, we allocate revenue to each element based on the relative selling price of each deliverable. In order to meet the separation criteria to allocate revenue to each element we must determine the standalone selling price of each element using a hierarchy of evidence. The authoritative guidance requires that, in the absence of VSOE or third-party evidence (TPE), a company must develop an estimated selling price (ESP). ESP is defined as the price at which the vendor would transact if the deliverable was sold by the vendor regularly on a standalone basis. A company should consider market conditions as well as entity-specific factors when estimating a selling price.

When VSOE or TPE does not exist, we base our ESP for certain elements in arrangements based on either costs incurred to manufacture a product plus a reasonable profit margin or standalone sales to similar customers. In determining profit margins, we consider current market conditions, pricing strategies related to the class of customer, and the level of penetration we have with the customer. In other cases, we may have limited sales on a standalone basis to the same or similar customers and/or guaranteed pricing on future purchases of the same item. If we are unable to demonstrate value on a standalone basis of an element, we could be required to combine elements which could impact the timing of revenue recognition if not delivered together.

Reclassification

Certain immaterial reclassifications have been made in the condensed consolidated balance sheet to correct the presentation as of January 31, 2011. Specifically, we made a reclassification to other assets of $5,481 which was incorrectly classified as other receivables.