Summary of Accounting Policies (Policies) | 9 Months Ended |
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Sep. 30, 2011 | |
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Abstract] | |
Revenue Recognition, Multiple-deliverable Arrangements, Description [Policy Text Block] | The Company's significant accounting policies as reported in NCR's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 were amended in the first quarter of 2011 upon the adoption of the new revenue recognition accounting pronouncements discussed above. While the adoption of the new accounting pronouncements had no material impact on the Company's Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for the nine months ended September 30, 2011, the Company's previously disclosed revenue recognition policy related to multiple-element arrangements and software was updated, and is presented below as revised. NCR frequently enters into multiple-element arrangements with its customers including hardware, software, professional consulting services, transaction services and maintenance support services. For arrangements involving multiple deliverables, when deliverables include software and non-software products and services, NCR evaluates and separates each deliverable to determine whether it represents a separate unit of accounting based on the following criteria: (a) whether the delivered item has value to the customer on a stand-alone basis; and (b) if the contract includes a general right of return relative to the delivered item, whether delivery or performance of the undelivered items is considered probable and substantially in the control of NCR. For arrangements entered into or materially modified after January 1, 2011, consideration is allocated to each unit of accounting based on the units' relative selling prices. In such circumstances, the Company uses a hierarchy to determine the selling price to be used for allocating revenue to each deliverable: (i) vendor-specific objective evidence of selling price (VSOE); (ii) third-party evidence of selling price (TPE); and (iii) best estimate of selling price (BESP). VSOE generally exists only when the Company sells the deliverable separately and is the price actually charged by the Company for that deliverable. VSOE is established for our software maintenance services and we use TPE to establish selling prices for our non-software related services, which include hardware maintenance, non-software related professional services, and transaction services. The Company uses BESP to allocate revenue when we are unable to establish VSOE or TPE of selling price. BESP is primarily used for elements such as hardware and software that are not consistently priced within a narrow range. The Company determines BESP for a deliverable by considering multiple factors including product class, geography, average discount, and management's historical pricing practices. Amounts allocated to the delivered hardware and software elements are recognized at the time of sale, provided the other conditions for revenue recognition have been met. Amounts allocated to the undelivered maintenance and other services elements are recognized as the services are provided or on a straight-line basis over the service period. In certain instances, customer acceptance is required prior to the passage of title and risk of loss of the delivered products. In such cases, revenue is not recognized until the customer acceptance is obtained. Delivery and acceptance generally occur in the same reporting period. For arrangements entered into prior to January 1, 2011, the Company has not applied BESP. In such arrangements, if the Company has the requisite evidence of selling price for the undelivered elements but not for the delivered elements, the Company applies the residual method to allocate arrangement consideration. |
Revenue Recognition, Software [Policy Text Block] | In situations where NCR's solutions contain software that is more than incidental, revenue related to the software and software-related elements is recognized in accordance with authoritative guidance on software revenue recognition. For the software and software-related elements of such transactions, revenue is allocated based on the relative fair value of each element, and fair value is determined by VSOE. If the Company cannot objectively determine the fair value of any undelivered element included in such multiple-element arrangements, the Company defers revenue until all elements are delivered and services have been performed, or until fair value can objectively be determined for any remaining undelivered elements. When the fair value of a delivered element has not been established, but fair value evidence exists for the undelivered elements, the Company uses the residual method to recognize revenue. Under the residual method, the fair value of the undelivered elements is deferred and the remaining portion of the arrangement fee is allocated to the delivered elements and is recognized as revenue. |