Business And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies (Policy)

12 Months Ended

Jan. 31, 2012

Business And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Description Of Business

Description of Business

Tech Data Corporation ("Tech Data" or the "Company") is one of the world's largest wholesale distributors of technology products. The Company serves as an indispensable link in the technology supply chain by bringing products from the world's leading technology vendors to market, as well as providing customers with advanced logistics capabilities and value-added services. Tech Data's customers include value-added resellers, direct marketers, retailers and corporate resellers who support the diverse technology needs of end users. The Company is managed in two geographic segments: the Americas (including North America and South America) and Europe.

Principles Of Consolidation

Principles of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Tech Data and its subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Noncontrolling interest is recognized for the portion of a consolidated joint venture not owned by the Company. The Company operates on a fiscal year that ends on January 31.

Basis Of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared by the Company pursuant to the rules and regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The Company prepares its financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("U.S. GAAP"). These principles require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Revenue Recognition

Revenue Recognition

Revenue is recognized once four criteria are met: (1) the Company must have persuasive evidence that an arrangement exists; (2) delivery must occur, which generally happens at the point of shipment (this includes the transfer of both title and risk of loss, provided that no significant obligations remain); (3) the price must be fixed or determinable; and (4) collectability must be reasonably assured. Shipping revenue is included in net sales while the related costs, including shipping and handling costs, are included in the cost of products sold. The Company allows its customers to return product for exchange or credit subject to certain limitations. A provision for such returns is recorded at the time of sale based upon historical experience. Taxes imposed by governmental authorities on the Company's revenue-producing activities with customers, such as sales taxes and value-added taxes, are excluded from net sales.

Service revenue associated with configuration, training and other services is recognized when the work is complete and the four criteria discussed above have been met. Service revenues have represented less than 10% of consolidated net sales for fiscal years 2012, 2011 and 2010.

The Company generated approximately 25%, 27% and 28% of consolidated net sales in fiscal 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively, from products purchased from Hewlett-Packard Company. There were no other vendors and no customers that accounted for 10% or more of the Company's consolidated net sales in fiscal 2012, 2011 or 2010.

Cash And Cash Equivalents

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Short-term investments which are highly liquid and have an original maturity of 90 days or less are considered cash equivalents.

Historically, the Company presented certain book overdrafts, representing checks issued and wire transfers that have been initiated which have not been presented for payment to the banks, as accounts payable. Based on its agreements with its banks in certain countries, the Company has determined that a significant portion of these book overdrafts are covered by rights of setoff in favor of the respective banks and therefore, the Company has classified these amounts as a reduction of cash and accounts payable as of January 31, 2012. The Company has adjusted its financial statements for the years ended January 31, 2011 and 2010 to reflect the right of setoff. The impact of this adjustment on prior periods was to decrease cash and accounts payable as of January 31, 2011 by $76.2 million and to increase cash flows from operating activities by $57.5 million for the year ended January 31, 2011 and to decrease cash flows from operating activities by $8.5 million for the year ended January 31, 2010. The impact of this adjustment on prior quarters in fiscal 2012 was to decrease cash and accounts payable as of October 31, July 31, and April 30, 2011 by $74.5 million, $97.8 million and $115.5 million, respectively, and to increase cash flows from operating activities by $1.7 million for the year to date period ended October 31, 2011 and to decrease cash flows from operating activities by $21.6 million and $39.2 million for the year to date periods ended July 31, 2011 and April 30, 2011, respectively. Management concluded that these adjustments are immaterial to the consolidated financial statements.

The Company had other book overdrafts included in accounts payable of $28.7 million and $20.1 million at January 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, related to bank accounts where a right of setoff does not exist.

Accounts Receivable

Accounts Receivable

The Company maintains an allowance for doubtful accounts for estimated losses resulting from the inability of our customers to make required payments. In estimating the required allowance, the Company takes into consideration the overall quality and aging of the receivable portfolio, the large number of customers and their dispersion across wide geographic areas, the existence of credit insurance, specifically identified customer risks, historical write-off experience and the current economic environment. If actual customer performance were to deteriorate to an extent not expected by the Company, additional allowances may be required which could have an adverse effect on the Company's financial results. Conversely, if actual customer performance were to improve to an extent not expected by us, a reduction in the allowance may be required which could have a favorable effect on the Company's consolidated financial results.

Inventories

Inventories

Inventories, consisting entirely of finished goods, are stated at the lower of cost or market, cost being determined on the first-in, first-out ("FIFO") method. Inventory is written down for estimated obsolescence equal to the difference between the cost of inventory and the estimated market value, based upon an aging analysis of the inventory on hand, specifically known inventory-related risks (such as technological obsolescence and the nature of vendor terms surrounding price protection and product returns), foreign currency fluctuations for foreign-sourced product and assumptions about future demand. Market conditions or changes in terms and conditions by the Company's vendors that are less favorable than those projected by management may require additional inventory write-downs, which could have an adverse effect on the Company's consolidated financial results.

Vendor Incentives

Vendor Incentives

The Company receives incentives from vendors related to cooperative advertising allowances, infrastructure funding, volume rebates and other incentive agreements. These incentives are generally under quarterly, semi-annual or annual agreements with the vendors; however, some of these incentives are negotiated on an ad-hoc basis to support specific programs mutually developed with the vendor. Unrestricted volume rebates and early payment discounts received from vendors are recorded when they are earned as a reduction of inventory and as a reduction of cost of products sold as the related inventory is sold. Vendor incentives for specifically identified cooperative advertising programs and infrastructure funding are recorded when earned as adjustments to product costs or selling, general and administrative expenses, depending on the nature of the program.

Reserves for receivables on vendor programs are recorded for estimated losses resulting from vendors' inability to pay or rejections of claims by vendors. Should amounts recorded as outstanding receivables from vendors be deemed uncollectible, additional allowances may be required which could have an adverse effect on the Company's consolidated financial results. Conversely, if amounts recorded as outstanding receivables from vendor were to improve to an extent not expected by us, a reduction in the allowance may be required which could have a favorable effect on the Company's consolidated financial results.

Property And Equipment

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are stated at cost and property and equipment under capital leases are stated at the present value of the future minimum lease payments determined at the inception of the lease. Depreciation expense includes depreciation of purchased property and equipment and assets recorded under capital leases. Depreciation expense is computed over the shorter of the estimated economic lives or lease periods using the straight-line method as follows:

	Years
Buildings and improvements		15-39
Leasehold improvements		3-10
Furniture, fixtures and equipment		3-10

Expenditures for renewals and improvements that significantly add to productive capacity or extend the useful life of an asset are capitalized. Expenditures for maintenance and repairs are charged to operations when incurred. When assets are sold or retired, the cost of the asset and the related accumulated depreciation are eliminated and any gain or loss is recognized at such time.

Long-Lived Assets

Long-Lived Assets

Long-lived assets are reviewed for potential impairment at such time when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the asset may not be recoverable. An impairment loss is evaluated when the sum of the expected, undiscounted future net cash flows is less than the carrying amount of the asset. Any impairment loss is measured by comparing the fair value of the asset to its carrying value.

Goodwill

Goodwill

The Company performs an annual review for the potential impairment of the carrying value of goodwill, or more frequently if current events and circumstances indicate a possible impairment. An impairment loss is charged to expense in the period identified. This testing includes the determination of each reporting unit's fair value using market multiples and discounted cash flow modeling. The Company performs its annual review for goodwill impairment as of January 31st of each fiscal year.

Intangible Assets

Intangible Assets

Included within other assets at both January 31, 2012 and 2011 are certain intangible assets including capitalized software and development costs, as well as customer and vendor relationships, noncompete agreements and trademarks acquired in connection with various business acquisitions. Such capitalized costs and intangible assets are being amortized over a period of three to ten years.

The Company's capitalized software has been obtained or developed for internal use only. Development and acquisition costs are capitalized for computer software only when management authorizes and commits to funding a computer software project through the approval of a capital expenditure requisition, and the software project is either for the development of new software, to increase the life of existing software or to add significantly to the functionality of existing software. Once these requirements have been met, capitalization would begin at the point that conceptual formulation, evaluation, design, and testing of possible software project alternatives have been completed. Capitalization ceases when the software project is substantially complete and ready for its intended use.

Costs of computer software developed or obtained for internal use that are capitalized include external direct costs of materials and services consumed in developing or obtaining internal-use computer software and payroll and payroll-related costs for the Company's IT programmers performing software coding and testing activities (including development of data conversion programs) directly associated with the internal-use computer software project. Prepaid maintenance fees associated with a software application are accounted for separately from the related software and amortized over the life of the maintenance agreement. General, administrative, overhead, training, non-development data conversion processes, and maintenance costs, as well as the costs associated with the preliminary project and post-implementation stages are expensed as incurred.

The Company's accounting policy is to amortize capitalized software costs on a straight-line basis over periods ranging from three to ten years, depending upon the nature of the software, the stability of the hardware platform on which the software is installed, its fit in the Company's overall strategy, and our experience with similar software. It is the Company's policy to amortize personal computer-related software, such as spreadsheet and word processing applications, over three years, which reflects the rapid changes in personal computer software. Mainframe software licenses are amortized over five years, which is in line with the longer economic life of mainframe systems compared to personal computer systems. Finally, strategic applications such as customer relationship management and enterprise-wide systems are amortized over seven to ten years based on their strategic fit and the Company's historical experience with such applications.

Product Warranty

Product Warranty

The Company's vendors generally warrant the products distributed by the Company and allow the Company to return defective products, including those that have been returned to the Company by its customers. The Company does not independently warrant the products it distributes; however, in several countries where the Company operates, the Company is responsible for defective product as a matter of law. The time period required by law in certain countries exceeds the warranty period provided by the manufacturer. The Company is obligated to provide warranty protection for sales of certain IT products within the European Union ("EU") for up to two years as required under the EU directive where vendors have not affirmatively agreed to provide pass-through protection. To date, the Company has not incurred any significant costs for defective products under these legal requirements. The Company does warrant services with regard to products integrated for its customers. A provision for estimated warranty costs is recorded at the time of sale and periodically adjusted to reflect actual experience. To date, the Company has not incurred any significant service warranty costs. Fees charged for products configured by the Company represented less than 10% of net sales for fiscal years 2012, 2011 and 2010.

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

Income taxes are accounted for under the asset and liability method, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been included in the financial statements or tax returns. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on differences between the financial statements and tax basis of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to reverse. The effect of a change in tax rates on deferred tax assets and liabilities is recognized in income in the fiscal period that includes the enactment date. Deferred taxes have not been provided on the cumulative undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries or the cumulative translation adjustment related to those investments because such amounts are expected to be reinvested indefinitely.

The Company's future effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being lower than anticipated in countries with lower statutory rates, changes in the relative mix of taxable income and taxable loss jurisdictions, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets or liabilities or changes in tax laws or interpretations thereof. In addition, the Company is subject to the continuous examination of its income tax returns by the Internal Revenue Service and other tax authorities. The Company regularly assesses the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of its provision for income taxes. To the extent the Company were to prevail in matters for which accruals have been established or to be required to pay amounts in excess of such accruals, the Company's effective tax rate in a given financial statement period could be materially affected.

Concentration Of Credit Risk

Concentration of Credit Risk

The Company's financial instruments which are subject to concentrations of credit risk consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable and foreign currency exchange contracts. The Company's cash and cash equivalents are deposited and/or invested with various financial institutions globally that are monitored on a regular basis by the Company for credit quality.

The Company sells its products to a large base of value-added resellers, direct marketers, retailers and corporate resellers throughout North America, South America and Europe. The Company performs ongoing credit evaluations of its customers and generally does not require collateral. The Company has obtained credit insurance, primarily in Europe, which insures a percentage of credit extended by the Company to certain of its customers against possible loss. The Company makes provisions for estimated credit losses at the time of sale. No single customer accounted for more than 10% of the Company's net sales during fiscal years 2012, 2011 or 2010.

The Company also enters into foreign currency exchange contracts. In the event of a failure to honor one of these contracts by one of the banks with which the Company has contracted, the Company believes any loss would be limited in most circumstances to the exchange rate differential from the time the contract was executed until the time the contract was settled. The Company's foreign currency exchange contracts are executed with various financial institutions globally that are monitored on a regular basis by the Company for credit quality.

Foreign Currency Translation

Foreign Currency Translation

Assets and liabilities of foreign operations that operate in a local functional currency environment are translated to U.S. dollars at the exchange rates in effect at the balance sheet date, with the related translation gains or losses reported as components of accumulated other comprehensive income in shareholders' equity. All income and expense accounts of foreign operations operating in a local functional currency environment are translated at weighted average exchange rates for each period during the year.

Derivative Financial Instruments

Derivative Financial Instruments

The Company faces exposure to changes in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates. The Company reduces its exposure by creating offsetting positions through the use of derivative financial instruments, in the form of foreign currency forward contracts, in situations where there are not offsetting balances that create an economic hedge. The majority of these instruments have terms of 90 days or less. It is the Company's policy to utilize financial instruments to reduce risk where appropriate and prohibit entering into derivative financial instruments for speculative or trading purposes.

Derivative financial instruments are marked-to-market each period with gains and losses on these contracts recorded in the Company's Consolidated Statement of Income within "cost of products sold" for derivative instruments used to manage the Company's exposure to foreign denominated accounts receivable and accounts payable and within "other expense (income), net" for derivative instruments used to manage the Company's exposure to foreign denominated financing transactions. Such mark-to-market gains and losses are recorded in the period in which their value changes, with the offsetting entry for unsettled positions being recorded to either other current assets or other current liabilities.

Comprehensive Income

Comprehensive Income

Comprehensive income is defined as the change in equity (net assets) of a business enterprise during a period from transactions and other events and circumstances from non-owner sources, and is comprised of "net income" and "other comprehensive income."

The Company's accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) included in total equity is comprised exclusively of changes in the Company's currency translation adjustment account ("CTA account"), including income taxes attributable to those changes. Total accumulated other comprehensive income includes $23.0 million of income taxes at January 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

Comprehensive income attributable to shareholders of the Company decreased during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2012 as compared to the prior year primarily as a result of the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against most currencies in which the Company operated at January 31, 2012 compared to January 31, 2011. Comprehensive income attributable to shareholders of the Company decreased during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2011 as compared to the prior year due to strengthening U.S. dollar against most foreign currencies in which the Company operated during fiscal 2011. The spot rate of the U.S. dollar was relatively stable versus other foreign currencies at January 31, 2011 compared to January 31, 2010.

Stock-Based Compensation

Stock-Based Compensation

The Company records all equity-based incentive grants to employees and non-employee members of the Company's Board of Directors in "selling, general and administrative expenses" in the Company's Consolidated Statement of Income based on their fair values determined on the date of grant. Compensation expense, reduced for estimated forfeitures, is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the award, which is generally the vesting term of the outstanding equity awards. The Company estimates forfeiture rates based on its historical experience during the preceding five fiscal years.

Treasury Stock

Treasury Stock

Treasury stock is accounted for at cost. The reissuance of shares from treasury stock for exercises of equity-based awards or other corporate purposes is based on the weighted average purchase price of the shares.

Contingencies

Contingencies

The Company accrues for contingent obligations, including estimated legal costs, when the obligation is probable and the amount is reasonably estimable. As facts concerning contingencies become known, the Company reassesses its position and makes appropriate adjustments to the financial statements. Estimates that are particularly sensitive to future changes include those related to tax, legal and other regulatory matters such as imports and exports, the imposition of international governmental controls, changes in the interpretation and enforcement of international laws (particularly related to items such as duty and taxation), and the impact of local economic conditions and practices, which are all subject to change as events evolve and as additional information becomes available during the administrative and litigation process.