We report segment information based on the “management” approach. The management approach designates the internal reporting used by management for making decisions and assessing performance as the source of our reportable segments.

Our Chief Executive Officer, the chief operating decision maker, reviews revenue and gross margin information for each of our reportable segments, but does not review operating expenses on a segment by segment basis. In addition, with the exception of goodwill and intangible assets, we do not identify or allocate our assets by the reportable segments.

Our business is organized into three reportable segments: Digital Media, Digital Experience and Publishing. These segments provide our senior management with a comprehensive financial view of our key businesses. Our segments are aligned around our

two strategic growth opportunities as described in the “Business Overview” within Part I, Item 1, placing our Publishing business in a third segment that contains some of our mature products and solutions.

Revenue for fiscal 2019 presented below is in accordance with the new revenue standard that was adopted under the modified retrospective method. Prior period revenue has not been restated.



(dollars in thousands)	Digital Media			Digital Experience			Publishing			Total
Fiscal 2019
Revenue	$	7,706,983		$	3,206,169		$	258,145		$	11,171,297
Cost of revenue	289,639			1,362,886			20,195			1,672,720
Gross profit	$	7,417,344		$	1,843,283		$	237,950		$	9,498,577
Gross profit as a percentage of revenue	96		%	57		%	92		%	85		%
Fiscal 2018
Revenue	$	6,325,315		$	2,443,745		$	260,948		$	9,030,008
Cost of revenue	249,386			922,414			23,199			1,194,999
Gross profit	$	6,075,929		$	1,521,331		$	237,749		$	7,835,009
Gross profit as a percentage of revenue	96		%	62		%	91		%	87		%
Fiscal 2017
Revenue	$	5,010,579		$	2,030,324		$	260,602		$	7,301,505
Cost of revenue	239,994			747,005			23,492			1,010,491
Gross profit	$	4,770,585		$	1,283,319		$	237,110		$	6,291,014
Gross profit as a percentage of revenue	95		%	63		%	91		%	86		%



(in thousands)	2019		2018		2017
Americas:
United States	$	5,904,185	$	4,632,469	$	3,830,845
Other	601,721		484,296		385,686
Total Americas	6,505,906		5,116,765		4,216,531
EMEA	2,975,243		2,550,062		1,985,105
APAC:
Japan	751,542		609,361		524,254
Other	938,606		753,820		575,615
Total APAC	1,690,148		1,363,181		1,099,869
Revenue	$	11,171,297	$	9,030,008	$	7,301,505



(in thousands)	2019		2018		2017
Creative Cloud	$	6,482,345	$	5,343,498	$	4,173,964
Document Cloud	1,224,638		981,817		836,615
Total	$	7,706,983	$	6,325,315	$	5,010,579



(in thousands)	2019		2018		2017
Digital Media	$	7,208,238	$	5,857,700	$	4,480,745
Digital Experience	2,670,748		1,949,185		1,552,536
Publishing	115,477		115,267		100,588
Total	$	9,994,463	$	7,922,152	$	6,133,869

A receivable is recorded when an unconditional right to invoice and receive payment exists, such that only the passage of time is required before payment of consideration is due. Timing of revenue recognition may differ from the timing of invoicing to customers. Certain performance obligations may require payment before delivery of the license or service to the customer. Included in trade receivables on the Consolidated Balance Sheets are unbilled receivable balances which have not yet been invoiced, and are typically related to license revenue or services which are delivered prior to invoicing occurring.

The opening balance of trade receivables, net of allowances for doubtful accounts, as of December 1, 2018 was $1.36 billion, inclusive of unbilled receivables of $105.8 million. As of November 29, 2019, the balance of trade receivables, net of allowances for doubtful accounts, was $1.53 billion, inclusive of unbilled receivables of $149.3 million.

We maintain an allowance for doubtful accounts which reflects our best estimate of potentially uncollectible trade receivables. The allowance is based on both specific and general reserves. We regularly review our trade receivables allowance by considering factors such as historical experience, credit-worthiness, the age of the trade receivable balances and current economic conditions that may affect a customer’s ability to pay and we specifically reserve for those deemed uncollectible.



(in thousands)	2019			2018			2017
Beginning balance	$	14,981		$	9,151		$	6,214
Increase due to acquisition	10			5,602			2,391
Charged to operating expenses	5,324			5,962			4,411
Deductions⁽¹⁾	(10,665		)	(5,734		)	(3,865		)
Ending balance	$	9,650		$	14,981		$	9,151

A contract asset is recognized when a conditional right to consideration exists and transfer of control has occurred. Contract assets are typically related to subscription and hosted service contracts where the transaction price allocated to the satisfied performance obligations exceeds the value of billings to date. Contract assets are included in prepaid expenses and other current assets for the current portion and other assets for the long-term portion on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. We regularly review contract asset balances for impairment, considering factors such as historical experience, credit-worthiness, age of the balance and other economic or business factors. Contract asset impairments were not significant in fiscal 2019.

Deferred revenue primarily consists of billings or payments received in advance of revenue recognition from subscription services, including non-cancellable and non-refundable committed funds and deposits. Deferred revenue is recognized as revenue when transfer of control to customers has occurred. Customers are typically invoiced for these agreements in regular installments and revenue is recognized ratably over the contractual subscription period. The deferred revenue balance is influenced by several factors, including seasonality, the compounding effects of renewals, invoice duration, invoice timing, size and new business linearity within the quarter. Deferred revenue does not represent the total contract value of annual or multi-year non-cancellable subscription agreements.

Payment terms and conditions vary by contract type, although terms generally include a requirement of payment within 30 to 60 days. In instances where the timing of revenue recognition differs from the timing of invoicing, we have determined our contracts generally do not include a significant financing component. The primary purpose of our invoicing terms is to provide customers with simplified and predictable ways of purchasing our products and services, such as invoicing at the beginning of a subscription term with revenue recognized ratably over the contract period, and not to receive financing from our customers. Any potential financing fees are considered insignificant in the context of our contracts.

The adjusted opening balance of deferred revenue as of December 1, 2018 was $3.00 billion. As of November 29, 2019, the balance of deferred revenue was $3.50 billion, inclusive of $265.4 million of non-cancellable and non-refundable committed funds and $56.9 million of refundable customer deposits. Arrangements with non-cancellable and non-refundable committed funds provide our customers options to either renew monthly on-premise term-based licenses or use some or all funds to purchase other Adobe products or services. Refundable customer deposits represent arrangements in which the customer has a unilateral cancellation right for which we are obligated to refund amounts paid related to products or services not yet delivered or provided at the time of cancellation on a prorated basis.

Significant movements in the deferred revenue balance during the period consisted of increases due to payments received prior to transfer of control of the underlying performance obligations to the customer and deferred revenue assumed through business combinations, which were offset by decreases due to revenue recognized in the period. During the year ended November 29, 2019, approximately $2.8 billion of revenue was recognized that was included in the adjusted opening balance of deferred revenue as of December 1, 2018.

Transaction price allocated to remaining performance obligations represents contracted revenue that has not yet been recognized, which includes deferred revenue and unbilled amounts that will be recognized as revenue in future periods. Transaction price allocated to the remaining performance obligation is influenced by several factors, including the timing of renewals and average contract terms. We applied practical expedients to exclude amounts related to performance obligations that are billed and recognized as they are delivered, optional purchases that do not represent material rights, sales- and usage-based royalties not yet consumed and any estimated amounts of variable consideration that are subject to constraint in accordance with the new revenue standard.

Remaining performance obligations were approximately $9.82 billion as of November 29, 2019, which includes $776.4 million of non-cancellable and non-refundable committed funds related to some of our enterprise customer agreements. Approximately 74% of the remaining performance obligations, excluding the aforementioned enterprise customer agreements, are expected to be recognized over the next 12 months with the remainder recognized thereafter.

We recognize an asset for the incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer if we expect the benefit of those costs to be longer than one year. We have determined that certain sales incentive programs meet the requirements to be capitalized.

The costs capitalized under the new revenue standard are primarily sales commissions paid to our sales force personnel. Capitalized costs may also include portions of fringe benefits and payroll taxes associated with compensation for incremental costs to acquire customer contracts and incentive payments to partners.

Capitalized costs to obtain a contract are amortized over the expected period of benefit, which we have determined, based on analysis, to be 5 years. Amortization of capitalized costs are included in sales and marketing expense in our Consolidated Statements of Income. During fiscal 2019, we amortized $170.9 million of capitalized contract acquisition costs into sales and marketing expense. We did not incur any impairment losses.

The opening balance of capitalized contract acquisition costs as of December 1, 2018 was $413.2 million. As of November 29, 2019, the balance of capitalized contract acquisition costs was $473.7 million, of which $314.7 million was long-term and included in other assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The remaining balance of the capitalized costs to obtain contracts was current and included in prepaid expenses and other current assets.



(in thousands)	2019			2018			2017
Beginning balance	$	25,425		$	22,006		$	23,096
Impacts of adoption of the new revenue standard	(14,733		)	—			—
Amount charged to revenue	18,276			65,241			61,031
Actual returns	(22,236		)	(61,822		)	(62,121		)
Ending balance	$	6,732		$	25,425		$	22,006

As part of our revenue reserves, we record refund liabilities for amounts that may be subject to future refunds, which include sales returns reserves and customer rebates and credits. Refund liabilities are included in accrued expenses on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.