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Financial Guarantees and Warranties | 12 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2016
Financial Guarantees And Warranties [Abstract] |
Financial Guarantees And Warranties | Financial Guarantees and Warranties Financial Guarantees We have agreements with certain of our customers’ financial institutions, mainly in Canada and Europe, under which we have guaranteed the repurchase of our customers’ inventory or our customers’ debt in the event these customers are unable to meet their obligations to those financial institutions. For our inventory repurchase agreements, among other requirements, inventories must be in resalable condition and any repurchase would be at a discount. The inventory repurchase agreements mostly relate to certain Canadian customers and generally range from one to two years. Customers’ debt guarantees range from one to twelve years and are primarily provided to facilitate financing for certain customers. The majority of our customers’ debt guarantees are secured by certain assets of the customer. At March 31, 2016, the maximum amounts of inventory repurchase guarantees and customers’ debt guarantees were $201 million and $139 million, of which $1 million had been accrued. The expirations of these financial guarantees are as follows: $194 million, $8 million, $10 million, $12 million and $12 million from 2017 through 2021 and $104 million thereafter. At March 31, 2016, our banks and insurance companies have issued $142 million of standby letters of credit and surety bonds, which were issued on our behalf mostly related to our customer contracts and in order to meet the security requirements for statutory licenses and permits, court and fiduciary obligations and our workers’ compensation and automotive liability programs. Additionally, at March 31, 2016, we have a commitment to contribute up to $4 million to a non-consolidated investment for building and equipment construction. Our software license agreements generally include certain provisions for indemnifying customers against liabilities if our software products infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights. To date, we have not incurred any material costs as a result of such indemnification agreements and have not accrued any liabilities related to such obligations. In conjunction with certain transactions, primarily divestitures, we may provide routine indemnification agreements (such as retention of previously existing environmental, tax and employee liabilities) whose terms vary in duration and often are not explicitly defined. Where appropriate, obligations for such indemnifications are recorded as liabilities. Because the amounts of these indemnification obligations often are not explicitly stated, the overall maximum amount of these commitments cannot be reasonably estimated. Other than obligations recorded as liabilities at the time of divestiture, we have historically not made material payments as a result of these indemnification provisions. Warranties In the normal course of business, we provide certain warranties and indemnification protection for our products and services. For example, we provide warranties that the pharmaceutical and medical-surgical products we distribute are in compliance with the U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and other applicable laws and regulations. We have received the same warranties from our suppliers, which customarily are the manufacturers of the products. In addition, we have indemnity obligations to our customers for these products, which have also been provided to us from our suppliers, either through express agreement or by operation of law. We also provide warranties regarding the performance of software and products we sell. Our liability under these warranties is to bring the product into compliance with previously agreed upon specifications. For software products, this may result in additional project costs, which are reflected in our estimates used for the percentage-of-completion method of accounting for software installation services within these contracts. In addition, most of our customers who purchase our software and automation products also purchase annual maintenance agreements. Revenues from these maintenance agreements are recognized on a straight-line basis over the contract period and the cost of servicing product warranties is charged to expense when claims become estimable. Accrued warranty costs were not material to the consolidated balance sheets.

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