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OVERVIEW, BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies) | 6 Months Ended
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Apr. 30, 2016
Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
Overview, Segment Structure and Basis of Presentation | Overview. Agilent Technologies, Inc. ("we", "Agilent" or the "company"), incorporated in Delaware in May 1999, is a global leader in life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemical markets, providing application focused solutions that include instruments, software, services and consumables for the entire laboratory workflow. Our fiscal year-end is October 31, and our fiscal quarters end on January 31, April 30 and July 31. Unless otherwise stated, these dates refer to our fiscal year and fiscal quarters. Basis of Presentation. We have prepared the accompanying financial data for the three and six months ended April 30, 2016 and 2015 pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) in the U.S. have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. The accompanying financial data and information should be read in conjunction with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2015. In the opinion of management, the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements contain all normal and recurring adjustments necessary for a fair statement of our condensed consolidated balance sheet as of April 30, 2016 and October 31, 2015, condensed consolidated statement of comprehensive income (loss) for the three and six months ended April 30, 2016 and 2015, condensed consolidated statement of operations for the three and six months ended April 30, 2016 and 2015, and condensed consolidated statement of cash flows for the six months ended April 30, 2016 and 2015.
Reclassification | Revision of Services and Other and Product Net Revenues and related Cost of Sales. In 2015, we revised amounts shown in our condensed consolidated statement of operations to more accurately reflect the character of items delivered to customers. Our diagnostic and genomics segment identified a stream of service revenues that had been presented as product revenue in the prior year. We have now revised prior year's presentation to show the revenue within services and other. The cost of sales associated with these newly identified service revenues has also been revised to align with the new presentation. For the three and six months ended April 30, 2015 services and other revenue increased $9 million and $15 million and services and other cost of sales increased $6 million and $11 million with corresponding reductions in product revenue and cost of sales. These corrections to the classifications are not considered to be material to current or prior periods and had no impact to our results of operations previously reported in our condensed consolidated statement of operations.
Use of Estimates | Use of Estimates. The preparation of condensed consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP in the U.S. requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in our condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Management bases its estimates on historical experience and various other assumptions believed to be reasonable. Although these estimates are based on management’s best knowledge of current events and actions that may impact the company in the future, actual results may be different from the estimates. Our critical accounting policies are those that affect our financial statements materially and involve difficult, subjective or complex judgments by management. Those policies are revenue recognition, valuation of goodwill and purchased intangible assets, inventory valuation, share-based compensation, retirement and post-retirement plan assumptions and accounting for income taxes.
Variable Interest Entity Disclosure | Variable Interest Entities. We make a determination upon entering into an arrangement whether an entity in which we have made an investment is considered a Variable Interest Entity (“VIE”). The company evaluates its investments in privately held companies on an ongoing basis. We have determined that as of April 30, 2016 there were no VIE’s required to be consolidated in the company’s consolidated financial statements because we do not have a controlling financial interest in any of the VIE’s that we have invested in. We account for these investments under either the equity or cost method, depending on the circumstances. We periodically reassess whether we are the primary beneficiary of a VIE. The reassessment process considers whether we have acquired the power to direct the most significant activities of the VIE through changes in governing documents or other circumstances. We also reconsider whether entities previously determined not to be VIEs have become VIEs, based on changes in facts and circumstances including changes in contractual arrangements and capital structure. As of April 30, 2016, the carrying value of our investments in VIE’s was $103 million with a maximum exposure of $109 million which includes our loans to our investments. The investments are included on the long term investments line of the condensed consolidated balance sheet. During the three months ended April 30, 2016, Agilent made a preferred stock investment in Lasergen for $80 million. Agilent’s initial ownership stake was 48 percent and we have also joined the board of Lasergen and signed a collaboration agreement. We have the option to acquire all of the remaining shares of Lasergen until March 2, 2018, for an additional consideration of $105 million. Lasergen is a VIE, however, we do not consolidate the entity in our financial statements because we do not have the power to direct the activities of the VIE that most significantly impact the VIE's economic performance. Because Agilent owns preferred stock of Lasergen, we account for this investment under the cost method. As of April 30, 2016, both the carrying value and maximum exposure of the Lasergen investment was $80 million. The maximum exposure is equal to the carrying value because we do not have future funding commitments.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments | Fair Value of Financial Instruments. The carrying values of certain of our financial instruments including cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts payable, accrued compensation and other accrued liabilities approximate fair value because of their short maturities. The fair value of long-term equity investments is determined using quoted market prices for those securities when available. For those long-term equity investments accounted for under the cost or equity method, their carrying value approximates their estimated fair value. Equity method investments are reported at the amount of the company’s initial investment and adjusted each period for the company’s share of the investee’s income or loss and dividend paid. The fair value of our long-term debt, calculated from quoted prices which are primarily Level 1 inputs under the accounting guidance fair value hierarchy, exceeds the carrying value by approximately $87 million and $30 million as of April 30, 2016 and October 31, 2015, respectively. The change in the excess of fair value over carrying value in the six months ended April 30, 2016 is due to fluctuations in market interest rates. The fair value of foreign currency contracts used for hedging purposes is estimated internally by using inputs tied to active markets. These inputs, for example, interest rate yield curves, foreign exchange rates, and forward and spot prices for currencies are observable in the market or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities. See also Note 9, "Fair Value Measurements" for additional information on the fair value of financial instruments.
Goodwill and Purchased Intangible Assets | Goodwill and Purchased Intangible Assets. Under the authoritative guidance we have the option to perform a qualitative assessment to determine whether further impairment testing is necessary. The accounting standard gives an entity the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether performing the two-step test is necessary. If an entity believes, as a result of its qualitative assessment, that it is more-likely-than-not (i.e. greater than 50% chance) that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, the quantitative impairment test will be required. Otherwise, no further testing will be required. The guidance includes examples of events and circumstances that might indicate that a reporting unit's fair value is less than its carrying amount. These include macro-economic conditions such as deterioration in the entity's operating environment or industry or market considerations; entity-specific events such as increasing costs, declining financial performance, or loss of key personnel; or other events such as an expectation that a reporting unit will be sold or a sustained decrease in the stock price on either an absolute basis or relative to peers. If it is determined, as a result of the qualitative assessment, that it is more-likely-than-not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, the provisions of authoritative guidance require that we perform a two-step impairment test on goodwill. In the first step, we compare the fair value of each reporting unit to its carrying value. The second step (if necessary) measures the amount of impairment by applying fair-value-based tests to the individual assets and liabilities within each reporting unit. As defined in the authoritative guidance, a reporting unit is an operating segment, or one level below an operating segment. We aggregate components of an operating segment that have similar economic characteristics into our reporting units. In fiscal year 2015, we assessed goodwill impairment for our three reporting units which consisted of three segments: life sciences and applied markets, diagnostics and genomics and Agilent CrossLab. We performed a quantitative test for goodwill impairment of the three reporting units, as of September 30, 2015. Based on the results of our testing, the fair value of these reporting units are greater than their respective carrying values. Each quarter we review the events and circumstances to determine if goodwill impairment is indicated. There was no impairment of goodwill during the three and six months ended April 30, 2016 and 2015. Purchased intangible assets consist primarily of acquired developed technologies, proprietary know-how, trademarks, and customer relationships and are amortized using the best estimate of the asset's useful life that reflect the pattern in which the economic benefits are consumed or used up or a straight-line method ranging from 6 months to 15 years. In-process research and development ("IPR&D") is initially capitalized at fair value as an intangible asset with an indefinite life and assessed for impairment thereafter. When the IPR&D project is complete, it is reclassified as an amortizable purchased intangible asset and is amortized over its estimated useful life. If an IPR&D project is abandoned, Agilent will record a charge for the value of the related intangible asset to Agilent's condensed consolidated statement of operations in the period it is abandoned. Agilent's indefinite-lived intangible assets are IPR&D intangible assets. The accounting guidance allows a qualitative approach for testing indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment, similar to the issued impairment testing guidance for goodwill and allows the option to first assess qualitative factors (events and circumstances) that could have affected the significant inputs used in determining the fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible asset to determine whether it is more-likely-than-not (i.e. greater than 50% chance) that the indefinite-lived intangible asset is impaired. An organization may choose to bypass the qualitative assessment for any indefinite-lived intangible asset in any period and proceed directly to calculating its fair value. We performed a qualitative test for impairment of indefinite-lived intangible assets as of September 30, 2015. Based on the results of our qualitative testing, we believe that it is more-likely-than-not that the fair value of these indefinite-lived intangible assets is greater than their respective carrying values. Each quarter we review the events and circumstances to determine if impairment of indefinite-lived intangible assets is indicated. There were no indicators of impairment of indefinite-lived intangible assets during the three and six months ended April 30, 2016 and 2015.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for the business description and basis of presentation concepts. Business description describes the nature and type of organization including but not limited to organizational structure as may be applicable to holding companies, parent and subsidiary relationships, business divisions, business units, business segments, affiliates and information about significant ownership of the reporting entity. Basis of presentation describes the underlying basis used to prepare the financial statements (for example, US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, Other Comprehensive Basis of Accounting, IFRS). + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Disclosure of accounting policy for consolidation to describe the significant judgments and assumptions made in determining whether a variable interest held by the entity requires the variable interest entity to be consolidated and (or) disclose information about its involvement with the variable interest entity; the methodology used by the entity for determining whether or not it is the primary beneficiary of the variable interest entity; and the significant factors considered and judgments made in determining that the power to direct the activities that significantly impact the economic performance of the variable interest entity are shared (as defined). + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 810 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 5A -Subparagraph (a) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=52262685&loc=SL6759159-111685 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 810 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 4 -Subparagraph (e) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=52262685&loc=d3e5728-111685 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 810 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2AA -Subparagraph a -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=52262685&loc=SL6759068-111685 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 810 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2A -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=52262685&loc=SL6225816-111685 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=51655414&loc=d3e18780-107790 + Details
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