2.0.0.10 false 1. OVERVIEW AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES 006000 - Disclosure - 1. OVERVIEW AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES true false false false 1 usd $ false false u000 Standard http://www.xbrl.org/2003/iso4217 USD iso4217 0 u001 Standard http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance shares xbrli 0 u002 Divide http://www.xbrl.org/2003/iso4217 USD iso4217 http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance shares xbrli 0 2 Notes To Financial Statements [Abstract] 0 a_NotesToFinancialStatementsAbstract a false na duration string No definition available. false false false false false true false false false false false false 1 false false false false 0 0 false false false No definition available. false 3 OVERVIEW, BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES 1 a_OverviewAndSummaryOfSignificantAccountingPolicies a false na duration string Description containing the entire organization, consolidation and basis of presentation of financial statements disclosure.... false false false false false false false false false false false terselabel false 1 false false false false 0 0 <div> <div> <table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" id="hangingindent_0" width="100%" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"> <tr valign="top"> <td style="WIDTH: 12.25pt"> <div><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">  </font></div> </td> <td> <div align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">1. OVERVIEW, BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES</font></div> </td> </tr></table> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic">Overview. </font>Agilent Technologies, Inc. (“we”, “Agilent” or the “company”), incorporated in Delaware in May 1999, is a measurement company, providing core bio-analytical and electronic measurement solutions to the life sciences, chemical analysis, communications and electronics industries.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Our fiscal year-end is October 31, and our fiscal quarters end on January 31, April 30 and July 31. Unless otherwise stated, all dates refer to our fiscal year and fiscal quarters.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic">Acquisition of Varian, Inc.</font> On May 14, 2010, we completed our acquisition of Varian, Inc. (“Varian”), a leading supplier of scientific instrumentation and associated consumables for life science and applied market applications, by means of a merger of one of our wholly-owned subsidiaries with and into Varian such that Varian became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Agilent. The $1.5 billion total purchase price of Varian includes $52 cash per share of Varian’s outstanding common stock including vested and non-vested in-the-money stock options at $52 cash per share less their exercise price. Varian’s non-vested restricted stock awards, non-vested performance shares, at 100 percent of target, and non-vested director’s stock units were also paid at $52 per share. Varian’s cash acquired at completion of the acquisition was approximately $225 million. As part of the European Commission’s merger approval and the Federal Trade Commission consent order, Agilent had previously committed to sell Varian’s laboratory gas chromatography (“GC”) business; Varian’s triple quadrupole gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (“GC-MS”) business; Varian’s inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (“ICP-MS”) business; and Agilent’s micro GC business. On May 19, 2010 we completed the sale of the Agilent micro GC business and the Varian laboratory GC business, the triple quadrupole GC-MS business and the ICP-MS business for approximately $40 million subject to post closing adjustments. We financed the purchase price of Varian using the proceeds from our September 2009 offering of senior notes and other existing cash. The Varian merger will be accounted for in accordance with the authoritative accounting guidance. The initial accounting for the acquisition of Varian is incomplete. The acquired assets and assumed liabilities will be recorded by Agilent at their estimated fair values. Agilent will determine the estimated fair values with the assistance of valuations performed by independent third party specialists, discounted cash flow analyses, quoted market prices where available, and estimates made by management.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic">Sale of Network Solutions Division.</font> On May 1, 2010, we completed the sale of the Network Solutions Division (“NSD”) of our electronic measurement business to JDS Uniphase Corporation (“JDSU”), a leading communications test and measurement company. JDSU paid Agilent $165 million which is subject to post-closing working capital and other adjustments. We anticipate recording a significant gain on the sale of NSD in the third quarter of fiscal 2010. NSD includes Agilent’s network assurance solutions, network protocol test and drive test products.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic">Basis of Presentation</font>. We have prepared the accompanying financial data for the three and six months ended April 30, 2010 and 2009 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 following discussion should be read in conjunction with our 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">In the opinion of management, the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements contain all normal and recurring adjustments necessary to present fairly our condensed consolidated balance sheet as of April 30, 2010 and October 31, 2009, condensed consolidated statement of operations for the three and six months ended April 30, 2010 and 2009, and condensed consolidated statement of cash flows for the six months ended April 30, 2010 and 2009.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">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, inventory valuation, investment impairments, share-based compensation, retirement and post-retirement benefit plan assumptions, goodwill and purchased intangible assets, restructuring and asset impairment charges and accounting for income taxes.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic">Reclassifications.</font>  Certain prior year financial statement amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation with no impact on previously reported net income.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic">Segment Reporting Changes.</font> In the first quarter of 2010, we formed three new operating segments from our existing businesses. The bio-analytical measurement segment was separated into two operating segments — life sciences and chemical analysis. The electronic measurement segment recombined electronic measurement and semiconductor and board test, which were reported separately in 2009. Following this re-organization, Agilent has three businesses — life sciences, chemical analysis and electronic measurement — each of which comprises a reportable segment.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic">Fair Value of Financial Instruments.</font>  The carrying values of certain of our financial instruments including cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts payable, short-term debt, accrued compensation and other accrued liabilities approximate fair value because of their short maturities. Agilent determines the fair value of short-term and long-term investments in debt securities considering information obtained from independent pricing sources. The fair value of long-term equity investments is determined using quoted market prices for those securities when available. The fair value of our long-term debt approximates the carrying value. The fair value of foreign currency contracts used for hedging purposes is estimated internally by using inputs tied to active markets. See Note 8, “Fair Value Measurements” for additional information on the fair value of financial instruments.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic">Goodwill and Purchased Intangible Assets.</font>  We review goodwill for impairment annually during our fourth quarter and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable in accordance with the authoritative guidance. The circumstances that could trigger a goodwill impairment could include, but are not limited to, the following items to the extent that management believes the occurrence of one or more would make it more likely than not that we would fail the first step of the goodwill impairment test (as described in the next paragraph): significant adverse change in legal factors or in the business climate, an adverse action or assessment by a regulator, unanticipated competition, a loss of key personnel, a more-likely-than-not expectation that a reporting unit or a significant portion of a reporting unit will be sold or otherwise disposed of, a portion of a reporting unit’s goodwill has been included in the carrying amounts of a business that will be disposed or if our market capitalization is below our net book value.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">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. Accordingly, we aggregated components of operating segments with similar economic characteristics into our reporting units. At the time of an acquisition, we assign goodwill to the reporting unit that is expected to benefit from the synergies of the combination. The results of our test for goodwill impairment during our fourth quarter of 2009 showed that the estimated fair values of our previous reporting units which were electronic measurement, bio-analytical measurement, and semiconductor and board test, exceeded their carrying values. During 2010 we will assess for potential impairment of goodwill on our three new reporting units — life sciences, chemical analysis and electronic measurement.  For these reporting unit changes, we applied the relative fair value method to determine the impact to the reporting units.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">For the six months ended April 30, 2010, no impairments were recorded.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"> The process of evaluating the potential impairment of goodwill is highly subjective and requires significant judgment, as our businesses operate in a number of markets and geographical regions. We determine the fair value of our reporting units based on an income approach, whereby we calculate the fair value of each reporting unit based on the present value of estimated future cash flows, which are formed by evaluating historical trends, current budgets, operating plans and industry data. We evaluate the reasonableness of the fair value calculations of our reporting units by reconciling the total of the fair values of all of our reporting units to our total market capitalization, taking into account an appropriate control premium. We then compare the carrying value of our reporting units to the fair value calculations based on the income approach noted above.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">If the estimated fair value of a reporting unit exceeds its carrying amount, goodwill of the reporting unit is not impaired and the second step of the impairment test is not necessary. If the carrying amount of a reporting unit exceeds its estimated fair value, then the second step of the goodwill impairment test must be performed. The second step of the goodwill impairment test compares the implied fair value of the reporting unit’s goodwill with its goodwill carrying amount to measure the amount of impairment, if any. The implied fair value of goodwill is determined by allocating the fair value of the reporting unit’s assets and liabilities in a manner similar to a purchase price allocation, with any residual fair value allocated to goodwill. If the carrying value of a reporting unit’s goodwill exceeds its implied fair value, an impairment loss is recognized in an amount equal to that excess. Estimates of the future cash flows associated with the businesses are critical to these assessments. Changes in these estimates based on changed economic conditions or business strategies could result in material impairment charges in future periods.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 27pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Purchased intangible assets consist primarily of acquired developed technologies, proprietary know-how, trademarks, and customer relationships and is amortized using the straight-line method over estimated useful lives ranging from 1 to 15 years.</font></div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="justify"> </div> <div style="DISPLAY: block; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt"><br /></div> </div>   1. OVERVIEW, BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES false false false Description containing the entire organization, consolidation and basis of presentation of financial statements disclosure. May be provided in more than one note to the financial statements, as long as users are provided with an understanding of (1) the significant judgments and assumptions made by an enterprise in determining whether it must consolidate a VIE and/or disclose information about its involvement with a VIE, (2) the nature of restrictions on a consolidated VIE's assets reported by an enterprise in its statement of financial position, including the carrying amounts of such assets, (3) the nature of, and changes in, the risks associated with an enterprise's involvement with the VIE, and (4) how an enterprise's involvement with the VIE affects the enterprise's financial position, financial performance, and cash flows. Describes procedure if disclosures are provided in more than one note to the financial statements. Also includes description of a business combination (or series of individually immaterial business combinations) completed during the period, including background, timing, and recognized assets and liabilities. This element may be used as a single block of text to encapsulate the entire disclosure (including data and tables) regarding business combinations, including leverage buyout transactions (as applicable). Additionally presents the disclosure necessary for reporting accounting changes and error corrections. It includes the conveyance of information necessary for a user of the Company's financial information to understand all aspects and required disclosure information concerning all changes and error corrections that may be reported in the Company's financial statements for the period. No authoritative reference available. false false 1 2 false UnKnown UnKnown UnKnown false true