NEW ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS
3 Months Ended
Jan. 31, 2015
New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Abstract]  
NEW ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS
 2. NEW ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

There were no changes to the new accounting pronouncements as described our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2014 except for the following:

In April 2014, the FASB issued amendments to the guidance on discontinued operations. The guidance changes the criteria for reporting discontinued operations while enhancing disclosures in this area. Under the new guidance, only disposals representing a strategic shift in operations should be presented as discontinued operations. Those strategic shifts should have a major effect on the organization’s operations and financial results. Examples include a disposal of a major geographic area, a major line of business, or a major equity method investment. Additionally, the new guidance requires expanded disclosures about discontinued operations that will provide financial statement users with more information about the assets, liabilities, income, expenses of discontinued operations and of the pre-tax income attributable to a disposal of a significant part of an organization that does not qualify for discontinued operations reporting. The new guidance is effective for Agilent prospectively for all disposals (or classifications as held for sale) of components of an entity that occur after November 1, 2016.

The disclosure of Keysight meets the definition of a discontinued operation under both the existing and amended accounting guidance. 

In January 2015 FASB issued guidance on simplifying income statement presentation by eliminating the concept of extraordinary items from U.S. GAAP. The amendments in this update are effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2015. A reporting entity may apply the amendments prospectively and retrospectively to all periods presented in the financial statements. Early adoption is permitted provided that the guidance is applied from the beginning of the fiscal year of adoption. We have evaluated the accounting guidance and determined that there is no impact of this update to our consolidated financial statements.

In February 2015, FASB issued an amendment to the analysis that a reporting entity must perform to determine whether it should consolidate certain types of legal entities. All legal entities are subject to reevaluation under the revised consolidation model. The amendments in this update are effective for fiscal years, and for interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2015.  We are evaluating the impact of adopting this guidance to our consolidated financial statements.

Other amendments to GAAP in the U.S. that have been issued by the FASB or other standards-setting bodies that do not require adoption until a future date are not expected to have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements upon adoption.