Analysis: Nature of Business, Basis of Reporting, Significant Accounting Policies, Revenues Recognition

AmerisourceBergen Corporation (the “Company”) is one of the largest global pharmaceutical sourcing and distribution services companies, helping both healthcare providers and pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturers improve patient access to products and enhance patient care. The Company delivers innovative programs and services designed to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the pharmaceutical supply chain.

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries as of the dates and for the fiscal years indicated. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Note 1.  Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

AmerisourceBergen Corporation (the “Company”) is one of the largest global pharmaceutical sourcing and distribution services companies, helping both healthcare providers and pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturers improve patient access to products and enhance patient care. The Company delivers innovative programs and services designed to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries as of the dates and for the fiscal years indicated. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual amounts could differ from these estimated amounts due to uncertainties inherent in such estimates. Management periodically evaluates estimates used in the preparation of the financial statements for continued reasonableness.

Effective October 1, 2013, the Company transitioned the financial reporting of its Canadian business from the Pharmaceutical Distribution reportable segment to Other. As a result, reclassifications have been made to prior year amounts in order to conform to the current year presentation.

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)” (“ASU 2014-09”). ASU 2014-09 supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in Accounting Standards Codification 605 – Revenue Recognition, and most industry-specific guidance throughout the Codification. ASU 2014-09 outlines a single comprehensive model for entities to use in accounting for revenue arising from contracts with customers. The standard's core principle is that a company should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. ASU 2014-09 should be applied retrospectively to each prior reporting period presented or retrospectively with the cumulative effect of initially applying ASU 2014-09 recognized at the date of initial application. ASU 2014-09 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, including interim periods within those reporting periods. Early adoption is not permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting this new accounting guidance.

As of September 30, 2014, there are no other recently issued accounting standards that will have a material impact on the Company's financial position or results of operation upon their adoption.

Business Combinations

The purchase price of an acquired company, including the fair value of contingent consideration, is allocated between tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed from the acquired business based on their estimated fair values, with the residual of the purchase price recorded as goodwill. The results of operations of the acquired businesses are included in the Company's operating results from the dates of acquisition.

Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less to be cash equivalents. The carrying value of cash equivalents approximates fair value.

Concentrations of Credit Risk and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

The Company sells its merchandise inventories to a large number of customers in the healthcare industry that include institutional and retail healthcare providers. Institutional healthcare providers include acute care hospitals, health systems, mail order pharmacies, long-term care and other alternate care pharmacies and providers of pharmacy services to such facilities, and physician offices. Retail healthcare providers include national and regional retail drugstore chains, independent community pharmacies and pharmacy departments of supermarkets and mass merchandisers. The financial condition of the Company's customers can be affected by changes in government reimbursement policies as well as by other economic pressures in the healthcare industry.

The Company's trade accounts receivable are exposed to credit risk, but the risk is moderated because the Company's customer base is diverse and geographically widespread primarily within the U.S. The Company generally does not require collateral for trade receivables. In determining the appropriate allowance for doubtful accounts, the Company considers a combination of factors, such as the aging of trade receivables, industry trends, its customers' financial strength, credit standing, and payment and default history. Changes in these factors, among others, may lead to adjustments in the Company's allowance for doubtful accounts. The calculation of the required allowance requires judgment by Company management as to the impact of those and other factors on the ultimate realization of its trade receivables. Each of the Company's business units performs ongoing credit evaluations of its customers' financial condition and maintains reserves for probable bad debt losses based on historical experience and for specific credit problems when they arise. There were no significant changes to this process during the fiscal years ended September 30, 2014, 2013, and 2012 and bad debt expense was computed in a consistent manner during these periods. The bad debt expense for any period presented is equal to the changes in the period end allowance for doubtful accounts, net of write-offs, recoveries and other adjustments. Schedule II of this Form 10-K sets forth a rollforward of the allowance for doubtful accounts. The Company's largest customer in fiscal 2014, Walgreen Co. (“Walgreens”) accounted for 28% of revenue and represented approximately 42% of accounts receivable, net as of September 30, 2014. Express Scripts, Inc. (“Express Scripts”), the Company's second largest customer in fiscal 2014, accounted for 18% of revenue and represented approximately 13% of accounts receivable, net as of September 30, 2014.

The Company maintains cash and cash equivalents with several financial institutions. Deposits held with banks may exceed the amount of insurance provided on such deposits. These deposits may be redeemed upon demand, and are maintained with financial institutions with reputable credit, and, therefore, bear minimal credit risk. The Company seeks to mitigate such risks by monitoring the risk profiles of these counterparties. The Company also seeks to mitigate risk by monitoring the investment strategy of money market accounts that it is invested in, which are classified as cash equivalents.

Contingencies

Loss Contingencies: In the ordinary course of its business, the Company becomes involved in lawsuits, administrative proceedings, government subpoenas, and government investigations, including antitrust, commercial, environmental, product liability, intellectual property, regulatory, employment discrimination, and other matters. Significant damages or penalties may be sought from the Company in some matters, and some matters may require years for the Company to resolve. The Company records a liability when it is probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount is reasonably estimable. The Company also performs an assessment of the materiality of loss contingencies where a loss is either not probable or it is reasonably possible that a loss could be incurred in excess of amounts accrued. If a loss or an additional loss has at least a reasonable possibility of occurring and the impact on the financial statements would be material, the Company provides disclosure of the loss contingency in the footnotes to its financial statements. The Company reviews all contingencies at least quarterly to determine whether the likelihood of loss has changed and to assess whether a reasonable estimate of the loss or the range of the loss can be made (see Note 12).

Gain Contingencies: The Company records gain contingencies when they are realized. Gains from antitrust litigation settlements are realized upon the receipt of cash and recorded as a reduction to cost of goods sold because they represent a recovery of amounts historically paid to manufacturers to originally acquire the pharmaceuticals that were the subject of the antitrust litigation settlements (see Note 13).

Derivative Financial Instruments

The Company records all derivative financial instruments on the balance sheet at fair value and complies with established criteria for designation and effectiveness of hedging relationships. The Company's policy prohibits it from entering into derivative financial instruments for speculative or trading purposes.

As of September 30, 2014 and 2013, the Company had one foreign currency denominated contract outstanding that hedges the foreign currency exchange risk of the C$50.0 million note that the Company received in conjunction with the sale of AmerisourceBergen Canada Corporation (see Note 3).

Equity Investments

The Company uses the equity method of accounting for its investments in entities in which it has significant influence; generally, this represents an ownership interest of between 20% and 50% (see Note 2). The Company's investments in marketable equity securities in which the Company does not have significant influence are classified as “available for sale” and are carried at fair value within the Other Assets line item on the consolidated balance sheet, with unrealized gains and losses excluded from earnings and reported in the accumulated other comprehensive loss component of stockholders' equity. Unrealized losses that are determined to be other-than-temporary impairment losses are recorded as a component of earnings in the period in which that determination is made.

Foreign Currency

The functional currency of the Company's foreign operations is generally the applicable local currency. Assets and liabilities are translated into U.S. dollars using the current exchange rates in effect at the balance sheet date, while revenues and expenses are translated at the weighted average exchange rates for the period. The resulting translation adjustments are recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss within stockholders' equity.

Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

Goodwill and other intangible assets with indefinite lives, primarily trademarks and trade names, are not amortized; rather, they are tested for impairment at least annually. For the purpose of these impairment tests, the Company can elect to perform a qualitative analysis to determine if it is more likely than not that the fair values of its reporting units and indefinite lived intangible assets are less than the respective carrying values of those reporting units and indefinite lived intangible assets. The Company elected to bypass performing the qualitative screen and went directly to performing the first step quantitative analysis of the goodwill and indefinite lived intangible asset impairment tests in the current year. The Company may elect to perform the qualitative analysis in future periods.

The first step in the quantitative process for the goodwill impairment test is to compare the carrying amount of the reporting unit's net assets to the fair value of the reporting unit. If the fair value exceeds the carrying value, no further evaluation is required and no impairment loss is recognized. If the carrying amount exceeds the fair value, then the second step must be completed, which involves allocating the fair value of the reporting unit to each asset and liability, with the excess being implied goodwill. An impairment loss occurs if the amount of the recorded goodwill exceeds the implied goodwill. The Company would be required to record any such impairment losses.

The Company identifies its reporting units at the operating segment level. Generally, goodwill arises from acquisitions of specific operating companies and is assigned to the reporting unit in which a particular operating company resides.

The Company utilizes a combination of income and market-based approaches to value its reporting units. The income approach to valuation relies on a discounted cash flow analysis to determine the fair value of each reporting unit, which considers forecasted cash flows discounted at an appropriate discount rate. The Company believes that market participants would use a discounted cash flow analysis to determine the fair value of its reporting units in a sale transaction. The annual goodwill impairment test requires the Company to make a number of assumptions and estimates concerning future levels of revenue growth, operating margins, depreciation, amortization and working capital requirements, which are based upon the Company's long-range plan. The discount rate is an estimate of the overall after-tax rate of return required by a market participant whose weighted average cost of capital includes both equity and debt, including a risk premium. While the Company uses the best available information to prepare its cash flow and discount rate assumptions, actual future cash flows or market conditions could differ significantly resulting in future impairment charges related to recorded goodwill balances. While there are always changes in assumptions to reflect changing business and market conditions, the Company's overall methodology and the population of assumptions used have remained unchanged.

The impairment test for indefinite-lived intangibles other than goodwill (primarily trademarks and trade names) consists of a comparison of the fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible asset to the carrying value of the asset as of the impairment testing date. The Company estimates the fair value of its indefinite-lived intangibles using the relief from royalty method. The Company believes the relief from royalty method is a widely used valuation technique for such assets. The fair value derived from the relief from royalty method is measured as the discounted cash flow savings realized from owning such trademarks and trade names and not having to pay a royalty for their use.

The Company completed its required annual impairment tests relating to goodwill and other intangible assets in the fiscal years ended September 30, 2014, 2013, and 2012, and, as a result, determined that there were no impairments.

Income Taxes

The Company accounts for income taxes using a method that requires recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for expected future tax consequences of temporary differences that currently exist between tax bases and financial reporting bases of the Company's assets and liabilities (commonly known as the asset and liability method). In assessing the ability to realize deferred tax assets, the Company considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.

The Company recognizes the tax benefit from an uncertain tax position only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained upon examination by the taxing authorities, including resolutions of any related appeals or litigation processes, based on the technical merits of the position. Tax benefits associated with uncertain tax positions that have met the recognition criteria are measured and recorded based on the highest probable outcome that is more than 50% likely to be realized after full disclosure and resolution of a tax examination.

Manufacturer Incentives

The Company accounts for fees and other incentives received from its suppliers, relating to the purchase or distribution of inventory, as a reduction to cost of goods sold. The Company considers these fees and other incentives to represent product discounts, and as a result, they are capitalized as product costs and relieved through cost of goods sold upon the sale of the related inventory.

Merchandise Inventories

Inventories are stated at the lower of cost or market. Cost for approximately 84% and 83% of the Company's inventories at September 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively, has been determined using the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method. If the Company had used the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method of inventory valuation, which approximates current replacement cost, inventories would have been approximately $881.8 million and $533.7 million higher than the amounts reported at September 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The Company recorded LIFO expense of $348.1 million, $277.0 million, and $0.7 million in fiscal 2014, 2013, and 2012, respectively. The annual LIFO provision is affected by changes in inventory quantities, product mix, and manufacturing pricing practices, which may be impacted by market and other external influences, many of which are difficult to predict. Changes to any of the above factors can have a material impact to the Company's annual LIFO provision.

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are stated at cost and depreciated using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets, which range from 3 to 40 years for buildings and improvements and from 3 to 10 years for machinery, equipment and other. The costs of repairs and maintenance are charged to expense as incurred.

The Company capitalizes project costs relating to computer software developed or obtained for internal use when the activities related to the project reach the application development stage. Costs that are associated with preliminary stage activities, training, maintenance, and all other post-implementation stage activities are expensed as they are incurred. Software development costs are depreciated using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives, which range from 3 to 10 years.

Revenue Recognition

The Company recognizes revenue when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, product has been delivered or services have been rendered, the price is fixed or determinable and collectability is reasonably assured. Revenue as reflected in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations is net of estimated sales returns and allowances.

The Company's customer sales return policy generally allows customers to return products only if the products can be resold at full value or returned to suppliers for full credit. The Company records an accrual for estimated customer sales returns at the time of sale to the customer. At September 30, 2014 and 2013, the Company's accrual for estimated customer sales returns was $932.6 million and $275.8 million, respectively.

The Company reports the gross dollar amount of bulk deliveries to customer warehouses in revenue and the related costs in cost of goods sold. Bulk delivery transactions are arranged by the Company at the express direction of the customer, and involve either drop shipments from the supplier directly to customers' warehouse sites or cross-dock shipments from the supplier to the Company for immediate shipment to the customers' warehouse sites. The Company is a principal to these transactions because it is the primary obligor and has the ultimate and contractual responsibility for fulfillment and acceptability of the products purchased, and bears full risk of delivery and loss for products, whether the products are drop-shipped or shipped via cross-dock. The Company also bears full credit risk associated with the creditworthiness of any bulk delivery customer. As a result, the Company records bulk deliveries to customer warehouses as gross revenues. Gross profit earned by the Company on bulk deliveries was not material in any year presented.

Share-Based Compensation

The Company accounts for the compensation cost of all share-based payments at fair value and reports the related expense within distribution, selling and administrative expenses to correspond with the same line item as the cash compensation paid to employees. The benefits of tax deductions in excess of recognized compensation expense are reported as a financing cash flow ($46.3 million, $41.2 million, and $25.7 million for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2014, 2013, and 2012, respectively). The fair value of performance stock units is determined by the grant date market price of the Company's Common Stock and the compensation expense associated with nonvested performance stock units is dependent on the Company's periodic assessment of the probability of the targets being achieved and its estimate of the number of shares that will ultimately be issued.

Shipping and Handling Costs

Shipping and handling costs include all costs to warehouse, pick, pack and deliver inventory to customers. These costs, which were $348.3 million, $267.3 million and $259.1 million for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2014, 2013, and 2012, respectively, are included in distribution, selling and administrative expenses.

Supplier Reserves

The Company establishes reserves against amounts due from its suppliers relating to various price and rebate incentives, including deductions or billings taken against payments otherwise due them from the Company. These reserve estimates are established based on the judgment of Company management after carefully considering the status of current outstanding claims, historical experience with the suppliers, the specific incentive programs and any other pertinent information available to the Company. The Company evaluates the amounts due from its suppliers on a continual basis and adjusts the reserve estimates when appropriate based on changes in factual circumstances. The ultimate outcome of any outstanding claim may be different than the Company's estimate.

Warrants

The Company accounts for the warrants issued to subsidiaries of Walgreens and Alliance Boots GmbH (“Alliance Boots”) (collectively, the “Warrants”) in accordance with the guidance for equity-based payments to non-employees. The various agreements and arrangements with Walgreens and Alliance Boots established various performance commitments that they must satisfy during the vesting periods of the Warrants, and if not fulfilled, the Company has the right to cancel the Warrants. Using a binomial lattice model approach, the fair value of the Warrants was initially measured at the date of issuance, and is being expensed over the three and four year vesting periods as an operating expense. The fair value of the Warrants are re-measured at the end of each quarterly reporting period, and an adjustment is recorded in the statement of operations to record the impact as if the newly measured fair value of the awards had been used in recognizing expense starting when the awards were originally issued and through the remeasurement date.  In total, the Warrants were valued at $1,139.8 million as of September 30, 2014. The valuation of the Warrants considers the Company's Common Stock price and various assumptions, such as the volatility of the Company's Common Stock, the expected remaining life of the Warrants, the expected dividend yield, and the risk-free interest rate. As a result, future Warrant expense could fluctuate significantly (see Note 7).

The Company recognizes revenue when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, product has been delivered or services have been rendered, the price is fixed or determinable and collectability is reasonably assured. Revenue as reflected in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations is net of estimated sales returns and allowances.

The Company's customer sales return policy generally allows customers to return products only if the products can be resold at full value or returned to suppliers for full credit. The Company records an accrual for estimated customer sales returns at the time of sale to the customer. At September 30, 2014 and 2013, the Company's accrual for estimated customer sales returns was $932.6 million and $275.8 million, respectively.

The Company reports the gross dollar amount of bulk deliveries to customer warehouses in revenue and the related costs in cost of goods sold. Bulk delivery transactions are arranged by the Company at the express direction of the customer, and involve either drop shipments from the supplier directly to customers' warehouse sites or cross-dock shipments from the supplier to the Company for immediate shipment to the customers' warehouse sites. The Company is a principal to these transactions because it is the primary obligor and has the ultimate and contractual responsibility for fulfillment and acceptability of the products purchased, and bears full risk of delivery and loss for products, whether the products are drop-shipped or shipped via cross-dock. The Company also bears full credit risk associated with the creditworthiness of any bulk delivery customer. As a result, the Company records bulk deliveries to customer warehouses as gross revenues. Gross profit earned by the Company on bulk deliveries was not material in any year presented.