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Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Description of Business
CDW Corporation ("Parent") is a Fortune 500 company with multi-national capabilities and a leading provider of integrated information technology ("IT") solutions to small, medium and large business, government, education and healthcare customers in the United States ("US"), the United Kingdom ("UK") and Canada. The Company's offerings range from discrete hardware and software products to integrated IT solutions such as mobility, security, data center optimization, cloud computing, virtualization and collaboration.
Throughout this report, the terms the "Company" and "CDW" refer to Parent and its 100% owned subsidiaries.
Parent has two 100% owned subsidiaries, CDW LLC and CDW Finance Corporation. CDW LLC is an Illinois limited liability company that, together with its 100% owned subsidiaries, holds all material assets and conducts all business activities and operations of the Company. CDW Finance Corporation is a Delaware corporation formed for the sole purpose of acting as co-issuer of certain debt obligations as described in Note 13 (Supplemental Guarantor Information) and does not hold any material assets or engage in any business activities or operations.
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements as of June 30, 2018 and for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017 (the "Consolidated Financial Statements") have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP") and the rules and regulations of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") for interim financial statements. Accordingly, certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP have been condensed or omitted pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC. These Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the audited Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 (the "December 31, 2017 Consolidated Financial Statements"). The significant accounting policies used in preparing these Consolidated Financial Statements were applied on a basis consistent with those reflected in the December 31, 2017 Consolidated Financial Statements except for changes from the adoption of Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, as amended ("Topic 606"), as discussed below. In the opinion of management, the Consolidated Financial Statements contain all adjustments (consisting of a normal, recurring nature) necessary to present fairly the Company's financial position, results of operations, comprehensive income, cash flows and changes in stockholders' equity as of the dates and for the periods indicated. The unaudited results of operations for such interim periods reported are not necessarily indicative of results for the full year.
Effective January 1, 2018, the Company adopted the requirements of Topic 606 utilizing the full retrospective method as discussed in Note 2 (Recent Accounting Pronouncements). Prior period amounts have been adjusted accordingly.
Principles of Consolidation
The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Parent and its 100% owned subsidiaries. All intercompany transactions and accounts are eliminated in consolidation.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make use of certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities as of the date of the Consolidated Financial Statements and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reported periods. The Company bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that management believes are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
The notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements contained in the December 31, 2017 Consolidated Financial Statements include a discussion of the significant accounting policies and estimates used in the preparation of the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements. Except as noted above for the adoption of Topic 606, there have been no material changes to the Company's significant accounting policies and estimates during the six months ended June 30, 2018.
Revenue Recognition

The Company is a primary distribution channel for a large group of vendors and suppliers, including original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs"), software publishers and wholesale distributors.

The Company accounts for a contract when it has approval and commitment from both parties, the rights of the parties are identified, payment terms are established, the contract has commercial substance and collectability of consideration is probable. The Company evaluates the following indicators amongst others when determining whether it is acting as a principal in the transaction and recording revenue on a gross basis: (i) the Company is primarily responsible for fulfilling the promise to provide the specified goods or service, (ii) the Company has inventory risk before the specified good or service has been transferred to a customer or after transfer of control to the customer and (iii) the Company has discretion in establishing the price for the specified good or service. If the terms of a transaction do not indicate the Company is acting as a principal in the transaction, then the Company is acting as an agent in the transaction and the associated revenues are recognized on a net basis.

The Company recognizes revenue once control has passed to the customer. The following indicators are evaluated in determining when control has passed to the customer: (i) the Company has a right to payment for the product or service, (ii) the customer has legal title to the product, (iii) the Company has transferred physical possession of the product to the customer, (iv) the customer has the significant risk and rewards of ownership of the product and (v) the customer has accepted the product. The Company's products can be delivered to customers in a variety of ways, including (i) as physical product shipped from the Company's warehouse, (ii) via drop-shipment by the vendor or supplier or (iii) via electronic delivery of keys for software licenses. The Company’s shipping terms typically specify F.O.B. destination.

The Company leverages drop-shipment arrangements with many of its vendors and suppliers to deliver products to its customers without having to physically hold the inventory at its warehouses. The Company is the principal in the transaction and recognizes revenue for drop-shipment arrangements on a gross basis.

Revenue Recognition for Hardware
Revenues from sales of hardware products are recognized on a gross basis as the Company is acting as a principal in these transactions, with the selling price to the customer recorded as Net sales and the acquisition cost of the product recorded as Cost of sales. The Company recognizes revenue from these transactions when control has passed to the customer, which is usually upon delivery of the product to the customer.
In some instances, the customer agrees to buy the product from the Company but requests delivery at a later date, commonly known as bill-and-hold arrangements. For these transactions, the Company deems that control passes to the customer when the product is ready for delivery. The Company views products ready for delivery when the customer has a signed agreement, significant risk and rewards for the products, the ability to direct the assets, the products have been set aside specifically for the customer, cannot be redirected to another customer and for customer orders that include configuration services, when such services have been completed.

The Company's vendor partners warrant most of the products the Company sells. These manufacturer warranties are assurance-type warranties and are not considered separate performance obligations. The warranties are not sold separately and only provide assurance that products will conform with the manufacturer's specifications. In some transactions, a third-party will provide the customer with an extended warranty. These extended warranties are sold separately and provide the customer with a service in addition to assurance that the product will function as expected. The Company considers these service-type warranties to be separate performance obligations from the underlying product. For service-type warranties, the Company is arranging for those services to be provided by the third-party and therefore is acting as an agent in the transaction and records revenue on a net basis at the point of sale.

Revenue Recognition for Software
Revenues from most software license sales are recognized as a single performance obligation on a gross basis as the Company is acting as a principal in these transactions at the point the software license is delivered to the customer. Generally, software licenses are sold with accompanying third-party delivered software assurance, which is a product that allows customers to upgrade, at no additional cost, to the latest technology if new capabilities are introduced during the period that the software assurance is in effect. The Company evaluates whether the software assurance is a separate performance obligation by assessing if the third-party delivered software assurance is critical or essential to the core functionality of the software itself. This involves considering if the software provides its original intended functionality to the customer without the updates, if the customer would ascribe a higher value to the upgrades versus the up-front deliverable, if the customer would expect frequent intelligence updates to the software (such as updates that maintain the original functionality), and if the customer chooses to not delay or always install upgrades. If the Company determines that the accompanying third-party delivered software assurance is critical or essential to the core functionality of the software license, the software license and the accompanying third-party delivered software assurance are recognized as a single performance obligation. The value of the product is primarily the accompanying support delivered by a third-party and therefore the Company is acting as an agent in these transactions and recognizes them on a net basis at the point the associated software license is delivered to the customer. For software licenses where the accompanying third-party delivered software assurance is not critical or essential to the core functionality, the software assurance is recognized as a separate performance obligation, with the associated revenue recognized on a net basis at the point the related software license is delivered to the customer. For additional details regarding the accounting for bundled arrangements, see "Revenue Recognition for Bundled Arrangements" below.
Revenue Recognition for Services
The Company provides professional services, which include project managers and consultants recommending, designing and implementing IT solutions. Revenue from professional services is recognized either on a time and materials basis or recognized proportionally as costs are incurred for fixed fee project work. For time and materials projects, revenue is recognized on a gross basis each month as work is performed and the Company transfers those services.
The Company sells cloud computing solutions, which include Software as a Service ("SaaS") and Infrastructure as a Service ("IaaS"). SaaS solutions utilize third-party partners to offer the Company's customers access to software in the cloud that enhances office productivity, provides security or assists in collaboration. IaaS solutions utilize third-party partners to enable customers to access data center functionality in a cloud-based solution, including storage, computing and networking. The Company recognizes revenue for cloud computing solutions for arrangements with one-time invoicing to the customer at the time of invoice on a net basis as the Company is acting as an agent in the transaction. For monthly subscription-based arrangements, the Company is acting as an agent in the transaction and recognizes revenue as it invoices the customer for its monthly usage on a net basis.

Revenues from the sale of data center services, such as managed and remote managed services, server co-location, internet connectivity and data backup and storage provided by the Company, are recognized over the period the service is provided. Most hosting and managed service obligations are based on the quantity and pricing parameters established in the agreement. As the customer receives the benefit of the service each month, the Company recognizes the respective revenue on a gross basis as the Company is acting as a principal in the transaction. Additionally, the Company's managed services team provides project support to customers that are billed on a fixed fee basis. The Company is acting as the principal in the transaction and recognizes revenue on a gross basis based on the total number of hours incurred for the period over the total expected hours for the project. Total expected hours to complete the project is updated for each period and best represents the transfer of control of the service to the customer.

The Company's customers are offered the opportunity by certain of its vendors to purchase software licenses and software assurance under enterprise agreements ("EAs"), referred to as services in this paragraph. For most EA transactions, the Company's obligation to the customer is that of a distributor or sales agent of the services, where all obligations for providing the services to customers are passed to the Company's vendors. The Company's performance obligations are satisfied at the time of the sale. In other EA transactions, the Company is responsible for fulfilling the promised services to the customer and providing remedy or refund for work if the customer is not satisfied with the delivered services, has inventory risk in the arrangement and has full control to set the price for the customer. This results in the Company acting as a principal in the agreement. With most EAs, the Company's vendors will transfer the license and invoice the customer directly, paying resellers an agency fee or commission on these sales. The Company records these fees as a component of Net sales as earned and there is no corresponding Cost of sales amount.

Revenue Recognition for Bundled Arrangements
The Company also sells some of its products and services as part of bundled contract arrangements containing multiple deliverables, which may include a combination of products and services. For each deliverable that represents a distinct performance obligation, total arrangement consideration is allocated based upon the standalone selling prices of each performance obligation. The Company excludes amounts collected on behalf of third-parties, such as sales taxes, when determining the transaction price. For certain performance obligations, the Company will use a combination of methods to estimate the standalone selling price. When evidence from recent transactions is not available to confirm that the prices are representative of the standalone selling price, an expected cost plus a margin approach is used.
Sales In-Transit
The Company performs an analysis of the estimated number of days of sales in-transit to customers at the end of each reporting period based on a weighted-average analysis of commercial delivery terms that include drop-shipment arrangements. This analysis is the basis upon which the Company estimates the amount of Net sales in-transit at the end of the period and adjusts revenue and the related costs to reflect only what has been delivered to the customer. Changes in delivery patterns may result in a different number of business days estimated to make this adjustment.
Freight Costs
The Company records freight billed to its customers as Net sales and the related freight costs as a Cost of sales when the underlying product revenue is recognized. For freight not billed to its customers, the Company records the freight costs as a Cost of sales. The Company's typical shipping terms are F.O.B. destination, which results in shipping being performed before the customer obtains control of the product. The Company considers shipping to be a fulfillment activity and not a separate performance obligation.
Other
The nature of the Company's contracts give rise to variable consideration in the form of sales returns and allowances. The Company estimates variable consideration at the most likely amount to which it is expected to be entitled. This estimated amount is included in the transaction price to the extent it is probable that a significant reversal of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur when the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is resolved. The estimates of variable consideration and determination of whether to include estimated amounts in the transaction price are based on an assessment of the Company's anticipated performance and all information that is reasonably available. At the time of sale, the Company records an estimate for sales returns and allowances and an associated right of return asset based on historical experience.
When a contract results in revenue being recognized in excess of the amount the Company has the right to invoice to the customer, a contract asset is recorded on the balance sheet. Contract assets are comprised primarily of professional services with fixed fee arrangements.
Contract liabilities consist of payments received from customers, or such consideration that is contractually due, in advance of providing the product or performing services. Contract liabilities are comprised primarily of professional services with fixed fee arrangements, bill-and-hold transactions where control has not passed to the customer and certain governmental contracts.

Trade accounts receivable are recorded at the point of sale (or in accordance with the Statement of Work for services) for the total amount payable by the customer to the Company for sale of goods. Taxes to be collected from the customer as part of the sale are included in Accounts receivable.

Any incremental direct costs of obtaining a contract, primarily sales commissions, are deferred on the Consolidated Balance Sheets and amortized over the period of contract performance.
 
The Company typically does not enter into long-term contracts. The Company has elected to use the practical expedient for its performance obligations table to show only those contracts that are longer than 12 months at the time of contract inception and those contracts that are non-cancelable. Additionally, for certain governmental contracts where there are annual renewals, the Company has excluded these contracts since there is only a one-year legal obligation. Typically, the only contracts that are longer than 12 months in duration are related to the Company's professional and managed services business.
The Company requests payments for its products and services at the point of sale. The Company generally does not enter into any long-term financing arrangements or payment plans with customers or contracts with customers that have non-cash consideration.