Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2020

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information. The financial statements include all adjustments consisting of normal recurring adjustments that the management of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Gilead, we, our or us) believes are necessary for a fair presentation of the periods presented. These interim financial results are not necessarily indicative of results expected for the full fiscal year or for any subsequent interim period.

The accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Gilead, our wholly-owned subsidiaries and certain variable interest entities for which we are the primary beneficiary. All intercompany transactions have been eliminated. For consolidated entities where we own or are exposed to less than 100% of the economics, we record net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interest in our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations equal to the percentage of the economic or ownership interest retained in such entities by the respective noncontrolling parties.

We assess whether we are the primary beneficiary of a variable interest entity (“VIE”) at the inception of the arrangement and at each reporting date. This assessment is based on our power to direct the activities of the VIE that most significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance and our obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits from the VIE that could potentially be significant to the VIE.

The accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and related Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the audited Consolidated Financial Statements and the related notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2019, included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Segment Information

We have one operating segment, which focuses on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative medicines in areas of unmet medical need. Our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), as the chief operating decision-maker, manages and allocates resources to the operations of our company on an entity-wide basis. Managing and allocating resources on an entity-wide basis enables our CEO to assess the overall level of resources available and how to best deploy these resources across functions and research and development (“R&D”) projects based on unmet medical need and, as necessary, reallocate resources among our internal R&D portfolio and external opportunities to best support the long-term growth of our business. See Note 2. Revenues for additional information.

Significant Accounting Policies, Estimates and Judgments

The preparation of these Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and related disclosures. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our significant accounting policies and estimates. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various market-specific and other relevant assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Estimates are assessed each period and updated to reflect current information, such as the economic considerations related to the impact that the recent coronavirus disease (“COVID-19”) could have on our significant accounting estimates. Actual results could differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

Reclassification

Certain amounts for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019 were reclassified to conform to the current period presentation. Beginning in the second quarter of 2020, acquired in-process research and development (“IPR&D”) expenses are reported separately from Research and development expenses on our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations. Acquired IPR&D expenses reflect IPR&D impairments as well as the initial costs of externally developed IPR&D projects, acquired directly in a transaction other than a business combination, that do not have an alternative future use, including upfront payments related to various collaborations and the initial costs of rights to IPR&D projects. Our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the six months ended June 30, 2019, has been conformed to separately present acquired IPR&D expenses. In addition, upfront and milestone payments of $254 million related to collaborations and other arrangements for the six months ended June 30, 2019, which were historically classified as cash flows from operating activities, are presented as cash flows from investing activities on our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

Concentrations of Risk

We are subject to credit risk from our portfolio of cash equivalents and marketable securities. Under our investment policy, we limit amounts invested in such securities by credit rating, maturity, industry group, investment type and issuer, except for securities issued by the U.S. government. We are not exposed to any significant concentrations of credit risk from our investment portfolio. The goals of our investment policy, in order of priority, are as follows: safety and preservation of principal and diversification of risk; liquidity of investments sufficient to meet cash flow requirements; and a competitive after-tax rate of return.

We are also subject to credit risk from our accounts receivable related to our product sales. Trade accounts receivable are recorded net of allowances for wholesaler chargebacks related to government and other programs, cash discounts for prompt payment and credit losses. Estimates of our allowance for credit losses consider a number of factors including existing contractual payment terms, individual customer circumstances, historical payment patterns of our customers, a review of the local economic environment and its potential impact on expected future customer payment patterns and government funding and reimbursement practices. The majority of our trade accounts receivable arises from product sales in the United States, Europe and Japan. Our allowance for credit losses was $55 million and $47 million as of June 30, 2020 and January 1, 2020, respectively. There were no material write-offs charged against the allowance for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020.

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-13 “Financial Instruments-Credit Losses: Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments” (“ASU 2016-13”) and has since modified the standard with several ASUs (collectively, “Topic 326”). Topic 326 requires measurement and recognition of expected credit losses for financial assets. On January 1, 2020, we adopted this standard using a modified retrospective approach. The adoption did not have a material impact on our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

In November 2018, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2018-18 “Collaborative Arrangements (Topic 808): Clarifying the Interaction between Topic 808 and Topic 606” (“ASU 2018-18”). ASU 2018-18 clarifies that certain transactions between participants in a collaborative arrangement should be accounted for under Topic 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers,” when the counterparty is a customer. In addition, the update precludes an entity from presenting consideration from a transaction in a collaborative arrangement as customer revenue if the counterparty is not a customer for that transaction. On January 1, 2020, we adopted this standard and applied it retrospectively to January 1, 2018 when we initially adopted Topic 606. The adoption did not have an impact on our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.