Salesforce.com 2015 Annual Report Download - page 48

recognized as the services are rendered for time and material contracts, and when the milestones are achieved and
accepted by the customer for fixed price contracts. Training revenues are recognized after the services are
performed.
Multiple Deliverable Arrangements
We enter into arrangements with multiple deliverables that generally include multiple subscriptions,
premium support, and professional services. If the deliverables have standalone value upon delivery, we account
for each deliverable separately. Subscription services have standalone value as such services are often sold
separately. In determining whether professional services have standalone value, we consider the following
factors for each professional services agreement: availability of the services from other vendors, the nature of the
professional services, the timing of when the professional services contract was signed in comparison to the
subscription service start date, and the contractual dependence of the subscription service on the customer’s
satisfaction with the professional services work. To date, we have concluded that all of the professional services
included in multiple deliverable arrangements executed have standalone value.
Multiple deliverables included in an arrangement are separated into different units of accounting and the
arrangement consideration is allocated to the identified separate units based on a relative selling price hierarchy.
We determine the relative selling price for a deliverable based on its vendor-specific objective evidence of selling
price (“VSOE”), if available, or our best estimate of selling price (“BESP”), if VSOE is not available. We have
determined that third-party evidence (“TPE”) is not a practical alternative due to differences in our service
offerings compared to other parties and the availability of relevant third-party pricing information. The amount of
revenue allocated to delivered items is limited by contingent revenue, if any.
For certain professional services, we have established VSOE as a consistent number of standalone sales of
this deliverable have been priced within a reasonably narrow range. We have not established VSOE for our
subscription services due to lack of pricing consistency, the introduction of new services and other factors.
Accordingly, we use our BESP to determine the relative selling price.
We determined BESP by considering our overall pricing objectives and market conditions. Significant
pricing practices taken into consideration include our discounting practices, the size and volume of our
transactions, the customer demographic, the geographic area where our services are sold, our price lists, our go-
to-market strategy, historical standalone sales and contract prices. The determination of BESP is made through
consultation with and approval by management, taking into consideration the go-to-market strategy. As our go-
to-market strategies evolve, we may modify our pricing practices in the future, which could result in changes in
relative selling prices, including both VSOE and BESP.
Deferred Revenue. The deferred revenue balance does not represent the total contract value of annual or
multi-year, non-cancelable subscription agreements. Deferred revenue primarily consists of billings or payments
received in advance of revenue recognition from subscription service described above and is recognized as the
revenue recognition criteria are met. We generally invoice customers in annual installments. The deferred
revenue balance is influenced by several factors, including seasonality, the compounding effects of renewals,
invoice duration, invoice timing, size and new business linearity within the quarter.
Deferred revenue that will be recognized during the succeeding twelve month period is recorded as current
deferred revenue and the remaining portion is recorded as noncurrent.
Deferred Commissions. We defer commission payments to our direct sales force. The commissions are
deferred and amortized to sales expense over the non-cancelable terms of the related subscription contracts with
our customers, which are typically 12 to 36 months. The commission payments, which are paid in full the month
after the customer’s service commences, are a direct and incremental cost of the revenue arrangements. The
deferred commission amounts are recoverable through the future revenue streams under the non-cancelable
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