NOTE 2—Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of the Company and all of its wholly owned subsidiaries. All significant inter-company accounts and transactions are eliminated in consolidation. There are no significant foreign exchange restrictions on the Company’s foreign subsidiaries.
Certain reclassifications have been made to the prior years’ financial statements to conform to the current year’s presentation.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the balance sheet dates and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting periods. Actual results could differ from such estimates.
Revenue Recognition
The Company establishes persuasive evidence of a sales arrangement for each type of revenue transaction based on either a signed contract with the end customer, a click-through contract on the Company’s website whereby the customer agrees to the Company’s standard subscription terms, signed or click-through distribution contracts with original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) and other resellers, or, in the case of individual training seats, through receipt of payment which indicates acceptance of the Company’s training agreement terms.
Subscription Revenue
Subscription revenue is comprised of direct and indirect sales of subscriptions relating to Red Hat enterprise technologies. Accounts receivable and deferred revenue are recorded at the time a customer enters into a binding subscription agreement for the purchase of a subscription, subscription services are made available to the customer and the customer is billed. The deferred revenue amount is recognized as revenue ratably over the life of the subscription. Red Hat enterprise technologies are generally offered with either one or three-year base subscription periods; the majority of the Company’s subscriptions have one-year terms. Under these subscription agreements, renewal rates are generally specified for one or three-year renewal terms. Subscriptions generally entitle the end user to the technology itself and post-contract customer support (“PCS”), generally consisting of varying levels of support services as well as access to security errata, fixes, functionality enhancements to the technology and upgrades to new versions of the technologies, each on a when-and-if available basis, during the term of the subscription. The Company sells its offerings through two principal channels: (1) direct, which includes sales by the Company’s sales force as well as web store sales, and (2) indirect, which includes distributors, resellers, systems integrators and OEMs. The Company recognizes revenue from the sale of Red Hat enterprise technologies ratably over the period of the subscription beginning on the commencement date of the subscription agreement.
Subscription arrangements with large enterprise customers often have contracts with multiple elements (e.g., software technology, support, training, consulting and other services). The Company allocates revenue to each element of the arrangement based on vendor-specific objective evidence of each element’s fair value when the Company can demonstrate sufficient evidence of the fair value of at least those elements that are undelivered. The fair value of each element in multiple element arrangements is created by either (i) providing the customer with the ability during the term of the arrangement to renew that element at the same rate paid for the element included in the initial term of the agreement or (ii) selling the element on a stand-alone basis.
Training and Services Revenue
Training and services revenue is comprised of revenue for consulting, engineering and customer training and education services. Consulting services consist of time-based arrangements, and revenue is recognized as these services are performed. Engineering services represent revenue earned under fixed-fee arrangements with the Company’s OEM partners and other customers to provide for significant modification and customization of Red Hat enterprise technologies. The Company recognizes revenue for these fixed-fee engineering services using the percentage of completion basis of accounting, provided the Company has the ability to make reliable estimates of progress towards completion, the fee for such services is fixed or determinable and collection of the resulting receivable is probable. Under the percentage of completion method, earnings under the contract are recognized based on the progress toward completion as estimated using the ratio of labor hours incurred to total expected project hours. Changes in estimates are recognized in the period in which they are known. Revenue for customer training and education services is recognized on the dates the services are complete.
Deferred Selling Costs
Deferred commissions are the incremental costs that are directly associated with non-cancelable subscription contracts with customers and consist of sales commissions paid to the Company’s sales force. The commissions are deferred and amortized over a period that approximates the period of the subscription term. The commission payments are paid in full subsequent to the month in which the customer’s service commences. The deferred commission amounts are recoverable through the future revenue streams under the non-cancelable customer contracts. In addition, the Company has the ability and intent under the commission plans with its sales force to recover commissions previously paid to its sales force in the event that customers breach the terms of their subscription agreements and do not fully pay for their subscription agreements. Deferred commissions are included in prepaid expenses on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets. Amortization of deferred commissions is included in sales and marketing expense in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations.
Goodwill and Other Long-Lived Assets
Goodwill
The Company tests goodwill for impairment annually. For the years ended February 28, 2013 and February 29, 2012, the Company applied its test for goodwill impairment as permitted by ASU 2011-08 which allows the Company to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is “more likely than not” that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value. The outcome of these qualitative tests determines whether it is necessary for a company to perform the two-step goodwill impairment test as required in years prior to the adoption of ASU 2011-08.
After considering such qualitative factors as macroeconomic conditions, actual or anticipated changes to cost factors (for example, selling and delivery), overall financial performance and other Company-specific factors such as potential changes in strategy, the Company determined that it was not more likely than not that any impairment to goodwill had occurred during the years ended February 28, 2013 and February 29, 2012. Consequently, the Company was not required to perform the remaining two-step quantitative goodwill impairment test.
For the year ended February 28, 2011, the Company applied the then-required quantitative two-step goodwill impairment test. The two-step test begins with identifying potential impairment. Potential impairment is identified if the fair value of the reporting unit to which the goodwill applies is less than the recognized or “book” value of the related reporting unit, including the carrying value of goodwill. Where the book value of a reporting unit, including related goodwill is greater than the reporting unit’s fair value, the second step of the impairment test is performed to measure the amount of impairment loss, if any. The Company performed its annual goodwill impairment test during the fourth quarter of the year ended February 28, 2011 and, as a result, did not identify any potential impairment related to its goodwill.
Other long-lived assets
The Company evaluates the recoverability of its property and equipment and other long-lived assets whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that an impairment may have occurred. An impairment loss is recognized when the net book value of such assets exceeds the estimated future undiscounted cash flows attributable to the assets or the business to which the assets relate. Impairment losses, if any, are measured as the amount by which the carrying value exceeds the fair value of the assets.
As a result of the Company’s relocation of its corporate headquarters, the Company has accelerated the depreciation of the furniture and fixtures and leasehold improvements balances of the two facilities being exited such that no net book value remains as of February 28, 2013. The incremental depreciation expense on the net book values of these furniture and fixtures and leasehold improvements balances was $2.9 million for the year ended February 28, 2013 and is included in general and administration expense on the Company’s Consolidated Statement of Operations. The Company’s facility exit costs are described further in NOTE 14—Commitments and Contingencies.
Other than incremental depreciation associated with the facility exit, no significant impairment losses on the Company’s long-lived assets were identified for the year ended February 28, 2013. For the years ended February 29, 2012 and February 28, 2011, no significant impairment losses related to the Company’s long-lived assets were identified.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers highly liquid investments purchased with a maturity period of three months or less at the date of purchase to be cash equivalents.
Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts
Trade accounts receivable are recorded at the invoiced amount and do not bear interest. The allowance for doubtful accounts is the Company’s estimate of the amount of probable credit losses in the Company’s existing accounts receivable. The Company determines the allowance based on historical write-off experience. The Company reviews its allowance for doubtful accounts monthly. Past due balances over 90 days and over a specified amount are reviewed individually for collectability. All other balances are reviewed on a pooled basis by type of receivable. Account balances are charged off against the allowance when the Company determines it is probable the receivable will not be recovered. The Company does not have off-balance sheet credit exposure related to its customers. See NOTE 4—Accounts Receivable for further discussion on accounts receivable balances.
Fair Value Measurements
Fair value is defined as the exchange price that would be received for the purchase of an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in the principal or most advantageous market for such asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. Valuation techniques used to measure fair value should maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs. To measure fair value, the Company uses the following fair value hierarchy based on three levels of inputs, of which the first two are considered observable and the last unobservable:
Level 1—Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.
Level 2—Inputs other than Level 1 that are observable, either directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities; quoted prices in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.
Level 3—Unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity and are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities.
The Company’s investments are comprised primarily of debt securities that are classified as available for sale and recorded at their fair market values. Liquid investments with effective maturities of three months or less from the balance sheet date (that is, time remaining on the day of purchase) are classified as cash equivalents. Investments with remaining effective maturities of twelve months or less from the balance sheet date are classified as short-term investments. Investments with remaining effective maturities of more than twelve months from the balance sheet date are classified as long-term investments. The Company’s Level 1 financial instruments are valued using quoted prices in active markets for identical instruments. The Company’s Level 2 financial instruments, including derivative instruments, are valued using quoted prices for identical instruments in less active markets or using other observable market inputs for comparable instruments.
Unrealized gains and temporary losses on investments classified as available for sale are included within accumulated other comprehensive income, net of any related tax effect. Upon realization, such amounts are reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income to other income, net. Realized gains and losses and other than temporary impairments, if any, are reflected in the statements of operations as other income, net. The Company does not recognize changes in the fair value of its investments in income unless a decline in value is considered other than temporary. The vast majority of the Company’s investments are priced by pricing vendors. These pricing vendors use the most recent observable market information in pricing these securities or, if specific prices are not available for these securities, use other observable inputs. In the event observable inputs are not available, the Company assesses other factors to determine the security’s market value, including broker quotes or model valuations. Independent price verifications of all holdings are performed by pricing vendors which are then reviewed by the Company. In the event a price fails a pre-established tolerance check, it is researched so that the Company can assess the cause of the variance to determine what the Company believes is the appropriate fair market value. See NOTE 18—Assets and Liabilities Measured at Fair Value on a Recurring Basis for further discussion on fair value measurements.
The Company minimizes its credit risk associated with investments by investing primarily in investment grade, liquid securities. The Company’s policy is designed to limit exposures to any one issuer depending on credit quality. Periodic evaluations of the relative credit standing of those issuers are considered in the Company’s investment strategy.
Internal Use Software
The Company capitalizes costs related to the development of internal use software for its website, enterprise resource planning system and systems management applications. The Company amortizes the costs of computer software developed for internal use on a straight-line basis over an estimated useful life of five years. The carrying value of internal use software is included in property and equipment on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets.
Capitalized Software Costs
Capitalization of software development costs for products to be sold to third parties begins upon the establishment of technological feasibility and ceases when the product is available for general release. As a result of the Company’s practice of releasing source code that it has developed on a weekly basis for unrestricted download on the Internet, there is generally no passage of time between achievement of technological feasibility and the availability of the Company’s product for general release. Therefore, at February 28, 2013 and February 29, 2012, the Company had no internally developed capitalized software costs for products to be sold to third parties.
Property and Equipment
Property and equipment is primarily comprised of furniture, computer equipment, computer software and leasehold improvements which are recorded at cost and depreciated or amortized using the straight-line method over their estimated useful lives as follows: furniture and fixtures, seven years; computer equipment, three to four years; computer software, five years; leasehold improvements, over the lesser of the estimated remaining useful life of the asset or the remaining term of the lease. Expenditures for maintenance and repairs are charged to operations as incurred; major expenditures for renewals and betterments are capitalized and depreciated. Property and equipment acquired under capital leases are depreciated over the lesser of the estimated remaining useful life of the asset or the remaining term of the lease.
Share-based Compensation
The Company measures share-based compensation cost at grant date, based on the estimated fair value of the award and recognizes the cost over the employee requisite service period typically on a straight-line basis, net of estimated forfeitures. The Company estimates the fair value of stock options using the Black-Scholes-Merton valuation model. The fair value of nonvested share awards, nonvested share units and performance share units are measured at their underlying closing share price on the date of grant. The Company’s share-based compensation is described further in NOTE 13—Share-based Awards.
Sales and Marketing Expenses
Sales and marketing expenses consist of costs, including salaries, sales commissions and related expenses, such as travel, of all personnel involved in the sales and marketing process. Sales and marketing expenses also include costs of advertising, sales lead generation programs, cooperative marketing arrangements and trade shows. Payments made to resellers or other customers are reported in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Section 605-50 Customer Payments and Incentives (formerly referenced as Emerging Issues Task Force Issue Number 01-09, Accounting for Consideration Given by a Vendor to a Customer (Including a Reseller of the Vendor’s Products)) (“ASC 605-50”). All costs of advertising, to the extent allowable by ASC 605-50, are expensed as incurred.
Advertising expense totaled $42.7 million, $29.2 million, and $25.5 million for the years ended February 28, 2013, February 29, 2012 and February 28, 2011, respectively.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses include all direct costs, primarily salaries for Company personnel and outside consultants, related to the development of new software products, significant enhancements to existing software products, and the portion of costs of development of internal use software required to be expensed. Research and development costs are charged to operations as incurred with the exception of those software development costs that may qualify for capitalization.
Income Taxes
The Company accounts for income taxes using the liability method in which deferred tax assets or liabilities are recognized for the temporary differences between financial reporting and tax bases of the Company’s assets and liabilities and for tax carryforwards at enacted statutory tax rates in effect for the years in which the differences are expected to reverse.
The Company continues to assess the realizability of its deferred tax assets, which primarily consist of share-based compensation expense deductions, tax credit carryforwards and deferred revenue. In assessing the realizability of these deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will be realized. The Company continues to maintain a valuation allowance against its deferred tax assets with respect to certain foreign net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards.
With respect to foreign earnings, it is the Company’s policy to invest the earnings of foreign subsidiaries indefinitely outside the U.S. From time to time, however, the Company may remit a portion of these earnings to the extent it incurs no additional U.S. tax and it is otherwise feasible.
Because tax laws are complex and subject to different interpretations, significant judgment is required. As a result, the Company makes certain estimates and assumptions in (i) calculating its income tax expense, deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities, (ii) determining any valuation allowance recorded against deferred tax assets and (iii) evaluating the amount of unrecognized tax benefits, as well as the interest and penalties related to such uncertain tax positions. The Company’s estimates and assumptions may differ significantly from tax benefits ultimately realized. The Company’s income tax expense and deferred taxes are described further in NOTE 11—Income Taxes.
Foreign Currency Translation
The Euro has been determined to be the primary functional currency for the Company’s European operations and local currencies have been determined to be the functional currencies for the Company’s Asia Pacific and Latin American operations. Foreign exchange gains and losses, which result from the process of remeasuring foreign currency transactions into the appropriate functional currency, are included in other income, net in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Operations.
The impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates resulting from the translation of foreign currency financial statements into U.S. dollars for financial reporting purposes is included in other comprehensive income, which is a separate component of stockholders’ equity. Assets and liabilities are translated into U.S. dollars at exchange rates in effect at the balance sheet date. Income and expense items are translated at average rates for the period.
Customers and Credit Risk
Financial instruments which potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist principally of cash, cash equivalents, investments and trade receivables. The Company primarily places its cash, cash equivalents and investments with high-credit quality financial institutions which invest predominantly in U.S. government instruments, investment grade corporate bonds and certificates of deposit guaranteed by banks which are members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Cash deposits are primarily in financial institutions in the United States. However, cash for monthly operating costs of international operations are deposited in banks outside the United States. See NOTE-20 Segment Reporting for further discussion related to cash balances held within the Company’s geographic regions.
The Company performs credit evaluations to reduce credit risk and generally requires no collateral from its customers. Management estimates the allowance for uncollectible accounts based on their historical experience and credit evaluation. The Company’s standard credit terms are net 30 days in North America, net 30 to 45 days in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Latin America, and range from net 30 to net 60 days in Asia Pacific.
Net Income Per Common Share
The Company computes basic net income per common share by dividing net income available to common stockholders by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding. Diluted net income per common share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of common shares and dilutive potential common share equivalents then outstanding. Potential common share equivalents consist of shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options or vesting of share-based awards.
Segment Reporting
The Company is organized primarily on the basis of three geographic business units: the Americas (U.S., Latin America and Canada), EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia Pacific. These business units are aggregated into one reportable segment due to the similarity in nature of products and services provided, financial performance economic characteristics (e.g., revenue growth and gross margin), methods of production and distribution and customer classes (e.g., distributors, resellers and enterprise).
The Company has offices in more than 80 locations around the world. The Company manages its international business on an Americas-wide, EMEA-wide and Asia Pacific-wide basis. See NOTE 20—Segment Reporting for further discussion.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In February 2013, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2013-02, Comprehensive Income (Topic 220)—Reporting of Amounts Reclassified Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (ASU 2013-02), to require entities to provide information about significant amounts reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income by component and their corresponding effect on net income. ASU 2013-02 is effective for the Company in the first quarter of its fiscal year ending February 28, 2014. The Company does not believe that this updated standard will have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements.
In July 2012, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2012-02, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other (Topic 350)—Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment (ASU 2012-02), to simplify how entities test intangibles with indefinite lives for impairment. ASU 2012-02 gives entities the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of an intangible asset is less than its carrying amount. If a greater than 50 percent likelihood exists that the fair value is less than the carrying amount then a quantitative impairment test as described in Subtopic 350-30 must be performed. ASU 2012-02 is effective for the Company in the first quarter of its fiscal year ending February 28, 2014. The Company does not believe that this updated standard will have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements.
In December 2011, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-11, Balance Sheet (Topic 210)—Disclosures about Offsetting Assets and Liabilities (ASU 2011-11), to require entities to disclose information about offsetting and related arrangements of financial instruments and derivative instruments. ASU 2011-11 is effective for the Company in the first quarter of its fiscal year ending February 28, 2014. The Company does not believe that this updated standard will have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements.