Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Significant Accounting Policies and Estimates

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Significant Accounting Policies and Estimates
3 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018
Notes to Financial Statements  
2. Significant Accounting Policies and Estimates

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America for interim financial information and with the instructions to Article 8 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and notes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America for complete consolidated financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. Operating results for the three-month period ended December 31, 2018 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending September 30, 2019. The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2018 as filed on December 27, 2018.

 

Liquidity

 

The Company experienced significant net losses for its most recent fiscal year ended September 30, 2018, and for the three months ended December 31, 2018. Management has implemented a strategy which includes cost reductions and consolidation of certain operating activities to continue gain efficiencies as well as identifying strategic acquisitions, financed primarily through a combination of the issuance of equity and debt, to improve the overall profitability and cash flows of the Company.

 

As of December 31, 2018, the Company had cash of approximately $3.5 million, which was an increase of approximately $0.3 million from approximately $3.2 million at September 30, 2018. Working capital at December 31, 2018 was approximately $11.5 million, as compared to working capital of approximately $13.1 million for September 30, 2018.

 

Management currently expects that the combination of future cash flow from operations and the availability under the Revolving Credit Facility will provide sufficient liquidity for the next 12 months. See Note 6, for a further discussion of the terms, conditions, status and related matters regarding the Company’s Revolving Credit, Term Loan and Security Agreement and subsequent amendments related to waivers of covenants.

 

Principles of Consolidation

 

The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts and transactions of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All significant inter-company accounts and transactions are eliminated in consolidation.

 

Estimates and Assumptions

 

Management makes estimates and assumptions that can affect the amounts of assets and liabilities reported as of the date of the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, as well as the amounts of reported revenues and expenses during the periods presented. Those estimates and assumptions typically involve expectations about events to occur subsequent to the balance sheet date, and it is possible that actual results could ultimately differ from the estimates.

 

Revenue Recognition

 

Revenues from contracts with customers are generated through the following services: direct hire placement services, temporary professional services staffing, and temporary light industrial staffing. Revenues are recognized when promised services performed to customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to be entitled to in exchange for those services. Our revenues are recorded net of variable consideration such as sales adjustments or allowances.

 

Direct hire placement service revenues from contracts with customers are recognized when employment candidates accept offers of employment, less a provision for estimated credits or refunds to customers as the result of applicants not remaining employed for the entirety of the Company's guarantee period (referred to as “falloffs”). The Company’s guarantee periods for permanently placed employees generally ranges from 60 to 90 days from the date of hire. Fees associated with candidate placement are generally calculated as a percentage of the new employee’s annual compensation. No fees for permanent placement services are charged to employment candidates.

 

Temporary staffing service revenues from contracts with customers are recognized in amounts for which the Company has a right to invoice, as the services are rendered by the Company’s temporary employees. The Company records temporary staffing revenue on a gross basis as a principal versus on a net basis as an agent in the presentation of revenues and expenses. The Company has concluded that gross reporting is appropriate because the Company controls the specified service before that service is performed for a customer. The Company has the risk of identifying and hiring qualified employees, has the discretion to select the employees and establish their price, and bears the risk for services that are not fully paid for by customers.

 

Falloffs and refunds during the period are reflected in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations as a reduction of placement service revenues and were approximately $0.7 million and $0.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Expected future falloffs and refunds are reflected in the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet as a reduction of accounts receivable as described under Accounts Receivable, below.

 

See Note 13 for disaggregated revenues by segment.

 

Payment terms in our contracts vary by the type and location of our customer and the services offered. The terms between invoicing and when payments are due are not significant.

 

Cost of Contract Staffing Services

 

The cost of contract services includes the wages and the related payroll taxes, employee benefits and certain other employee-related costs of the Company’s contract service employees, while they work on contract assignments.

 

Cash and Cash Equivalents

 

Highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less when purchased are considered to be cash equivalents. As of December 31, 2018 and September 30, 2018, there were no cash equivalents. The Company maintains deposits in financial institutions and, at times, balances may exceed federally insured limits. We have never experienced any losses related to these balances.

 

Accounts Receivable

 

The Company extends credit to its various customers based on evaluation of the customer’s financial condition and ability to pay the Company in accordance with the payment terms. An allowance for placement fall-offs is recorded, as a reduction of revenues, for estimated losses due to applicants not remaining employed for the Company’s guarantee period. An allowance for doubtful accounts is recorded, as a charge to bad debt expense, where collection is considered to be doubtful due to credit issues. These allowances together reflect management’s estimate of the potential losses inherent in the accounts receivable balances, based on historical loss statistics and known factors impacting its customers. The nature of the contract service business, where companies are dependent on employees for the production cycle allows for a relatively small accounts receivable allowance. As of each of December 31, 2018, and September 30, 2018 allowance for doubtful accounts was $0.3 million. The Company charges off uncollectible accounts once the invoices are deemed unlikely to be collectible. The allowance also includes permanent placement falloffs of $0.2 million as of December 31, 2018 and September 30, 2018.

 

Property and Equipment

 

Property and equipment are recorded at cost. Depreciation expense is calculated on a straight-line basis over estimated useful lives of five years for computer equipment and two to ten years for office equipment, furniture and fixtures. The Company capitalizes computer software purchased or developed for internal use and amortizes it over an estimated useful life of five years. The carrying value of property and equipment is reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that it may not be recoverable. If the carrying amount of an asset group is greater than its estimated future undiscounted cash flows, the carrying value is written down to the estimated fair value. There was no impairment of property and equipment for the three-months period ended December 31, 2018 and 2017.

 

Goodwill

 

Goodwill represents the excess of cost over the fair value of the net assets acquired in the various acquisitions. The Company evaluates goodwill for impairment at least annually. Testing goodwill for impairment allows the Company to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether the existence of events or circumstances leads to a determination that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. If the entity determines that this threshold is not met, then performing the two-step impairment test is unnecessary. An impairment loss would be recognized to the extent the carrying value of goodwill exceeds its implied fair value.

 

Fair Value Measurement

 

The Company follows the provisions of Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 820, “Fair Value Measurement”, which defines fair value, establishes a framework for measuring fair value and enhances fair value measurement disclosure. Under these provisions, fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability (i.e., the “exit price”) in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date.

 

The standard establishes a hierarchy for inputs used in measuring fair value that maximizes the use of observable inputs and minimizes the use of unobservable inputs by requiring that the most observable inputs be used when available. Observable inputs are inputs that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on market data obtained from sources independent of the Company. Unobservable inputs are inputs that reflect the Company’s assumptions about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on the best information available in the circumstances. The hierarchy is described below:

 

Level 1: Quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets that are accessible at the measurement date for assets or liabilities. The fair value hierarchy gives the highest priority to Level 1 inputs.

 

Level 2: Observable prices that are based on inputs not quoted on active markets, but corroborated by market data.

 

Level 3: Unobservable inputs are used when little or no market data is available. The fair value hierarchy gives the lowest priority to Level 3 inputs.

 

The fair value of the Company’s current assets and current liabilities approximate their carrying values due to their short-term nature. The fair value disclosures of the Company’s long-term liabilities included herein are estimated using Level 3 inputs. The Company’s goodwill and other intangible assets are measured at fair value on a non-recurring basis using Level 3 inputs, as discussed in Note 5.

 

Earnings and Loss per Share

 

Basic loss per share is computed by dividing net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted average common shares outstanding for the period. Diluted loss per share is computed giving effect to all potentially dilutive common shares. Potentially dilutive common shares may consist of incremental shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options and warrants and the conversion of notes payable and preferred stock to common stock. In periods in which a net loss has been incurred, all potentially dilutive common shares are considered anti-dilutive and thus are excluded from the calculation.

 

Common stock equivalents, which are excluded because their effect is anti-dilutive were 11.8 million and 10.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

 

Advertising Expenses

 

The Company expenses the costs of print and internet media advertising and promotions as incurred and reports these costs in selling, general and administrative expenses. Advertising expense totaled $0.6 million for each of the three months ended December 31, 2018 and 2017.

 

Intangible Assets

 

Separately identifiable intangible assets held in the form of customer lists, non-compete agreements, customer relationships, management agreements and trade names were recorded at their estimated fair value at the date of acquisition and are amortized over their estimated useful lives ranging from two to ten years using both accelerated and straight-line methods.

 

Impairment of Long-lived Assets

 

The Company records an impairment of long-lived assets used in operations, other than goodwill, when events or circumstances indicate that the asset might be impaired and the estimated undiscounted cash flows to be generated by those assets over their remaining lives are less than the carrying amount of those items. The net carrying value of assets not recoverable is reduced to fair value, which is typically calculated using the discounted cash flow method. The Company did not recognize any impairments during the three-month periods ended December 31, 2018 and 2017.

 

Stock-Based Compensation

 

The Company accounts for stock-based awards to employees in accordance with FASB ASC 718, “Compensation-Stock Compensation”, which requires compensation expense related to share-based transactions, including employee stock options, to be measured and recognized in the financial statements based on a determination of the fair value of the stock options. The grant date fair value is determined using the Black-Scholes-Merton ("Black-Scholes") pricing model. For all employee stock options, we recognize expense on an accelerated basis over the employee's requisite service period (generally the vesting period of the equity grant). The Company's option pricing model requires the input of highly subjective assumptions, including the expected stock price volatility, expected term, and forfeiture rate. Any changes in these highly subjective assumptions significantly impact stock-based compensation expense.

 

Options awarded to purchase shares of common stock issued to non-employees in exchange for services are accounted for as variable awards in accordance with FASB ASC 718, “Compensation-Stock Compensation”. Such options are valued using the Black-Scholes option pricing model.

 

See Note 9 for the assumptions used to calculate the fair value of stock-based employee and non-employee compensation. Upon the exercise of options, it is the Company's policy to issue new shares rather than utilizing treasury shares.

 

Income Taxes

 

We account for income taxes under the asset and liability method, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been included in the financial statements. Under this method, we determine deferred tax assets and liabilities on the basis of the differences between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities by using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to reverse. The effect of a change in tax rates on deferred tax assets and liabilities is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date.

 

We recognize deferred tax assets to the extent that we believe that these assets are more likely than not to be realized. In making such a determination, we consider all available positive and negative evidence, including future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences, projected future taxable income, tax-planning strategies, and results of recent operations. If we determine that we would be able to realize our deferred tax assets in the future in excess of their net recorded amount, we would make an adjustment to the deferred tax asset valuation allowance, which would reduce the provision for income taxes.

 

We record uncertain tax positions in accordance with ASC 740 on the basis of a two-step process in which (1) we determine whether it is more likely than not that the tax positions will be sustained on the basis of the technical merits of the position and (2) for those tax positions that meet the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold, we recognize the largest amount of tax benefit that is more than 50 percent likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement with the related tax authority.

 

We recognize and group interest and penalties, if any, with income tax expense in the accompanying consolidated statement of operations. As of December 31, 2018 and September 30, 2018, no material accrued interest or penalties are included on the related tax liability line in the consolidated balance sheet.

 

Segment Data

 

The Company provides the following distinctive services: (a) direct hire placement services, and (b) temporary professional contract services staffing in the fields of information technology, engineering, medical, and accounting, and (c) temporary contract light industrial staffing. The Company’s services can be divided into two reportable segments, Industrial Staffing Services and Professional Staffing Services. Selling, general and administrative expenses are not entirely allocated among Industrial and Professional Staffing Services. Operating results are regularly reviewed by the chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and to assess its performance. Other factors, including type of business, type of employee, length of employment and revenue recognition are considered in determining the Company’s operating segments.