Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies) |
12 Months Ended |
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Sep. 30, 2019 | |
| Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies) | |
| Basis of Presentation |
The consolidated financial statements are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and the rules of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. |
| Liquidity |
The primary sources of liquidity for the Company are revenues earned and collected from its clients for the placement of contractors and permanent employment candidates and borrowings available under the Credit Agreement. Uses of liquidity include primarily the costs and expenses necessary to fund operations, including payment of compensation to the Company’s contract and permanent employees, payment of operating costs and expenses, payment of taxes, payment of interest and principal under its debt agreements, and capital expenditures.
The Company experienced significant net losses in fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2018, which also have negatively impacted the Company’s ability to generate liquidity. Management believes the Company can generate adequate liquidity to meet its obligations for the foreseeable future and has taken definitive actions to improve operations, reduce costs and improve profitability and liquidity, and position the Company for future growth. In addition, management has successfully negotiated amendments and waivers to the Credit Agreement with the Company’s current senior lenders on six occasions to date as management works to improve the Company’s operations and to refinance and restructure its current debt and equity capitalization. However, there can be no assurance that the Company will not fall into non-compliance with its loan covenants in the future or that its Lenders will continue to provide waivers or amendments to the Company in the event of future non-compliance with debt covenants or other possible events of default that could happen. There also can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in its efforts to refinance and restructure the Company’s debt and equity capitalization under reasonable terms or at all, or that it will generate adequate liquidity to fund operations and meet its debt service obligations in the future.
As of September 30, 2019, the Company had cash of approximately $4.1 million, which was an increase of approximately $0.9 million from approximately $3.2 million at September 30, 2018. Net working capital at September 30, 2019 was approximately $8.7 million, as compared to net working capital of approximately $13.1 million for September 30, 2018. |
| Principles of Consolidation |
The 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 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 clients 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 are performed for customers, and 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 range 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 client. 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 client.
Falloffs and refunds during the period are reflected in the statements of operations as a reduction of placement service revenues and were approximately $2.2 million in fiscal 2019 and $2.1 million in fiscal 2018. Expected future falloffs and refunds are reflected in the 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.
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| 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 September 30, 2019, and September 30, 2018, there were no cash equivalents. The Company maintains deposits in financial institutions in excess of amounts guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Cash and cash equivalents are maintained at 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 doubtful accounts is recorded as a charge to bad debt expense where collection is considered to be doubtful due to credit issues. An allowance for placement fall-offs also is recorded as a reduction of revenues for estimated losses due to applicants not remaining employed for the Company’s guarantee period. 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 client companies are generally dependent on their contract employees in the same manner as permanent employees for the production cycle and the conduct of their respective businesses allows for a relatively small accounts receivable allowance. As of September 30, 2019, and September 30, 2018 allowance for doubtful accounts was $0.5 million and $0.3 million, respectively. The Company charges uncollectible accounts against the allowance once the invoices are deemed unlikely to be collectible. The allowance also includes permanent placement falloff reserves of $0.2 million as of September 30, 2019 and September 30, 2018, respectively. |
| 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 fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2018. |
| Goodwill |
In 2019, the Company early adopted ASU 2017-04, Intangibles — Goodwill and Other (Topic 350), Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment, which simplifies the subsequent measurement of goodwill by eliminating the second step from the quantitative goodwill impairment test. Under this guidance, annual or interim goodwill impairment testing is performed by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount. An impairment charge is recognized for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value, not to exceed the carrying value of goodwill.
Due to a sustained decline in the market capitalization of our common stock during the third quarter of 2019, we performed an interim goodwill impairment test in the third quarter in accordance with the provisions of ASU 2017-04. The outcome of this goodwill impairment test resulted in a non-cash charge for the impairment of goodwill of $4.3 million. For purposes of performing this interim goodwill impairment assessment, management mainly considered recent trends in the Company’s stock price, estimated control or acquisition premium, and related matters, including other possible factors affecting the recent declines in the Company’s stock price and their effects on estimated fair value of the Company’s reporting units.
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| 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 carrying value of the Company’s long-term liabilities represents their fair value based on 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 12.8 million and 11.0 million for fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2018, 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 $2.3 million for fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2018, respectively. |
| 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 straight-line methods.
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| Impairment of Long-lived Assets (other than Goodwill) |
The Company recognizes 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 record any impairment during fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2018. |
| Beneficial Conversion Feature |
The Company evaluates embedded conversion features within a convertible instrument under ASC 815 Derivatives and Hedging to determine whether the embedded conversion feature(s) should be bifurcated from the host instrument and accounted for as a derivative at fair value with changes in fair value recorded in earnings. If the conversion feature does not require treatment under ASC 815, the instrument is evaluated under ASC 470-20 Debt with Conversion and Other Options for consideration of any beneficial feature.
The Company records a beneficial conversion feature (“BCF”) when the convertible instrument is issued with conversion features at fixed or adjustable rates that are below market value when issued. The BCF for convertible instruments is recognized and measured by allocating a portion of the proceeds equal to the intrinsic value of that feature to additional paid-in capital. The intrinsic value is generally calculated at the commitment date as the difference between the conversion price and the fair value of the common stock or other securities into which the security is convertible, multiplied by the number of shares into which the security is convertible. If certain other securities are issued with the convertible security, the proceeds are allocated among the different components. The portion of the proceeds allocated to the convertible security is divided by the contractual number of the conversion shares to determine the effective conversion price, which is used to measure the BCF. The effective conversion price is used to compute the intrinsic value. The value of the BCF is limited to the basis that is initially allocated to the convertible security.
The BCF for the convertible instrument is recorded as a reduction, or discount, to the carrying amount of the convertible instrument equal to the fair value of the conversion feature. The discount is then amortized as interest or deemed dividends over the period from the date of the convertible instrument’s issuance to the earliest redemption date, provided that the convertible instrument is not currently redeemable but probable of becoming redeemable in the future. |
| 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 September 30, 2019 and September 30, 2018, no material accrued interest or penalties are included on the related tax liability line in the consolidated balance sheet.
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| Reclassification |
Certain reclassifications have been made to the financial statements as of and for the years ended September 30, 2019 to conform to the current year presentation. |
| 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.
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.
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