SEC Company Response from INTERNATIONAL MICROCOMPUTER SOFTWARE — Jul 18, 2005
INTERNATIONAL MICROCOMPUTER SOFTWARE INC /CA/ (CIK 0000814929)
Date: July 18, 2005 · CIK: 0000814929 · Accession: 0001266454-05-000118
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 000-15949
Referenced dates: June 14, 2005
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CORRESP
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filename1.htm
SEC Response Letter
July
18,
2005
Mr.
Craig
Wilson, Senior Assistant Chief Accountant
Ms.
Christine Davis, Staff Accountant
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Sent
via
EDGAR
Dear
Mr.
Wilson:
We
submit
this letter in response to comments from the staff of the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the “Staff”), received by letter dated June 14, 2005
relating to International Microcomputer Software, Inc.’s (the “Company”) Form
10-KSB for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2004 filed on September 13, 2004
and
International Microcomputer Software, Inc.’s Form 8-K filed May 18, 2005 (File
No. 000-15949).
We
appreciate your review comments to assist us in our compliance with the
applicable disclosure requirements. Management and the Board are committed
to
fulfilling our obligations to the public.
In
connection with responding to the Commission’s comments dated June 14, 2005, the
Company acknowledges that:
A.
the
Company is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure
in
the filing,
B.
staff
comments or changes to disclosure in response to staff comments do
not
foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to the
filing; and
C.
the
Company may not assert staff comments as a defense in any proceeding
initiated by the Commission or any person under the federal securities
laws of the United States.
Set
forth
below are the Staff’s comments followed by our responses.
ITEM
1.
Comment:
We
note that you recognize revenue from resellers at the time of the sale and
revenue from distributors when the product sells through to the retailer or
end
user. Explain to us why your revenue recognition policies differ for these
customers that represent your indirect sales channels. Support these policies
by
referring to the relevant contract terms and explaining how and when each of
the
criteria in paragraph 8 of SOP 97-2 are met in order to recognize revenue under
each type of arrangement.
1
Answer:
We will
first discuss resellers and then distributors and their differing revenue
treatments. We sell our products to resellers, which are typically businesses
that analyze the software needs of, and provide software solutions to, their
clients. Resellers, therefore, sell only to end-users. Resellers buy our
products in limited quantities and have a very low historical rate of return.
The effective terms are found on the back of the IMSI invoice which provide
for
warranty and misshipment returns and stock balancing programs to approved
resellers but offers no general right of return. (The full text of terms are
on
the back of our invoice. A copy of our standard invoice used in this period
has
been sent by courier to your address as illustrative materials.) Revenue from
sales to resellers is recorded at the time of the sale, net of estimated
returns. Estimated returns are based on a review of historical returns for
that
customer class. This policy is in conformity with the four revenue recognition
requirements of paragraph 8 of SOP 97-2, as follows:
Persuasive
evidence of an arrangement exists.
The
sales arrangement between IMSI and the reseller is documented by a purchase
order that is received from the reseller requesting shipment of a certain number
of units of certain products at certain prices.
Delivery
has occurred.
All
products are shipped to the resellers F.O.B. Shipping Point, which indicates
that title to the shipment passes to the buyer when the goods leave the
shipper’s dock.
The
vendor’s fee is fixed or determinable.
After
the product has been shipped as documented by a shipping manifest, an invoice
is
generated that incorporates the information on both the purchase order and
shipping manifest. The products delivered to the customer at the price indicated
on the purchase order in the amount indicated on the shipping manifest comprise
the fixed fee that is owed.
Collectibility
is probable.
Customer accounts are monitored for timely payment. In-depth analysis is
performed on a regular basis to determine the adequacies of accounts receivable
reserves and adjustments are made based on this analysis.
We
also
sell our products to distributors, which are businesses that sell a multitude
of
hardware and software products to retailers. Historical rates of returns from
distributors have varied significantly and as a result our accounting for sales
to distributors is designed to mitigate the risks of over-statement of revenues.
For these reasons, revenue from sales to distributors is recognized only when
the product sells through to retailers and end users. This policy is followed
because of the following -
·
Distributors
will not pay invoices until they sell the products(s) to their
customers.
·
Distributors
exercise the right to return any product purchased, if in the original
packaging, either contractually or based on common
practice.
This
“revenue on sell-through” policy is in conformity with the revenue recognition
requirements of paragraph 8 of SOP 97-2, as follows:
The
vendor’s fee is fixed or determinable.
Collectibility
is probable.
Insofar
as the distributors will not pay invoices for goods that they have in their
warehouses, the invoice itself cannot be considered as a fixed amount owing
from
the distributor that will probably be paid. It is not until the distributor
ships the product(s) to their customers that we meet the criteria that the
amount owing can be determined and that collectibility is probable.
Recently
some of our product shipments to distributors have been made on a consignment
basis. Accordingly, revenue is recognized based on the reports from these
distributors of their sales of the consigned products.
2
Distributors
and resellers have different characteristics which must be analyzed and revenue
recognized according to those facts. As a result of the above, we believe that
our revenue recognition policies are in accordance with the revenue recognition
guidelines and appropriate based on the facts and circumstances of those sales.
ITEM
2.
Comment:
Tell us more about your OEM contracts and your republishing arrangements.
Describe the products and services provided and the material contract terms
offered. Refer to the accounting literature that supports your revenue
recognition policies for OEM contracts and republishing arrangements and explain
to us how your policies comply with that literature.
Answer:
Revenue from republishing agreements will be discussed first because of its
relative size compared to OEM. We enter into republishing agreements with
domestic and international distributors whereby we provide master copies of
our
products that may be used to create copies of our software products. The
distributors manufacture, package, sell and ship these copies that they produce.
They then owe us a percentage of their sales as royalties. These agreements
are
typically for a year or longer.
Many
of
these agreements obligate the distributors to pay us a minimum guaranteed
royalty amount, typically on a monthly basis. Royalties that are owed from
the
sale of our products are offset against these payments. Any royalties earned
in
excess of the minimum amount are paid to us, usually on a quarterly or annual
basis. We have no contractual obligation to refund any minimum amounts paid
in
excess of royalties earned and have never done so.
In
recognizing the revenue derived from these agreements that require republishers
to make minimum guaranteed payments, we apply the criteria of paragraph .08
of
SOP 97-2, which states:
·
Persuasive
evidence of an arrangement exists.
This occurs with the signing of the
agreement.
·
Delivery
has occurred.
Delivery consists of providing master copies of the products licensed
to
the republisher.
·
The
vendor’s fee is fixed or determinable.
We
recognize the minimum guaranteed payments stipulated by the agreement
when
these payments are due, typically on a monthly basis. We do not recognize
the total of the guaranteed payments when we deliver the masters
stipulated in the agreement for two reasons:
1)
We
usually release new versions of each of our products annually and
the
republisher making minimum guaranteed payments is typically entitled
to a
master of the new product. We therefore apply the criteria of paragraphs
.48 and .49 of SOP 97-2, which state
-
“.48
As
part of a multiple-element arrangement with a user, a vendor may agree to
deliver software currently and to deliver unspecified additional software
products in the future. .49 The software elements of the kind of arrangements
discussed in paragraph .48 should be accounted for as subscriptions . . and
all
software product-related revenue from the arrangement should be recognized
ratably over the term of the arrangement beginning with the delivery of the
first product.”
3
2)
At
times, these agreements are amended, including the amounts of future
guaranteed minimum payments. We therefore only recognize the guaranteed
minimum payments that have become due during each
month.
·
Collectibility
is probable.
In
recognizing the revenue derived from agreements that do not require republishers
to make minimum guaranteed payments, we also apply the criteria of paragraph
.08
of SOP 97-2 identical to the above application, with the following exception
-
·
The
vendor’s fee is fixed or determinable.
The vendor’s fee is based on the agreement, which typically stipulates
that the republisher will pay us a percentage of their sales of the
products that have been licensed. We therefore recognize revenue
when we
receive the sales and royalty statements from the
republisher.
OEM
Revenue treatment. We also on occasion, but not often, enter into agreements
with original equipment manufacturers (OEM contracts), which provided under
0.5%
of total 2004 fiscal year revenue. Typically, these contracts allow the licensee
to make copies of one or more of our products to be included free-of-charge
in
the package of a hardware product. The fee paid to us is usually a set amount
for a certain number of copies. This fee is due at the time that we provide
the
master of the product to the licensee. We recognize revenue for the entire
fee
at the time that the fee is due. We do so in accordance with paragraph 42 of
SOP
97-2, which states:
“If
the
arrangement is based on a price per product (not a price per copy), the portion
of the fee allocated to a product should be recognized as revenue when the
product is delivered... “
If
the
licensee is allowed to make more copies of the product than the amount specified
in the contract for which they have paid the fee, a per unit amount is reported
and paid to us, and we recognize that additional revenue when we receive the
report.
ITEM
3.
Comment:
We note that you offer your customers returns, price discounts, rebates and
stock balancing arrangements. Describe these offerings in more detail and
explain to us how each affects the timing of your revenue recognition. Explain
how your accounting for these offerings complies with the relevant accounting
literature.
Answer:
We
will
go through the different arrangements in order and refer to the appropriate
literature as we proceed.
Returns.
Direct
sales are made to endusers and indirect sales are made to resellers and
distributors. Endusers have the right to return product within 30 days of the
sale. Resellers have a limited right of return that varies according to the
selling arrangements made with the resellers.
FAS
48
addresses the issue of revenue recognition when the right of return exists.
Conditions that must be met for revenue to be recognized at the time of the
sale
if the buyer has a right of return are listed as follows -
·
The
seller’s price to the buyer is fixed or determinable at the time of the
sale.
4
·
The
buyer is obligated to pay the seller and payment is not contingent
on
resale of the product
·
The
buyer’s obligation is not effected by the event of theft, damage or
destruction of the product
·
The
buyer has economic substance apart from that provided by the
seller.
·
The
seller does not have a future obligation to bring about the resale
of the
product.
·
The
amount of future returns can be reasonably
estimated.
For
sales
to endusers and resellers, all of the conditions for revenue recognition at
the
time of sale are met. The amount of future returns can be reasonably estimated
because the factors that could impair the ability to do so, as stipulated in
paragraph 8 of FAS 48, are not present or can be overcome, as follows
-
·
Susceptibility
of the product to external conditions, such as obsolescence or decrease
in
demand.
Products are rendered obsolete and demand declines when new versions
are
released. Planning for new product releases includes allowing endusers
free upgrades and increasing returns reserves for
resellers.
·
Relatively
long period of