Basis of Presentation (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

The accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of ADES are unaudited and have been prepared in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) and with Article 10 of Regulation S-X. In compliance with those instructions, certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in annual consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP have been condensed or omitted.

The unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of ADES in this quarterly report are presented on a consolidated basis comprising ADES and its direct and indirect, wholly-owned subsidiaries: ADA-ES, Inc. ("ADA"), a Colorado corporation, BCSI, LLC ("BCSI"), a Delaware limited liability company, Advanced Clean Energy Solutions, LLC ("ACES"), a Delaware limited liability company, ADEquity, LLC ("ADEquity"), a Delaware limited liability company, ADA Environmental Solutions, LLC ("ADA LLC"), a Colorado limited liability company, ADA Intellectual Property, LLC ("ADA IP"), a Colorado limited liability company, ADA-RCM6, LLC ("ADA-RCM6"), a Colorado limited liability company, ADA Analytics, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and ADA Analytics Israel Ltd. (collectively with ADA Analytics, LLC, "ADA Analytics"), an Israel limited liability company. ADA LLC and ADA IP had no operations in 2015 and 2014. Results of operations and cash flows for the interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the entire year. All significant intercompany transactions and accounts were eliminated as of and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014.

On March 14, 2014, the Company effected a two-for-one stock split of the Company’s common stock, which was completed in the form of a common stock dividend and all amounts have been retroactively adjusted for the split.

In the opinion of management, these consolidated financial statements include all normal and recurring adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation of the results of operations, financial position and cash flows for the interim periods presented. These Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of ADES should be read in conjunction with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014. Significant accounting policies disclosed therein have not changed.

Earnings (Loss) Per Share

The Company computes earnings (loss) per share in accordance with FASB ASC 260-10. Under this guidance, unvested restricted stock awards ("RSA's") that contain non-forfeitable rights to dividends or dividend equivalents are deemed to be participating securities and, therefore, are included in computing basic earnings per share pursuant to the two-class method. The two-class method determines earnings per share for each class of common stock and participating securities according to dividends or dividend equivalents and their respective participation rights in undistributed earnings (losses). The Company did not declare any cash dividends during the three-month and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2015 or 2014.

Under the two-class method, net income (loss) for the period is allocated between common shareholders and the holders of the participating securities, in this case, the weighted-average number of unvested restricted stock awards outstanding during the period. The allocated, undistributed income (loss) for the period is then divided by the weighted-average number of common shares and participating securities outstanding during the period to arrive at basic earnings (loss) per common share or participating security for the period, respectively. Because the Company did not declare any dividends during the periods presented, and because the unvested RSA's possess substantially the same rights to undistributed earnings as common shares outstanding, there is no difference between the calculated basic earnings (loss) per share for common shares and participating securities. Accordingly, and pursuant to U.S. GAAP, the Company has elected not to separately present basic or diluted earnings (loss) per share attributable to participating securities on its Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Diluted earnings (loss) per share takes into consideration shares of common stock and unvested RSA's outstanding (computed under basic earnings (loss) per share) and potentially dilutive shares of common stock. Potentially dilutive shares consist of vested, in-the-money outstanding options, Stock Appreciation Rights ("SAR's") and contingent Performance Share Unit's ("PSU's") (collectively "Potential dilutive shares"). When there is a loss from continuing operations, all potentially dilutive shares become anti-dilutive and are thus excluded from the calculation of diluted loss per share.

Each PSU represents a contingent right to receive shares of the Company’s common stock, that may range from zero to two times the number of PSU's granted on the award date, should the Company meet certain performance measures over the requisite performance period. The number of potentially dilutive shares related to PSU's is based on the number of shares, if any, that would be issuable at the end of the respective reporting period, assuming that the end of the reporting period was the end of the contingency period applicable to such PSU's.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to makes estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. There have been no changes in the Company’s critical accounting estimates from those that were disclosed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

New Accounting Guidance

In January 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-01, Income Statement - Extraordinary and Unusual Items (Topic 225-20), Simplifying Income Statement Presentation by Eliminating the Concept of Extraordinary Items that simplifies income statement presentation by eliminating extraordinary items from U.S. GAAP. This guidance is to be applied either prospectively or retrospectively and is effective for annual periods, and interim periods within those annual periods, beginning after December 15, 2015. Early application is permitted provided the guidance is applied from the beginning of the annual year of adoption. The Company has adopted the guidance as of January 1, 2014 and the adoption of this standard did not have an impact on the Company's consolidated financial position or results of operations.

In February 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-02, Consolidation (Topic 810), Amendments to the Consolidation Analysis that meant to clarify the consolidation reporting guidance in U.S. GAAP. This guidance is to be applied using a retrospective method or a modified retrospective method, as outlined in the guidance, and is effective for annual periods, and interim periods within those annual periods, beginning after December 15, 2015. Early application is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating this guidance but does not believe the adoption of this standard will impact the Company's financial statements and disclosures.

In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-03, Interest – Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs, which requires an entity to present debt issuance costs related to a debt liability as a direct deduction from the debt liability rather than as an asset. ASU 2015-03 is effective retrospectively for fiscal years, and interim reporting periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2015. Early adoption is permitted for financial statements that have not been previously issued. The adoption of this standard impacted the presentation of certain financial statement line items within the Company’s consolidated balance sheets and related disclosures, but did not affect the Company’s consolidated results of operations.

In September 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-16, Business Combinations (Topic 805): Simplifying the Accounting Measurement-Period Adjustments, which eliminates the requirement for an entity to retrospectively adjust the financial statements for measurement-period adjustments that occur in periods after a business combination is completed. ASU 2015-16 is effective prospectively for fiscal years, and interim reporting periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2015. The adoption of this standard will not have an impact on the Company's financial position and results of operations.

In November 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-17, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes, to simplify the presentation of deferred income taxes. The amendments in ASU 2015-17 require that deferred tax liabilities and assets be classified as non-current in a classified statement of financial position. The current requirement that deferred tax liabilities and assets of a tax-paying component of an entity be offset and presented as a single amount is not affected by the amendments in the update. ASU 2015-17 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within those years, and may be applied either prospectively to all deferred tax liabilities and assets or retrospectively to all periods presented. The adoption of this standard will not have an impact on the Company's financial position.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-01, Financial Instruments - Overall: Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities. This new standard provides guidance on how entities measure certain equity investments and present changes in the fair value. This standard requires that entities measure certain equity investments that do not result in consolidation and are not accounted for under the equity method at fair value and recognize any changes in fair value in net income. ASU 2016-01 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 31, 2017. The Company is currently evaluating the provisions of this guidance and assessing its impact on the Company's financial statements and disclosures.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), which requires lessees to recognize a right of use asset and related lease liability for those leases classified as operating leases at the commencement date and have lease terms of more than 12 months. This topic retains the distinction between finance leases and operating leases. ASU 2016-02 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, and interim periods within those years, and must apply a modified retrospective transition approach for leases existing at, or entered into after, the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented in the financial statements. The Company is currently evaluating the provisions of this guidance and assessing its impact on the Company's financial statements and disclosures.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-06, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815), which requires that embedded derivatives be separated from the host contract and accounted for separately as derivatives if certain criteria are met, including the “clearly and closely related” criterion. The amendments in this Update clarify the requirements for assessing whether contingent call (put) options that can accelerate the payment of principal on debt instruments are clearly and closely related to their debt hosts. An entity performing the assessment under the amendments is required to assess the embedded call (put) options solely in accordance with the four-step decision sequence. The amendments apply to all entities that are issuers of or investors in debt instruments (or hybrid financial instruments that are determined to have a debt host) with embedded call (put) options. ASU 2016-06 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within those years, and must apply a modified retrospective transition approach. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the provisions of this guidance and assessing its impact on the Company's financial statements and disclosures.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-07, Investments - Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323), which simplifies the accounting for equity method investments by removing the requirement that an entity retroactively adopt the equity method of accounting if an investment qualifies for use of the equity method as a result of an increase in the level of ownership or degree of influence. The amendments require that the equity method investor add the cost of acquiring the additional interest in the investee to the current basis of the investor’s previously held interest and adopt the equity method of accounting as of the date the investment becomes qualified for equity method accounting. ASU 2016-07 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within those years, and must apply a prospective adoption approach. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the provisions of this guidance and assessing its impact on the Company's financial statements and disclosures.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-08, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Principal versus Agent Considerations (Reporting Revenue Gross versus Net), which clarify the implementation guidance on principal versus agent considerations. ASU 2016-08 is effective for effective for fiscal years, and interim reporting periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2017. Early application is permitted for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, including interim reporting periods within that reporting period. The Company is currently evaluating the provisions of this guidance and assessing its impact on the Company's financial statements and disclosures.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, Compensation-Stock Compensation- Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting (Topic 718), which involves several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, and classification on the statement of cash flows. Under the new standard, income tax benefits and deficiencies are to be recognized as income tax expense or benefit in the income statement and the tax effects of exercised or vested awards should be treated as discrete items in the reporting period in which they occur. An entity should also recognize excess tax benefits regardless of whether the benefit reduces taxes payable in the current period. Excess tax benefits should be classified along with other income tax cash flows as an operating activity. In regards to forfeitures, the entity may make an entity-wide accounting policy election to either estimate the number of awards that are expected to vest or account for forfeitures when they occur. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016 including interim periods within that reporting period, however early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the guidance to determine the Company's adoption method and the effect it will have on the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The estimated fair value of investments securities consisting entirely of certificates of deposits was estimated to be equal to the deposit value of the investment due to the relative short term nature of the instrument.

Fair value is defined as the price that would be received from the sale of an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants as of the measurement date. The Company uses the hierarchy prescribed in the accounting guidance for fair value measurements, based upon the available inputs to the valuation and the degree to which they are observable or not observable in the market. The three levels in the hierarchy are as follows:

•Level 1 Inputs - Quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical assets or liabilities in active markets that are accessible as of the measurement date.

•Level 2 Inputs - Inputs other than quoted prices within Level 1 that are observable either directly or indirectly, including but not limited to quoted prices in markets that are not active, quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities and observable inputs other than quoted prices such as interest rates or yield curves.

•Level 3 Inputs - Unobservable inputs reflecting the Company’s own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability, including assumptions about risk.

Concentration of Credit Risk

The Company's certificates of deposit investment securities, and virtually all of the Company’s restricted and unrestricted cash accounts, are at two financial institutions. If those institutions were to be unable to perform their obligations, the Company would be at risk regarding the amount of cash and investment in excess of the federal deposit insurance corporation limits ($250 thousand) that would be returned to the Company.

Segment Reporting

Unallocated general and administrative expenses include certain costs that benefit the business as a whole but are not directly related to one of our segments. Such costs include but are not limited to accounting and human resources staff, information systems costs, legal fees, facility costs, audit fees and corporate governance expenses.

Operating segments are defined as components of an enterprise about which separate financial information is available that is evaluated regularly by a company's chief operating decision maker ("CODM"), or a decision making group, in deciding how to allocate resources and in assessing financial performance. As of September 30, 2015, the Company's CODM was the Company's CEO. The Company's operating and reportable segments are organized by products and services provided. Segments have been reorganized from prior periods due to changes within the Company's management structure and the manner in which the Company is operating the business. All prior periods have been conformed to the current year presentation.

The Company had four reportable segments during the periods presented: (1) Refined Coal ("RC"); (2) Emissions Control - Engineering and Technology Services ("EC - ETS"); (3) Emissions Control - Manufacturing ("EC - Manufacturing"); and (4) Research and Development ("R&D").

The business segment measurements provided to and evaluated by the CODM are computed in accordance with the principles listed below:


•	The accounting policies of the operating segments are the same as those described in the summary of significant accounting policies except as described below.


•	Segment revenue includes the Company's equity method earnings and losses from the Company's equity method investments. Segment revenue also includes the Company's royalty earnings from CCS.

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Segment operating income (loss) includes the Company's equity method earnings and losses from the Company's equity method investments and royalty earnings from CCS (including depreciation and amortization expense). However, segment operating income (loss) excludes Payroll and benefits, Rent and occupancy, Legal and professional fees, and General and administrative ("Corporate general and administrative expenses") unless otherwise specifically included as the Company does not allocate those amounts between segments.


•	Segment revenue includes Research and Development reimbursements.


•	All items not included in operating income are excluded from the segments reporting.