3. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Principles of Consolidation - The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries after elimination of intercompany balances and transactions.

Estimates - The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Revenue Recognition - Merchandise is leased to customers pursuant to lease purchase agreements which provide for weekly lease terms with non-refundable lease payments. Generally, the customer has the right to acquire title either through a 90 day same as cash option, an early purchase option, or through payments of all required lease payments, generally 52 weeks, for ownership. On any current lease, customers have the option to cancel the agreement in accordance with lease terms and return the merchandise. Accordingly, customer agreements are accounted for as operating leases with lease revenues recognized in the month they are due on the accrual basis of accounting. Merchandise sales revenue is recognized when the customer exercises the purchase option and pays the purchase price. Revenue for lease payments received prior to their due date is deferred and recognized as revenue in the period to which the payments relate. Revenues from leases and sales are reported net of sales taxes.

Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts - FlexShopper seeks to collect amounts owed under its leases from each customer on a weekly basis by charging their bank accounts or credit cards. Accounts receivable are principally comprised of lease payments currently owed to FlexShopper which are past due, as FlexShopper has been unable to successfully collect in the manner described above. The allowance for doubtful accounts is based upon revenues and historical experience of balances charged off as a percentage of revenues. The accounts receivable balances consisted of the following as of September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017:

	September 30, 2018			December 31, 2017

Accounts receivable	$	9,393,310		$	6,399,233
Allowance for doubtful accounts		(4,577,634	)		(2,139,765	)
Accounts receivable, net	$	4,815,676		$	4,259,468

The allowance is a significant percentage of the balance because FlexShopper does not charge off any customer account until it has exhausted all collection efforts with respect to each account, including attempts to repossess items. In addition, while collections are pursued, the same delinquent customers continue to accrue weekly charges until they are charged off with such charges being fully reserved for. Accounts receivable balances charged off against the allowance were $6,766,876 and $14,209,066 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, respectively, and $7,133,260 and $20,713,314 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively.

Lease Merchandise - Until all payment obligations for ownership are satisfied under the lease agreement, the Company maintains ownership of the lease merchandise. Lease merchandise consists primarily of residential furniture, consumer electronics, computers, appliances and household accessories and is recorded at cost net of accumulated depreciation. The Company depreciates leased merchandise using the straight-line method over the applicable agreement period for a consumer to acquire ownership, generally twelve months with no salvage value. Upon transfer of ownership of merchandise to customers resulting from satisfaction of their lease obligations, the related cost and accumulated depreciation are eliminated from lease merchandise. For lease merchandise returned or anticipated to be returned either voluntarily or through repossession, the Company provides an impairment reserve for the undepreciated balance of the merchandise net of any estimated salvage value with a corresponding charge to cost of lease revenue. The cost, accumulated depreciation and impairment reserve related to such merchandise are written off upon determination that no salvage value is obtainable. The impairment charge amounted to approximately $2,029,000 and $4,148,000 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, respectively, and $664,000 and $3,948,000 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively.

The net leased merchandise balances consisted of the following as of September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017:

	September 30, 2018			December 31, 2017
Lease merchandise at cost	$	35,707,612		$	34,501,555
Accumulated depreciation		(15,710,483	)		(11,974,953	)
Impairment reserve		(1,670,699	)		(1,111,280	)
Lease merchandise, net	$	18,326,430		$	21,415,322

Lease merchandise at cost represents the undepreciated cost of rental merchandise at the time of sale.

Deferred Debt Issuance Costs - Debt issuance costs incurred in conjunction with the Credit Agreement entered into on March 6, 2015 (see Note 6) are offset against the outstanding balance of the loan payable and are amortized using the straight-line method over the remaining term of the related debt, which approximates the effective interest method. Amortization, which is included in interest expense, was $167,689 and $425,996 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, respectively, and $118,404 and $355,212 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively.

Debt issuance costs of $35,000 incurred in conjunction with the subordinated Promissory Notes entered into on January 29, 2018 and January 30, 2018 (see Note 5) are offset against the outstanding balance of the loan payable and are amortized using the straight-line method over the remaining term of the related debt, which approximates the effective interest method. Amortization, which is included in interest expense, was $35,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2018.

Intangible Assets - Intangible assets consist of a patent on the Company’s LTO payment method at check-out for third party e-commerce sites. Patents are stated at cost less accumulated amortization. Patent costs are amortized by using the straight-line method over the legal life, or if shorter, the useful life of the patent, which has been estimated to be 10 years.

Software Costs - Costs related to developing or obtaining internal-use software incurred during the preliminary project and post-implementation stages of an internal use software project are expensed as incurred and certain costs incurred in the project’s application development stage are capitalized as property and equipment. The Company expenses costs related to the planning and operating stages of a website. Costs associated with minor enhancements and maintenance for the website are included in expenses as incurred. Direct costs incurred in the website’s development stage are capitalized as property and equipment. Capitalized software costs amounted to $730,554 and $1,737,931 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, respectively, and $481,306 and $1,419,273 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively.

Operating Expenses - Operating expenses include corporate overhead expenses such as salaries, stock-based compensation, insurance, occupancy, and other administrative expenses.

Marketing Costs - Marketing costs, primarily consisting of advertising, are charged to expense as incurred.

Per Share Data - Per share data is computed by use of the two-class method as a result of outstanding Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock, which participates in dividends with the common stock and accordingly has participation rights in undistributed earnings as if all such earnings had been distributed during the period (see Note 7). Under such method income available to common shareholders is computed by deducting both dividends declared or, if not declared, accumulated on Series 2 Convertible Preferred Stock from income from continuing operations and from net income. Loss attributable to common shareholders is computed by increasing loss from continuing operations and net loss by such dividends. Where the Company has undistributed net income available to common shareholders, basic earnings per common share is computed based on the total of any dividends paid or declared per common share plus undistributed income per common share determined by dividing net income available to common shareholders reduced by any dividends paid or declared on common and participating Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock by the total of the weighted average number of common shares outstanding plus the weighted average number of common shares issuable upon conversion of outstanding participating Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock during the period. Where the Company has a net loss, basic per share data (including income from continuing operations) is computed based solely on the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. As the participating Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock has no contractual obligation to share in the losses of the Company, common shares issuable upon conversion of such preferred stock are not included in such computations.

Diluted earnings per share is based on the more dilutive of the if-converted method (which assumes conversion of the participating Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock as of the beginning of the period) or the two-class method (which assumes that the participating Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock is not converted) plus the potential impact of dilutive non-participating Series 2 Convertible Preferred Stock, options and warrants. The dilutive effect of stock options and warrants is computed using the treasury stock method, which assumes the repurchase of common shares at the average market price during the period. Under the treasury stock method, options and warrants will have a dilutive effect when the average price of common stock during the period exceeds the exercise price of options or warrants. When there is a loss from continuing operations, potential common shares are not included in the computation of diluted loss per share, since they have an anti-dilutive effect.

In computing diluted loss per share, no effect has been given to the issuance of common stock upon conversion or exercise of the following securities as their effect is anti-dilutive:

	Nine Months ended
	September 30,
	2018		2017
Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock		145,197		147,417
Series 2 Convertible Preferred Stock		2,710,124		2,710,124
Series 2 Convertible Preferred Stock issuable upon exercise of warrants		54,217		54,217
Common Stock Options		445,400		302,900
Common Stock Warrants		7,182,488		511,553
		10,537,426		3,726,211

Stock-Based Compensation - The fair value of transactions in which the Company exchanges its equity instruments for employee services (share-based payment transactions) is recognized as an expense in the financial statements as services are performed.

Compensation expense is determined by reference to the fair value of an award on the date of grant and is amortized on a straight-line basis over the vesting period. We have elected to use the Black-Scholes-Merton (BSM) pricing model to determine the fair value of all stock option awards (see Note 8).

Fair Value of Financial Instruments - The carrying value of loans payable under the Credit Agreement increased by unamortized issuance costs (see Note 6) approximates fair value.

Income Taxes - Deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the estimated future tax effects of net operating loss carryforwards and temporary differences between the tax bases of assets and liabilities and their respective financial reporting amounts measured at the current enacted tax rates. The Company records a valuation allowance for its deferred tax assets when management concludes that it is not more likely than not that such assets will be recognized.

The Company recognizes a tax benefit from an uncertain tax position only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized in the consolidated financial statements from such a position are measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. As of September 30, 2018 and 2017, the Company had not recorded any unrecognized tax benefits.

Interest and penalties related to liabilities for uncertain tax positions will be charged to interest and operating expenses, respectively.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements - In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, on revenue recognition. The new standard provides for a single five-step model to be applied to all revenue contracts with customers as well as requires additional financial statement disclosures that will enable users to understand the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows relating to customer contracts. Companies have an option to use either a retrospective approach or cumulative effect adjustment approach to implement the standard. ASU 2014-09 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods within that reporting period. The Company adopted this guidance on January 1, 2018 but it did not have a material impact on its financial statements as a majority of the Company’s revenue generating activities are leasing arrangements, which are outside the scope of the guidance.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases, which is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2018 with early adoption permitted. Under ASU 2016-02, lessees will be required to recognize for all leases at the commencement date a lease liability, which is a lessee’s obligation to make lease payments arising from a lease measured on a discounted basis, and a right-to-use asset, which is an asset that represents the lessee’s right to use or control the use of a specified asset for the lease term. The Company has preliminarily determined that the new standard will not materially impact the timing of revenue recognition. The new standard will result in the Company continuing to classify bad debt expense incurred as a reduction of lease revenue and fees within the consolidated statements of earnings.

The new standard will also impact the Company as a lessee by requiring all of its operating leases to be recognized on the balance sheet as a right-to-use asset and lease liability. The Company plans to elect a package of optional practical expedients which includes the option to retain the current classification of leases entered into prior to January 1, 2019, and thus does not anticipate a material impact to the consolidated statements of earnings or consolidated statements of cash flows. The Company intends to adopt the new standard in the first quarter of 2019.