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Note A - The Company and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Notes To Financial Statements  
Business Description and Accounting Policies [Text Block]
NOTE A—THE COMPANY AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Nature of Business

The Company, founded in 1993, develops and markets proprietary fingerprint identification biometric technology and software solutions. We also deliver advanced identification solutions and information services to law enforcement departments, public safety agencies and other government and private sector customers. Our mobile wireless technology provides first responders with critical, reliable, real-time data and images from local, state and national databases.

Basis of Presentation

We have incurred significant losses to date, and at December 31, 2011, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $52 million. In addition, broad commercial acceptance of our technology is critical to the Company’s success and ability to generate future revenues.  At December 31, 2011, our total cash and cash equivalents were approximately $43,400, as compared to approximately $1,010,000 at December 31, 2010.

As discussed below, the Company has financed itself in the past through access to the capital markets by issuing secured and convertible debt securities, convertible preferred stock,  common stock, and recently through factoring receivables. We currently require approximately $385,000 per month to conduct our operations, a monthly amount that we have been unable to achieve through revenue generation.

If the Company is unable to generate sufficient revenue to meet our goals, we will need to obtain additional third-party financing to (i) conduct the sales, marketing and technical support necessary to execute our plan to substantially grow operations, increase revenue and serve a significant customer base; and (ii) provide working capital. No assurance can be given that any form of additional financing will be available on terms acceptable to the Company, that adequate financing will be obtained by the Company in order to meet its needs, or that such financing would not be dilutive to existing shareholders.

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, which contemplate continuation of the Company as a going concern, and assumes continuity of operations, realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities and commitments in the normal course of business. The matters described in the preceding paragraphs raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Recoverability of a major portion of the recorded asset amounts shown in the accompanying balance sheet is dependent upon the Company’s ability to meet its financing requirements on a continuing basis, and become profitable in its future operations. The accompanying consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recoverability and classification of recorded assets or the amounts and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue in existence.

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

A summary of the significant accounting policies consistently applied in the preparation of the accompanying consolidated financial statements follows:

1.  Basis of Consolidation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of BIO-key International, Inc. and its wholly- owned subsidiary (collectively, the “Company”). Intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.
 
2. Use of Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as set forth in the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) and consider the various staff accounting bulletins and other applicable guidance issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These accounting principles require us to make certain estimates, judgments and assumptions. We believe that the estimates, judgments and assumptions upon which we rely are reasonable based upon information available to us at the time that these estimates, judgments and assumptions are made. These estimates, judgments and assumptions can affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities as of the date of the financial statements as well as the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the periods presented. To the extent there are material differences between these estimates, judgments or assumptions and actual results, our consolidated financial statements will be affected. In many cases, the accounting treatment of a particular transaction is specifically dictated by GAAP and does not require management’s judgment in its application. There are also areas in which management’s judgment in selecting among available alternatives would not produce a materially different result.

3.  Revenue Recognition

Revenues from software licensing are recognized in accordance with ASC 985-605, “Software Revenue Recognition. Accordingly, revenue from software licensing is recognized when all of the following criteria are met: persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, delivery has occurred, the fee is fixed or determinable, and collectability is probable.

The Company intends to enter into arrangements with end users for items which may include software license fees, and services or various combinations thereof. For each arrangement, revenues will be recognized when evidence of an agreement has been documented, the fees are fixed or determinable, collection of fees is probable, delivery of the product has occurred and no other significant obligations remain.

Multiple-Element Arrangements: For multiple-element arrangements, the Company applies the residual method in accordance with ASC 985-605. The residual method requires that the portion of the total arrangement fee attributable to the undelivered elements be deferred based on its VSOE of fair value and subsequently recognized as the service is delivered. The difference between the total arrangement fee and the amount deferred for the undelivered elements is recognized as revenue related to the delivered elements, which is generally the software license. VSOE of fair value for all elements in an arrangement is based upon the normal pricing for those products and services when sold separately. VSOE of fair value for support services is additionally determined by the renewal rate in customer contracts. The Company has established VSOE of fair value for support as well as consulting services.

License Revenues: Amounts allocated to license revenues are recognized at the time of delivery of the software and all other revenue recognition criteria discussed above have been met.

Revenue from licensing software, which requires significant customization and modification, is recognized using the percentage of completion method, based on the hours of effort incurred by the Company in relation to the total estimated hours to complete. In instances where third party hardware, software or services form a significant portion of a customer’s contract, the Company recognizes revenue for the element of software customization by the percentage of completion method described above. Otherwise, third party hardware, software, and services are recognized upon shipment or acceptance as appropriate. If the Company makes different judgments or utilizes different estimates of the total amount of work expected to be required to customize or modify the software, the timing and revenue recognition, from period to period, and the margins on the project in the reporting period, may differ materially from amounts reported. Anticipated contract losses are recognized as soon as they become known and are estimable.

Service Revenues: Revenues from services are comprised of maintenance and consulting and implementation services. Maintenance revenues include providing for unspecified when-and-if available product updates and customer telephone support services, and are recognized ratably over the term of the service period. Consulting services are generally sold on a time-and-materials basis and include a range of services including installation of software and assisting in the design of interfaces to allow the software to operate in customized environments. Services are generally separable from other elements under the arrangement since performance of the services are not essential to the functionality of any other element of the transaction and are described in the contract such that the total price of the arrangement would be expected to vary as the result of the inclusion or exclusion of the services. Revenues from services are generally recognized as the services are performed.

The Company provides customers, free of charge or at a minimal cost, testing kits which potential licensing customers may use to test compatibility/acceptance of the Company’s technology with the customer’s intended applications.

Costs and other expenses: Includes professional compensation and other direct contract expenses, as well as costs attributable to the support of client service professional staff, depreciation and amortization costs related to assets used in revenue-generating activities, and other costs attributable to serving the Company’s client base. Professional compensation consists of payroll costs and related benefits including stock-based compensation and bonuses. Other direct contract expenses include costs directly attributable to client engagements, such as out-of-pocket costs including travel and subsistence for client service professional staff, costs of hardware and software and costs of subcontractors. The allocation of lease and facilities charges for occupied offices is included in costs of service.
 
The Company accounts for its warranties under the FASB ASC 450 “Contingencies.” The Company generally warrants that its products are free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of initial receipt by our customers. The warranty does not cover any losses or damage that occurs as a result of improper installation, misuse or neglect or repair or modification by anyone other than the Company or its authorized repair agent. The Company’s policy is to accrue anticipated warranty costs based upon historical percentages of items returned for repair within one year of the initial sale. The Company’s repair rate of products under warranty has been minimal, and a historical percentage has not been established. The Company’s software license agreements generally include certain provisions for indemnifying customers against liabilities if the Company’s software products infringe upon a third party’s intellectual property rights. The Company has not provided for any reserves for warranty liabilities as it was determined to be immaterial.

4.  Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash equivalents consist of certificates of deposit and all other liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less.

5.  Accounts Receivable and Factoring

Accounts receivable billed and unbilled are carried at original amount less an estimate made for doubtful receivables based on a review of all outstanding amounts on a monthly basis. Management determines the allowance for doubtful receivables by regularly evaluating individual customer receivables and considering a customer’s financial condition, credit history, and current economic conditions. Accounts receivable are written off when deemed uncollectible. Recoveries of accounts receivable previously written off are recorded when received. The allowance for doubtful accounts for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010 are as follows:
 
   
Year Ended
December 31,
 
   
2011
   
2010
 
             
Balance - Beginning of year
  $ 11,726     $ 11,256  
Additions
    386,000       -  
                 
Balance - end of year
    397,526       11,526  
 
As of December 2011, the Company entered into a 24 month accounts receivable factoring arrangement with a financial institution (the “Factor”). Pursuant to the terms of the arrangement, the Company, from time to time shall sell to the Factor certain of its accounts receivable balances on a non-recourse basis for credit approved accounts. The Factor shall then remit 75% of the accounts receivable balance to the Company (the “Advance Amount”), with the remaining balance, less fees to be forwarded to the Company once the Factor collects the full accounts receivable balance from the customer. Factoring fees range from 2.75% to 15% of the face value of the invoice factored and are determined by the number of days required for collection of the invoice.  No sales were factored in 2011.

6.  Property and Equipment, Intangible Assets and Depreciation and Amortization

Property and equipment are stated at cost.  Depreciation is provided for in amounts sufficient to relate the cost of depreciable assets to operations over the estimated service lives, principally using straight-line methods. Leasehold improvements are amortized over the shorter of the life of the improvement or the lease term, using the straight-line method.

The estimated useful lives used to compute depreciation and amortization for financial reporting purposes are as follows:

Equipment and leasehold improvements
   
Equipment
 
3-5 years
Furniture and fixtures
 
3-5 years
Software
 
3 years
Leasehold improvements
 
life or lease term

Intangible assets consist of patents.  Patent costs are capitalized until patents are awarded. Upon award, such costs are amortized using the straight-line method over their respective economic lives. If a patent is denied, all costs are charged to operations in that year.

Deferred financing fees related to the issuance of long-term obligations are capitalized and amortized to interest expense over the lives of the related debt using the effective interest rate method.

7.  Derivative and Warrant Financial Instruments

In connection with the sale of debt or equity instruments, we may sell options or warrants to purchase our common stock. In certain circumstances, these options or warrants may be classified as derivative liabilities, rather than as equity. Additionally, the debt or equity instruments may contain embedded derivative instruments, such as conversion options, which in certain circumstances may be required to be bifurcated from the associated host instrument and accounted for separately as a derivative instrument asset or liability.
 
Our derivative instrument liability is re-valued at the end of each reporting period, with changes in the fair value of the derivative liability recorded as charges or credits to income, in the period in which the changes occur. For options, warrants and bifurcated conversion options that are accounted for as derivative instrument liabilities, we determine the fair value of these instruments using the Black-Scholes or Binomial option pricing model. That model requires assumptions related to the remaining term of the instruments and risk-free rates of return, our current common stock price and expected dividend yield, and the expected volatility of our common stock price over the life of the option. The identification of, and accounting for, derivative instruments and the assumptions used to value them can significantly affect our financial statements.

8 . Impairment or Disposal of Long Lived Assets, including Intangible Assets

We review our long-lived assets, including intangible assets subject to amortization, whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of such an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of these assets is measured by comparison of their carrying amount to the future undiscounted cash flows the assets are expected to generate. If such assets are considered impaired, the impairment to be recognized is equal to the amount by which the carrying value of the assets exceeds their fair value determined by either a quoted market price, if any, or a value determined by utilizing a discounted cash flow technique. In assessing recoverability, we must make assumptions regarding estimated future cash flows and discount factors. If these estimates or related assumptions change in the future, we may be required to record impairment charges. Intangible assets with determinable lives are amortized over their estimated useful lives, based upon the pattern in which the expected benefits will be realized, or on a straight-line basis, whichever is greater. We did not record any impairment charges in any of the years presented.

9.  Advertising Expense

The Company expenses the costs of advertising as incurred. Advertising expenses for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010 were approximately $170,000 and $277,000, respectively.

10.  Deferred Revenue

Deferred revenue includes customer advances and amounts that have been billed per the contractual terms but have not been recognized as revenue. The majority of these amounts are related to maintenance contracts for which the revenue is recognized ratably over the applicable term, which generally is 12 months from the date the customer accepts the products.

11.  Research and Development Expenditures

Research and development expenses include costs directly attributable to the conduct of research and development programs primarily related to the development of our software products and improving the efficiency and capabilities of our existing software. Such costs include salaries, payroll taxes, employee benefit costs, materials, supplies, depreciation on research equipment, services provided by outside contractors, and the allocable portions of facility costs, such as rent, utilities, insurance, repairs and maintenance, depreciation and general support services. All costs associated with research and development are expensed as incurred.

12.  Earnings Per Share of Common Stock

Earnings per share of common stock-basic is computed by dividing net income applicable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding for the period. Earnings per share of common stock-assuming dilution reflects the maximum potential dilution that could occur if securities or other contracts to issue common stock were exercised or converted into common stock and would then share in the net income of the Company. See Note T -  Earnings Per Share “EPS”, for additional information.
 
13.  Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation

The Company accounts for share based compensation in accordance with the provisions of ASC 718-10, “Compensation — Stock Compensation,” which requires measurement of compensation cost for all stock awards at fair value on date of grant and recognition of compensation over the service period for awards expected to vest. The majority of our share-based compensation arrangements vest over either a three or four year vesting schedule. The Company expenses its share-based compensation under the ratable method, which treats each vesting tranche as if it were an individual grant. The fair value of stock options is determined using the Black-Scholes valuation model, and requires the input of highly subjective assumptions. These assumptions include estimating the length of time employees will retain their vested stock options before exercising them (the “expected option term”), the estimated volatility of our common stock price over the option’s expected term, the risk-free interest rate over the option’s expected term, and the Company’s expected annual dividend yield. Changes in these subjective assumptions can materially affect the estimate of fair value of stock-based compensation and consequently, the related amount recognized as an expense in the consolidated statements of operations. As required under the accounting rules, we review our valuation assumptions at each grant date and, as a result, are likely to change our valuation assumptions used to value employee stock-based awards granted in future periods. The values derived from using the Black-Scholes model are recognized as expense over the service period, net of estimated forfeitures (the number of individuals that will ultimately not complete their vesting requirements). The estimation of stock awards that will ultimately vest requires significant judgment. We consider many factors when estimating expected forfeitures, including types of awards, employee class, and historical experience. Actual results, and future changes in estimates, may differ substantially from our current estimates.

The compensation expense recognized under ASC 718 increased the Company’s loss from continuing operations by $57,180 and $46,385 with no effect per share (basic and diluted), for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010 respectively.

The following table presents share-based compensation expenses for continuing operations included in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations:

   
Year ended
December 31,
 
   
2011
   
2010
 
             
Selling, general and administrative
  $ 12,054     $ 13,907  
Research, development and engineering
    45,126       32,478  
    $ 57,180     $ 46,385  
 
Valuation Assumptions for Stock Options

For the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, 845,000 and 510,000 stock options were granted, respectively. The fair value of each option was estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model with the following assumptions:

   
Year ended
December 31,
 
   
2011
   
2010
 
Risk free interest rate
    1.64 %     2.10-2.22 %
Expected life of options (in years)
    4.52       4.30  
Expected dividends
    0 %     0 %
Volatility of stock price
    114 %     115 %
 
The stock volatility for each grant is determined based on the review of the experience of the weighted average of historical daily price changes of the Company’s common stock over the expected option term. The expected term was determined using the simplified method for estimating expected option life, which qualify as “plain-vanilla” options; and the risk-free rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of grant for periods corresponding with the expected life of the option.

14.  Income Taxes

The provision for, or benefit from, income taxes includes deferred taxes resulting from the temporary differences in income for financial and tax purposes using the liability method. Such temporary differences result primarily from the differences in the carrying value of assets and liabilities. Future realization of deferred income tax assets requires sufficient taxable income within the carryback, carryforward period available under tax law. The Company evaluates, on a quarterly basis whether, based on all available evidence, if it is probable that the deferred income tax assets are realizable. Valuation allowances are established when it is more likely than not that the tax benefit of the deferred tax asset will not be realized. The evaluation, as prescribed by ASC 740-10, “Income Taxes,” includes the consideration of all available evidence, both positive and negative, regarding historical operating results including recent years with reported losses, the estimated timing of future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences, estimated future taxable income exclusive of reversing temporary differences and carryforwards, and potential tax planning strategies which may be employed to prevent an operating loss or tax credit carryforward from expiring unused. Because of the Company’s historical performance and estimated future taxable income, a full valuation allowance has been established.

The Company accounts for uncertain tax provisions in accordance with ASC 740-10-05 “Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes.” The ASC clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financial statements. The ASC prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. The ASC provides guidance on de-recognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, disclosure and transition.
 
15.  Recent Accounting Pronouncements

On January 1, 2011, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2010-20 “Receivables (Topic 310):  Disclosures about the Credit Quality of Financing Receivables and the Allowance for Credit Losses.”  ASU 2010-20 is intended to provide additional information to assist financial statement users in assessing an entity’s risk exposures and evaluating the adequacy of its allowance for credit losses. The amendments in ASU 2010-20 encourage, but do not require, comparative disclosures for earlier reporting periods that ended before initial adoption. However, an entity should provide comparative disclosures for those reporting periods ending after initial adoption. The adoption of ASU 2010-20 did not have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements.
 
On January 1, 2011, the Company adopted ASU 2010-17 “Revenue Recognition-Milestone Method (Topic 605): Milestone Method of Revenue Recognition.” The amendments in this Update are effective on a prospective basis for milestones achieved in fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning on or after June 15, 2010. The adoption of ASU 2010-17 did not have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements.
 
On January 1, 2011, the Company adopted ASU 2009-13 “Multiple Element Arrangements.” ASU 2009-13 addresses the determination of when the individual deliverables included in a multiple arrangement may be treated as separate units of accounting. ASU 2009-13 also modifies the manner in which the transaction consideration is allocated across separately identified deliverables and establishes definitions for determining fair value of elements in an arrangement. The adoption of ASU 2010-13 did not have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements.

Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standard if currently adopted would have a material effect on the accompanying consolidated financial statements.