February 6, 2008
Mr. Larry Spirgel
Assistant Director
Division of Corporation Finance
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE, Mail Stop 3720
Washington, DC 20549-3561
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RE:
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COMSYS IT Partners, Inc. |
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Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2006 |
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Filed March 12, 2007 |
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Form 10-Q for the Fiscal Quarter ended July 1, 2007 |
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File No. 0-27792 |
Dear Mr. Spirgel:
Thank you for your letter dated October 16, 2007, setting forth the Staffs comments regarding the
above referenced filings. The following information is furnished in response to your letter as
well as the subsequent phone calls on November 1, 2007, and February 4, 2008, between Christine
Adams, Division of Corporation Finance, and Amy Bobbitt, Chief Accounting Officer. For your
convenience, in our response below we have restated the original comments contained in the Staffs
letter with our corresponding responses.
We acknowledge that we are responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in our
filings. We understand that staff comments or changes to disclosures in response to staff comments
do not foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to our filings and that we 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.
Form 10-K
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
Revenue Recognition, page F-11
Comment: We note your use of the proportional performance method to account for revenue from
fixed-price contracts. Please tell us in sufficient detail, explaining how your method meets the
criteria for revenue recognition in SAB Topic 13, why you believe that the input-based methodology
achieves the most reliable measure of revenue earned from these services. In determining whether
delivery has occurred for a service contract you should evaluate the terms of the arrangement,
specifically the rights and obligations of the service provider and the customer. Revenue
recognition should reflect the pattern in which obligations to the customer are filled. Because
your method uses billable hours, it appears you are using and [sic] input-based approach. An
output-based approach is generally used to achieve this objective.
Response: We provide services for a small group of our clients under contracts that are fixed
price contracts. These contracts tend to be small in scale and of short duration. Revenue
recognized for these contracts was approximately 1.1% and 1.2% of our consolidated revenues from
services for the years ended December 31, 2006 and January 1, 2006, respectively.
Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) Topic 13 states that revenue should not be recognized until it is
realized or realizable and earned, which occurs when all of the following criteria are met:
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persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists |
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delivery has occurred or services have been rendered |
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the sellers price to the buyer is fixed or determinable, and |
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collectibility is reasonably assured. |
The services we render to our clients under the relevant contracts could require us to perform acts
that span multiple reporting periods. In compliance with SAB 101, as amended by SAB 104, we
recognize revenue for fixed price engagements in the period services are rendered. We record
accounts receivable when we invoice our clients for services rendered, pursuant to contractual
terms. Using the guidance in SAB Topic 13, SAB 101 and SAB 104, we determined that the
proportional performance accounting model, based on the ratio of time incurred to total estimated
time to complete the project, represents an output-based approach and was the most appropriate
method of accounting for a significant portion of our fixed-price contracts because, among other
reasons:
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our clients receive value as our services are performed and, for the type of services we
provide, hours worked provides the most meaningful determination of progress against
required performance; |
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amounts billed and recognized as revenue pursuant to the terms of the contracts
generally are not subject to refund; |
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payment is generally required throughout the service-delivery process; not just upon
completion of stated milestones; |
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the contracts address interim acts as well as the final act; and |
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the final act is not significantly different than the other acts performed and is, in
any event, not so significant in relation to the service as a whole such that the
performance has not substantially taken place prior to the execution of that final act. |
We feel the proportional performance accounting model appropriately recognizes the legal and
economic results of these contracts on a timely basis, and presents the economic substance of these
transactions in the clearest manner. This method also accurately presents the relationship between
gross profit from these contracts and the related period costs. We will revise our future
disclosure on revenue recognition for revenue generated from fixed price contracts to either
disclose the percentage of revenue generated from these types of contracts or omit the disclosure
in its entirety due to the immaterial amount of revenue involved.
Form 10-K
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
Note 13 Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 108, page F-29
Comment: We refer to the SAB 108 adjustment of $2.8 million reported as a reconciling item to
arrive at total stockholders equity for the year ended December 31, 2006. The SAB 108 transition
provisions provide for a cumulative effect adjustment for errors determined to be immaterial in
prior periods under an issuers previous and properly applied methodology, and after considering
appropriate qualitative factors, but that are material to those periods based on the guidance of
SAB 108. As set forth in SAB 99, a materiality evaluation must be based on all relevant
quantitative and qualitative factors. Please tell us when each of the errors was identified and
provide us with your annual SAB 99 materiality analysis explaining how you determined that the
errors related to each prior period were immaterial on both a quantitative and qualitative basis to
the prior periods. In addition, provide your analysis in support of your determination that the
errors were material when assessed with the approach required by SAB 108 and are appropriately
included in the cumulative adjustment.
Response: COMSYS IT Partners, Inc., which was formed as a result of a merger between COMSYS IT
Holding, Inc. (Old COMSYS) and Venturi Partners, Inc. (Venturi) in September 2004, accounted
for certain commissions and payroll and related taxes on a cash basis in its financial statements.
This accounting treatment was determined to be an error in the application of generally accepted
accounting principles in 2006 and the effect on the previously filed financial statements included
in the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, was analyzed using the rollover method. The
following table summarizes the quantitative analysis we performed:
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Statement of |
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Operations Impact |
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Annual Diluted |
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Errors as % of |
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under Rollover |
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Annual Operating |
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Annual Net Income |
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Earnings (Loss) per |
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Annual Net |
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Method |
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Income (Loss) |
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(Loss) |
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Share |
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Income (Loss) |
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1999* |
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$ |
1,294,000 |
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(1,432,000 |
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(6,185,000 |
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(20,490.98 |
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21 |
% |
2000 |
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$ |
312,000 |
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$ |
(5,776,000 |
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$ |
(33,195,000 |
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$ |
(20,490.98 |
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1 |
% |
2001 |
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$ |
88,000 |
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$ |
(18,061,000 |
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$ |
(50,024,000 |
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$ |
(30,419.26 |
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0 |
% |
2002 |
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$ |
(566,000 |
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$ |
(1,832,000 |
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$ |
(157,966,000 |
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$ |
(78,976.64 |
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0 |
% |
2003 |
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$ |
595,000 |
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$ |
744,000 |
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$ |
(37,250,000 |
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$ |
(23,151.64 |
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2 |
% |
2004 |
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$ |
638,000 |
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$ |
(5,723,000 |
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$ |
(55,155,000 |
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(14.20 |
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1 |
% |
2005 |
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$ |
484,000 |
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$ |
22,220,000 |
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$ |
2,149,000 |
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$ |
0.14 |
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-23 |
% |
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Total liability required at January 1, 2006 |
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2,845,000 |
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1999 financial data is for the period from Old COMSYS inception on August 31, 1999, through
December 31, 1999. |
In addition to this quantitative analysis, we evaluated the error based on the applicable
qualitative factors addressed in SAB 99 and concluded:
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The misstatement did not mask a change in earnings or other trends; |
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The misstatement did not hide a failure to meet analysts consensus expectations for the
enterprise; |
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The misstatement did not change a loss into income or vice versa; |
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The misstatement did not affect our compliance with regulatory requirements; |
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The misstatement did not affect our compliance with loan covenants or other contractual
requirements; and |
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The misstatement did not involve the concealment of unlawful transactions. |
The following additional qualitative factors were taken into consideration:
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At the start of 2004, Old COMSYS was a privately-held company, and Venturi was a
publicly-traded entity with SEC filing requirements. These entities merged on September 30,
2004, and formed COMSYS IT Partners, Inc., a publicly-traded company. Old COMSYS was deemed
to be the acquiring company, therefore, the financial statements for periods from August 31,
1999, to September 29, 2004, reflect the historical results of Old COMSYS. The financial
statements from September 30, 2004, through January 2, 2005, include the combined operations
of both entities; |
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From its inception on August 31, 1999, Old COMSYS was a privately-held company, with no SEC
filing requirements. The only time Old COMSYS financial results were filed with the SEC was
in the Venturi Proxy Statement on Schedule 14a filed on September 7, 2004, which related to
the merger; and |
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In light of the merger of Old COMSYS and Venturi, the historical data does not present
information that is comparable to any prior or future period and is not indicative of future
results. |
Based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis we performed, we determined that the error was
immaterial to our financial statements filed before the adoption of SAB 108. Under the SAB 108
guidance issued in 2006, the errors were re-analyzed using both the rollover and the iron curtain methods. Under the iron
curtain method, it was determined that a $2,845,000 charge was needed to correct the prior period
balance sheet errors that had accumulated through the end of 2005. The balance sheet correction
was therefore included in the cumulative adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings for
fiscal year 2006, as allowed by SAB 108 and, in
addition, we recorded $267,000 in the fourth quarter of 2006 to correct the 2006 statement of operations errors, as disclosed in our 2006 Form
10-K.
If you have any questions or require additional information, please feel free to contact me at
(602) 414-3800 or by fax at (602) 454-7700.
Yours very truly,
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/s/ Amy Bobbitt
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Amy Bobbitt |
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Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer |