FindEx.com,
Inc.
620 NORTH
129th
STREET
OMAHA, NE
68154
TELEPHONE:
402.333.1900
TELEFAX:
402.778.5763
By Electronic Filing and
Federal Express
February 6, 2008
Mr. Mark
Kronforst, Branch Chief - Accounting
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
Division
of Corporation Finance
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Form 10-KSB for the Fiscal
Year Ended December 31, 2006
Filed April 17,
2007
File No.
000-29963
In connection with the April 17, 2007
filing of the Form 10-KSB for our company, please note the following response
below to the comment contained in your letter dated January 16,
2008.
Comment:
Your
response indicates that you have concluded that your deferred tax assets are
recoverable based on projections of future results. In support of
those projections, you identify various factors, including cost reduction
measures to improve gross profit and reduce operating expenses, and the
potential sale of your Membership Plus product line. Paragraph 25 of
SFAS 109 indicates that the weight given to positive and negative evidence
should be commensurate with the extent to which it can be objectively
verified. Because projections and forecasts are inherently uncertain,
tell us more about how you were able to use these to overcome the objectively
verifiable negative evidence. As part of your response, show us how
reliable your projections and forecasts had been in the past by describing to us
how accurate your past budgets have been when compared to actual
results.
Response:
We began
our forecast of our 2007 taxable income (loss) by looking at the history of our
taxable income (loss), which is summarized in the following table (our corporate
predecessor incurred operating losses totaling $735, 021).
|
Year
|
|
Taxable
Income (Loss)
|
|
1999
|
|
$ |
553,498 |
|
2000
|
|
$ |
(4,417,869) |
|
2001
|
|
$ |
(5,191,237) |
|
2002
|
|
$ |
(235,316) |
|
2003
|
|
$ |
1,563,399 |
|
2004
|
|
$ |
949,841 |
|
2005
|
|
$ |
(955,938) |
|
2006
|
|
$ |
(584,024) |
Mr. Mark
Kronforst
The
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
February 6,
2008
- Page 2 of 4
- -
In
assessing the likelihood for reaching our forecasted 2007 taxable income, we
placed some reliance on the fact that we did achieve taxable income in two of
the prior four years and in one of the last three. Though the results
are not consistent, we concluded that we did have an opportunity to achieve
taxable income.
As I
break down each of the last three years to compare our forecasted taxable income
(loss) to the actual results, I find that we have been close and consistent in
forecasting our operating expenses but have generally fallen short when
forecasting a net sales increase.
|
·
|
For
2004, we had forecast taxable income of $300,000 and realized $949,841 in
taxable income. We did not forecast any gain on our eventual
settlement with various vendors and content providers or the settlement
with Swartz Private Equity for the early termination of an
agreement. If we remove those from the total 2004 taxable
income for comparison purposes, the $300,000 forecast would compare with
actual results of approximately $93,000. Breaking down further
between operating expenses and net revenue, we achieved an expense
reduction of approximately $250,000 compared to our forecast but fell
short approximately $460,000 in our net revenue
forecast.
|
|
·
|
For
2005, we had forecast taxable income of $840,000 and realized a taxable
loss of $955,938. We missed forecasting the amount of costs
associated with the filing of our Form SB-2, including associated legal
and accounting fees and registration rights penalties by approximately
$400,000 and bad debts by approximately $115,000. Other expense
combined variances totaled an overage of approximately
$219,000. Comparing our net revenue, we fell approximately
$1,500,000 short of our forecast number due to falling short in the number
of upgrades to QuickVerse 2006 (released September 2005, nine months after
previous version instead of our normal twelve months) and in the number of
anticipated QuickVerse Macintosh sales (new product with no market
history).
|
|
·
|
For
2006, we had forecast taxable income of $250,000 and realized a taxable
loss of $584,024. We missed our net revenue forecast by
approximately $1,600,000 due primarily to incurring a delay in the annual
release of our 2006 edition of our Membership Plus product line until late
October 2006 instead of the scheduled January 2006. We were
able to keep our operating expenses approximately $775,000 below our
forecast total.
|
As we
indicated in our response dated January 17, 2008, for the forecast of our 2007
taxable income for the purpose of determining the amount of deferred tax asset
we expected to realize, we did not forecast an increase in our net revenue where
we experienced negative variances to forecast amounts, only an improvement in
our gross profit margins and a reduction in our operating
expenses. We believed the business strategies identified for
improvement were very achievable based on the history of our expense management
from the prior three years. As I compare our Condensed Consolidated
Statements of Operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2007 to our
forecasted tax effects from business strategies, we believe the improvement in
results from operations of approximately $400,000 is very much in line with the
$575,000 projected for the twelve months ended December 31,
2007. Just as an evaluation of our historical management of operating
expenses suggested 2007 improvements were likely, the year-to-date 2007 actual
results confirm our strategies were prudent, feasible, and relatively
accurate.
Mr. Mark
Kronforst
The
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
February 6,
2008
- Page 3 of 4
- -
In
forecasting the sale of our Membership Plus product line we did consider that we
did not have any form of legally binding purchase commitment. In our
judgment, however, the positive evidence obtained through a non-binding letter
of interest and serious daily discussions and negotiations with ACS
Technologies, Inc., coupled with notification by two other entities of their
interest in acquiring the Membership Plus software line, allowed us to overcome
the lack of a firm purchase commitment. At the time of filing
our 2006 Form 10-KSB, we fully anticipated a pre- June 30, 2007
close. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen delays outside of our
control, primarily from timely obtaining the signatures from Riverdeep, Inc.,
the closing didn’t take place until October 18, 2007.
Before
concluding, I am inclined to emphasize three points that I believe are very
important here as it relates to our determination in respect of the issue before
us. First, paragraph 25 of SFAS 109 states that an enterprise must
use judgment. I believe we have taken a technically sound approach in
our evaluation and used our best judgment based on a careful analysis of our
recent historical taxable income results and a calculated plan for achieving the
expected results. Second, paragraph 25 of SFAS 109 also indicates
that the weight given to positive and negative evidence should be commensurate
with the extent to which it can be objectively verified. A review of
our prior four years’ taxable income (loss) reveals we were able to realize
taxable income in two of those four. The comparison of our forecasts
to actual taxable results for the last three years reveals that we have had
success in forecasting our operating expenses but have fallen short in the
forecasting of our revenue. We consciously forecast no increase in
revenues for 2007 but focused our business strategies on those areas where we
did have success – improving margins and reducing operating
expenses. The historical results of similar efforts have been pointed
out for each of the prior three years. I believe that as paragraph 96
of SFAS 109 requires, we have produced accounting results that come closest to
the expected outcome. These accounting results can now be objectively
verified by a review of our 2007 filings of Form 10-QSB and Form
8-K. I also believe that based on the review of our 2007 results
compared to our 2007 forecast, any correction to our 2006 financial statements
would result in an understatement of our net deferred tax asset and an
overstatement of the income tax benefit to be recognized in 2007. And
third, we ask that you consider the fact that our December 31, 2006 estimates,
calculations and judgment have not only been audited by our audit firm, but have
been reviewed by an unrelated, independent 3rd party
reviewer and have also been scrutinized by the PCAOB without requests for
further documentation or reconsideration.
* * * * * * * *
In
connection with this response, we acknowledge the following:
|
·
|
FindEx.com,
Inc. is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in the
filing;
|
|
·
|
Staff
comments or changes to disclosures in response to staff comments do not
foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to the
filing; and
|
|
·
|
FindEx.com,
Inc. 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.
|
I hope
that you find the response herein to your comment satisfactory in both form and
substance. Please feel free to call me to discuss any questions,
issues, or additional comments or requests. In the meantime, I look
forward to hearing back from you at your earliest convenience.
Mr. Mark Kronforst
The
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
February 6,
2008
- Page 4 of 4
- -
Thank you
for your attention in this matter.
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Very
truly yours,
|
|
|
|
|
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/s/
Kirk R. Rowland
|
|
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Kirk
R. Rowland
|
|
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Chief
Financial Officer
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cc: Malone,
Steven
Gorup, Micki
Michael Membrado