ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES [Abstract]

BASIS OF PRESENTATION — The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of ePlus inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The accounts of businesses acquired are included in the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements from the dates of acquisition.

INTERIM FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

INTERIM FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and six months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 were prepared by us, without audit, and include all normal and recurring adjustments that, in the opinion of management, are necessary for a fair presentation of our financial position, results of operations, changes in comprehensive income, and cash flows for such periods. Operating results for the three and six months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for any other interim period, the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2019, or any other future period. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements do not include all disclosures required by the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“US GAAP”) for annual financial statements. Our audited consolidated financial statements are contained in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2018 (“2018 Annual Report”), which should be read in conjunction with these interim condensed consolidated financial statements.

USE OF ESTIMATES

USE OF ESTIMATES — The preparation of financial statements in conformity with US GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities as of the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Estimates are used when accounting for items and matters including, but not limited to, revenue recognition, residual values, vendor consideration, lease classification, goodwill and intangible assets, reserves for credit losses, inventory obsolescence, and the recognition and measurement of income tax assets and other provisions and contingencies. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

CONCENTRATIONS OF RISK

CONCENTRATIONS OF RISK — A substantial portion of our sales are products from Cisco Systems, which were 45% of our technology segment’s net sales for both the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, and 43% and 47% of our technology segment’s net sales for the six months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

REVENUE RECOGNITION

REVENUE RECOGNITION — We recognize the majority of our revenues from the sales of third party products, third party software, third party services such as maintenance and software support and from sales of ePlus professional and managed services, and from hosting ePlus proprietary software. We recognize revenue from these sales under the guidance in Codification Topic 606.

The core principle of Codification Topic 606 is that an entity should recognize revenue for the transfer of goods and services equal to an amount it expects to be entitled to receive for those goods and services. We account for a contract under Codification Topic 606 when it has approval and commitment from both parties, the rights of the parties are identified, payment terms are established, the contract has commercial substance, and collectability of consideration is probable.

Revenues are reported net of sales refunds, including an estimate of future returns based on an evaluation of historical sales returns, current economic conditions, volume, and other relevant factors.

Our contracts with customers may include multiple promises that are distinct performance obligations. For such arrangements, we allocate the transaction price to each performance obligation based on its relative standalone selling price. We determine standalone selling prices using expected cost plus margin.

We recognize revenue when (or as) we satisfy a performance obligation by transferring a promised good or service to a customer. A good or service is transferred when (or as) the customer obtains control of that good or service. Depending on the nature of each performance obligation, this may be at a point in time or over time, as further described below.

We typically invoice our customers for third party products upon shipment, unless our customers lease the equipment through our financing segment, in which case the arrangement is accounted for as a lease in accordance with Codification Topic 840, Leases. We typically invoice our customers for third party software upon delivery and third party services at the point of sale, unless our customers finance these assets equipment through our financing segment, in which case we record a financing receivable based on the terms of the arrangement.

Sales of third party products

We are the principal in sales of third party products. As such, we recognize sales on a gross basis with the selling price to the customer recorded as sales and the acquisition cost of the product recognized as cost of sales. We recognize revenue from these sales at the point in time that control passes to the customer, which is typically upon delivery of the product to the customer.

In some instances, our customers may request that we bill them for a product but retain physical possession of the product until later delivery, commonly known as “bill-and-hold” arrangements. In these transactions, we recognize revenue when the customer has signed a bill-and-hold agreement with us, the product is identified separately as belonging to the customer and, when orders include configuration, such configuration is complete and the product is ready for delivery to the customer.

We recognize sales of leased equipment within our financing segment when control passes to the customer, which is typically the date of sale.

Sales of third party software

We are typically the principal in sales of third party software. Sales are recognized on a gross basis with the selling price to the customer recorded as sales and the acquisition cost of the product recognized as cost of sales. We recognize revenue from these sales at the point in time that control passes to the customer, which is typically upon delivery of the software to the customer.

We often sell third party support accompanying third party software. When the third party software benefits the customer only in conjunction with the accompanying support, such as in sales of anti-virus software and support, we consider the third party software and support as inputs to a single performance obligation. The third party controls the service as it is transferred to the customer and therefore we are acting as an agent in these transactions. We recognize revenue from these sales on a net basis when our customer and vendor accept the terms and conditions of the arrangement.

Sales of third party maintenance, software support, and services

We are the agent in sales of third party maintenance, software support, and services as the third party controls the service until it is transferred to the customer. We recognize sales on a net basis equal to the selling price to the customer less the acquisition cost. We recognize revenue from these sales when our customer and vendor accept the terms and conditions of the arrangement.

Sales of ePlus professional and managed services

Our ePlus professional services offerings include assessments, project management, and staging, configuration, and integration. Our ePlus managed service offerings range from monitoring and notification to a fully outsourced network management solution. In these arrangements, we satisfy our performance obligation and recognize revenue over time.

We provide ePlus professional services under both time and materials and fixed price contracts. When services are provided on a time and materials basis, we recognize sales at agreed-upon billing rates as services are performed. When services are provided on a fixed fee basis, we recognize sales over time in proportion to our progress toward complete satisfaction of the performance obligation. We measure progress based on costs incurred in proportion to total estimated costs, commonly referred to as the “cost-to-cost” method.

In arrangements for ePlus managed services, our arrangement is typically a single performance obligation comprised of a series of distinct services that are substantially the same and that have the same pattern of transfer (i.e., distinct days of service). We typically recognize sales from these services on a straight-line basis over the period services are provided.

We host ePlus proprietary software, including OneSource IT+, OneSource Procurement, and OneSource Catalog+, for customers as a service. We recognize the transaction price for the hosting services evenly over the hosting period.

Freight and sales tax

We present freight billed to our customers within sales and the related freight charged to us within cost of sales. We present sales tax collected from customers and remittances to governmental authorities on a net basis.

Financing revenue and other

We account for leases to customers in accordance with Codification Topic 840, Leases. Our accounting for leases is different depending on the type of lease. Each lease is classified as either a direct financing lease, sales-type lease, or operating lease, as appropriate.

We consider whether a lease meets any of the following four criteria as part of classifying the lease at its inception:

the lease transfers ownership of the property to the lessee by the end of the lease term;

the lease contains a bargain purchase option;

the lease term is equal to 75 percent or more of the estimated economic life of the leased property; or

the present value at the beginning of the lease term of the minimum lease payments equals or exceeds 90 percent of the fair value of the leased property at the inception of the lease.

If a lease meets any of the four lease classification criteria and gives rise to dealer’s profit, we classify the lease as a sales-type lease. For sales-type leases, we recognize sales equal to the present value of the minimum lease payments discounted using the implicit interest rate in the lease and cost of sales equal to carrying amount of the asset being leased and any initial direct costs incurred, less the present value of the unguaranteed residual. Interest income from the lease is recognized in sales over the lease term in our financing segment.

If a lease meets any of the four lease classification criteria, and does not give rise to dealer’s profit, we classify the lease as a direct financing lease. For direct financing leases, the difference between our gross investment in the lease and the cost of the leased property is deferred as unearned income and recognized as sales over the lease term.

If a lease meets none of the four lease classification criteria, we classify the lease as an operating lease. For operating leases, we recognize the rent charged on the lease as sales on a straight-line basis ratably over the term of the lease agreement.

We may also finance third-party software and third party services for our customers, which are classified as notes receivable. We recognize interest on notes receivable in net sales.

Codification Topic 860 Transfers and Servicing establishes criteria for determining whether a transfer of financial assets in exchange for cash or other consideration should be accounted for as a sale or as secured borrowing. Certain assignments of notes receivable and direct finance and sales-type leases we make on a non-recourse basis meet the requirements for sale accounting set forth by this topic, and have therefore been treated in our financial results as sales, where we recognize a net gain or loss on these transactions in sales.

CONTRACT BALANCES

CONTRACT BALANCES — We recognize contract liabilities when cash payments are received or due in advance of our performance.

COSTS OF OBTAINING A CONTRACT

COSTS OF OBTAINING A CONTRACT — We capitalize costs that are incremental to obtaining customer contracts, predominately sales commissions, and expense them in proportion to each completed contract performance obligation.