SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND NATURE OF OPERATIONS (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2012

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND NATURE OF OPERATIONS

Principles of Consolidation

Principles of Consolidation

The Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Epiq and our wholly-owned subsidiaries. Intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

Revenue Recognition

Revenue Recognition

We have agreements with clients pursuant to which we deliver various services each month.

Following is a description of significant sources of revenue:

·Fees contingent upon the month-to-month delivery of case management services defined by client contracts, such as project management, collections and forensic services, document review services, conversion of data into an organized, searchable electronic database, claims processing, claims reconciliation, professional services, call center support, and disbursement services,. The amount we earn varies based primarily on the size and complexity of the engagement, the number of hours services are provided and the number of documents or amount of data reviewed.

·Hosting fees based on the amount of data stored.

·Deposit-based fees, earned primarily based on a percentage of Chapter 7 total liquidated assets placed on deposit with a designated financial institution by our trustee clients, to whom we provide, at no charge, software licenses, limited hardware and hardware maintenance, and postcontract customer support services. The fees we earn are based on assets placed on deposit by our trustee clients and may vary based on fluctuations in short-term interest rates.

·Legal noticing services to parties of interest in bankruptcy and class action matters, including direct notification, media campaign, and advertising management in which we coordinate notification through various media outlets, such as print, radio and television, to potential parties of interest for a particular client engagement.

·Reimbursement for costs incurred, primarily related to postage on mailing services.

·Monitoring and noticing fees earned based on monthly or on-demand requests for information provided through our AACER® (Automated Access to Court Electronic Records) (“AACER®”) software product.

Non-Software Arrangements

Services related to eDiscovery and settlement administration are billed based on volume. For these contractual arrangements, we have identified each deliverable service element.  Based on our evaluation of each element, we have determined that each element delivered has standalone value to our customers because we or other vendors sell such services separately from any other services/deliverables.  We have also obtained objective and reliable evidence of the fair value of each element based either on the price we charge when we sell an element on a standalone basis or on third-party evidence of fair value of such similar services.  For elements where evidence cannot be established we have used the best estimate of sales price.  Lastly, our arrangements do not include general rights of return.  Accordingly, each of the service elements in our multiple element case and document management arrangements qualifies as a separate unit of accounting. We allocate revenue to the various units of accounting in our arrangements based on the fair value or best estimated selling price of each unit of accounting, which is generally consistent with the stated prices in our arrangements. In instances when revenue has been required to be deferred, we utilize the relative selling price method to calculate the revenue recognized.  As we have evidence of an arrangement, revenue for each separate unit of accounting is recognized each period.  Revenue is recognized as the services are rendered, our fee becomes fixed and determinable, and collectability is reasonably assured.  Payments received in advance of satisfaction of the related revenue recognition criteria are recognized as a customer deposit until all revenue recognition criteria have been satisfied.

Software Arrangements

For our Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee arrangements, we provide our trustee clients with a software license, hardware lease, hardware maintenance, and postcontract customer support services, all at no charge to the trustee.  The trustees place their liquidated estate deposits with a financial institution with which we have an arrangement.  We earn contingent monthly fees from the financial institutions based on the dollar level of average monthly deposits held by the trustees with that financial institution related to the software license, hardware lease, hardware maintenance, and postcontract customer support services. Since we have not established vendor specific objective evidence of the fair value of the software license, we do not recognize any revenue on delivery of the software.  The software element is deferred and included with the remaining undelivered elements, which are postcontract customer support services.  This revenue, when recognized, is included as a component of “Case management services” revenue in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income.  Revenue related to postcontract customer support is entirely contingent on the placement of liquidated estate deposits by the trustee with the financial institution.  Accordingly, we recognize this contingent usage based revenue as the fee becomes fixed or determinable at the time actual usage occurs and collectability is probable.  This occurs monthly as a result of the computation, billing and collection of monthly deposit fees contractually agreed to. At that time, we have also satisfied the other applicable revenue recognition criteria since we have persuasive evidence that an arrangement exists, services have been rendered, the price is fixed and determinable, and collectability is reasonably assured.

We also provide our trustee clients with certain hardware, such as desktop computers, monitors, and printers as well as hardware maintenance.  We retain ownership of all hardware provided and we account for this hardware as a lease.  As the hardware maintenance arrangement is an executory contract similar to an operating lease, we use guidance related to contingent rentals in operating lease arrangements for hardware maintenance as well as for the hardware lease.  Since the payments under all of our arrangements are contingent upon the level of trustee deposits and the delivery of upgrades and other services, and there remain important uncertainties regarding the amount of unreimbursable costs yet to be incurred by us, we account for the hardware lease as an operating lease.  Therefore, all lease payments, based on the estimated fair value of hardware provided, were accounted for as contingent rentals; which requires that we recognize rental income when the changes in the factor on which the contingent lease payment is based actually occur.  This occurs at the end of each period as we achieve our target when deposits are held at the financial institution as, at that time, evidence of an arrangement exists, delivery has occurred, the amount has become fixed and determinable, and collection is reasonably assured.

This revenue, which was less than ten percent of our total revenue for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, is included in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income as a component of “Case management services” revenue.

Reimbursements

We have revenue related to the reimbursement of certain costs, primarily postage. Reimbursed postage and other reimbursable direct costs are recorded gross in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income as “Operating revenue from reimbursed direct costs” and as “Reimbursed direct costs”, respectively.

Goodwill

Goodwill

Goodwill consists of the excess of cost of acquired enterprises over the sum of the amounts assigned to identifiable assets acquired less liabilities assumed. We assess goodwill for impairment on an annual basis at a reporting unit level. A reporting unit is a component of a segment that constitutes a business, for which discrete financial information is available, and for which the operating results are regularly reviewed by management. We have identified our operating segments (eDiscovery, bankruptcy and settlement administration) as our reporting units for purposes of testing for goodwill impairment. Goodwill is assessed between annual tests if an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying value. These events or circumstances could include a significant change in the business climate, a change in strategic direction, legal factors, operating performance indicators, a change in the competitive environment, the sale or disposition of a significant portion of a reporting unit, or future economic factors such as unfavorable changes in our stock price and market capitalization or unfavorable changes in the estimated future discounted cash flows of our reporting units. Our annual test is performed as of July 31 each year, and there have been no events since our last annual test to indicate that it is more likely than not that the recorded goodwill balance had become impaired.  Our consolidated goodwill totaled $404.1 million as of June 30, 2012.

Application of the goodwill impairment test requires judgment, including the identification of reporting units, assignment of assets and liabilities to reporting units, assignment of goodwill to reporting units, and determination of the fair value of each reporting unit. We considered both a market approach and an income approach in order to develop an estimate of the fair value of each reporting unit for purposes of our annual impairment test.  When available, and as appropriate, we use market multiples derived from a set of competitors or companies with comparable market characteristics to establish fair values for a particular reporting unit (market approach).  We also estimate fair value using discounted projected cash flow analysis (income approach).  Potential impairment is indicated when the carrying value of a reporting unit, including goodwill, exceeds its estimated fair value. This analysis requires significant judgments, including estimation of future cash flows, which is dependent on internal forecasts, estimation of the long-term rate of growth for our business, estimation of the useful life over which cash flows will occur, and determination of our weighted average cost of capital. Changes in these estimates and assumptions could materially affect the determination of fair value and goodwill impairment for each reporting unit. In addition, financial and credit market volatility directly impacts our fair value measurement through our weighted average cost of capital, which is used to determine our discount rate, and through our stock price, which is used to determine our market capitalization. We may be required to recognize impairment of goodwill based on future economic factors such as unfavorable changes in our stock price and market capitalization or unfavorable changes in the estimated future discounted cash flows of our reporting units.

If we determine that the estimated fair value of any reporting unit is less than the reporting unit’s carrying value, then we proceed to the second step of the goodwill impairment analysis to measure the potential impairment charge. An impairment loss is recognized for any excess of the carrying value of the reporting unit’s goodwill over the implied fair value. If goodwill on our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet or Consolidated Balance Sheet becomes impaired during a future period, the resulting impairment charge could have a material impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

Due to the current economic environment and the uncertainties regarding the impact that future economic impacts will have on our reporting units, there can be no assurances that our estimates and assumptions regarding the duration of the economic recession, or the period or strength of recovery, made for purposes of our annual goodwill impairment test, will prove to be accurate predictions of the future. If our assumptions regarding forecasted revenues or margins of certain of our reporting units are not achieved, we may be required to record goodwill impairment losses in future periods. It is not possible at this time to determine if any such future impairment loss would occur, and if it does occur, whether such charge would be material.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

In June 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) issued a new standard related to comprehensive income.  This new standard requires companies to present comprehensive income in a single statement below net income or in a separate statement of comprehensive income immediately following the income statement.  In both options, companies must present the components of net income, total net income, the components of other comprehensive income, total other comprehensive income and total comprehensive income.  This new standard does not change which items are reported in other comprehensive income or the requirement to report reclassifications of items from other comprehensive income to net income.  The new standard eliminates the option to present comprehensive income on the statement of changes in shareholders’ equity.  This requirement was effective for us beginning with our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 and required retrospective application for all periods presented.  The adoption of this guidance did not have a material effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

In May 2011, the FASB issued new standards to provide guidance about fair value measurement and disclosure requirements.  These standards do not extend the use of fair value but rather provide guidance about how fair value should be determined where it is already required or permitted under generally accepted accounting principles.  A majority of the changes include clarifications of existing guidance and new disclosure requirements related to changes in valuation technique and related inputs that result from applying the standard.  We adopted this guidance and applied the new standard prospectively for interim and annual periods beginning January 1, 2012.  The adoption of this guidance did not have a material effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

In September 2011, the FASB issued guidance which amends the existing standards related to annual and interim goodwill impairment tests.  Current guidance requires companies to test goodwill for impairment, at least annually, using a two-step process. The updated guidance provides companies with the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the two-step quantitative goodwill impairment test. Under this option, companies are no longer required to calculate the fair value of a reporting unit unless they determine, based on that qualitative assessment, that it is more likely than not that the reporting unit’s fair value is less than its carrying amount. The new guidance includes examples of the types of events and circumstances to consider in conducting the qualitative assessment.  The amendments were effective for us for annual and interim goodwill tests performed on or after January 1, 2012.  We do not expect this new guidance to have a material effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.