1. BUSINESS AND ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Description of the Business

IES Holdings, Inc. is a holding company that owns and manages operating subsidiaries in business activities across a variety of end markets. Our operations are currently organized into four principal business segments, based upon the nature of our current services:


•	Commercial & Industrial – Provider of electrical and mechanical design, construction, and maintenance services to the commercial and industrial markets in various regional markets and nationwide in certain areas of expertise, such as the power infrastructure market.


•	Communications – Nationwide provider of technology infrastructure products and services to large corporations and independent businesses.


•	Infrastructure Solutions – Provider of electro-mechanical solutions for industrial operations, including apparatus repair and custom-engineered products.


•	Residential – Regional provider of electrical installation services for single-family housing and multi-family apartment complexes.

The words “IES”, the “Company”, “we”, “our”, and “us” refer to IES Holdings, Inc. and, except as otherwise specified herein, to our subsidiaries.

Seasonality and Quarterly Fluctuations

Results of operations from our Residential construction segment are seasonal, depending on weather trends, with typically higher revenues generated during spring and summer and lower revenues generated during fall and winter, with an impact from precipitation in the warmer months. The Commercial & Industrial, Communications and Infrastructure Solutions segments of our business are less subject to seasonal trends, as work in these segments generally is performed inside structures protected from the weather, although weather can still impact these businesses, especially in the early stages of projects. Our service and maintenance business is generally not affected by seasonality. Our volume of business may be adversely affected by declines in construction projects resulting from adverse regional or national economic conditions. Quarterly results may also be materially affected by the timing of new construction projects. Results for our Infrastructure Solutions segment may be affected by the timing of outages at our customers’ facilities. Accordingly, operating results for any fiscal period are not necessarily indicative of results that may be achieved for any subsequent fiscal period.

Basis of Financial Statement Preparation

The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of IES, our wholly-owned subsidiaries, and entities that we control due to ownership of a majority of voting interest and have been prepared in accordance with the instructions to interim financial reporting as prescribed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The results for the interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results for the entire year. These interim financial statements do not include all disclosures required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto filed with the SEC in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018. In the opinion of management, the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements contained in this report include all known accruals and adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows for the periods reported herein. Any such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature.

Noncontrolling Interest

In connection with our acquisitions of STR Mechanical, LLC (“STR Mechanical”) in fiscal 2016 and NEXT Electric, LLC (“NEXT Electric”) in fiscal 2017, we acquired an 80 percent interest in each of the entities, with the remaining 20 percent interest in each such entity being retained by the respective third party seller. The interests retained by those third party sellers are identified on our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as noncontrolling interest, classified outside of permanent equity. Under the terms of each entity’s operating agreement, after five years from the date of the acquisition, we may elect to purchase, or the third party seller may require us to purchase, part or all of the remaining 20 percent interest in the applicable entity. The purchase price is variable, based on a multiple of earnings as defined in the operating agreements. Therefore, this noncontrolling interest is carried at the greater of the balance determined under Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 810 and the redemption amounts assuming the noncontrolling interests were redeemable at the balance sheet date. If all of these interests had been redeemable at June 30, 2019, the redemption amount would have been $2,446. For the nine months ended June 30, 2018, we recorded an increase to retained earnings of $44 to decrease the carrying amount of the noncontrolling interest in STR Mechanical to the balance determined under ASC 810, as, if it had been redeemable at June 30, 2018, the redemption amount would have been less than the carrying amount.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires the use of estimates and assumptions by management in determining the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosures of contingent liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Estimates are primarily used in our revenue recognition of construction in progress, fair value assumptions in accounting for business combinations and analyzing goodwill, investments, intangible assets and long-lived asset impairments and adjustments, allowance for doubtful accounts receivable, stock-based compensation, reserves for legal matters, realizability of deferred tax assets, unrecognized tax benefits and self-insured claims liabilities and related reserves.

Income Taxes

For the nine months ended June 30, 2019, our effective tax rate differed from the statutory rate as a result of a benefit of $4,020 related to the recognition of previously unrecognized tax benefits. In December 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) was enacted, which, among other changes, reduced the federal statutory corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, effective January 1, 2018. As a result of this change, the Company’s statutory tax rate for fiscal 2018 was a blended rate of 24.53% and decreased to 21% in 2019. For the nine months ended June 30, 2018, our effective tax rate differed from the statutory tax rate as a result of a charge of $31,506 to re-measure our deferred tax assets and liabilities to reflect the impact of the new statutory tax rate, slightly offset by a benefit of $1,840 related to the reversal of unrecognized tax benefits. The Company completed its accounting for the income tax effects of the Act and fully recorded the impact in the year ended September 30, 2018.

Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standard Update No. 2016-02, Leases (“ASU 2016-02”). Under ASU 2016-02, lessees will need to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability on our Balance Sheet for all leases, other than those that meet the definition of a short-term lease. For income statement purposes, leases must be classified as either operating or finance. Operating leases will result in straight-line expense, similar to current operating leases, while finance leases will be accounted for similar to current capital leases. ASU 2016-02 becomes effective for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020. We are currently evaluating the impact it will have on our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. We anticipate the adoption will result in a significant amount of lease right-of-use assets and corresponding lease liabilities being recorded on our balance sheets. We plan to adopt this standard on October 1, 2019 and will apply the transition method that allows the recognition of a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings on such date.

In June 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standard Update No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (“ASU 2016-13”), which requires companies to consider historical experiences, current market conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts in the measurement of expected credit losses, with further clarifications made in April 2019 and May 2019 with the issuances of Accounting Standard Updates No. 2019-04 and 2019-05. This update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019 and for interim periods within those fiscal years, although early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact it will have on our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. We plan to adopt this standard on October 1, 2020.

In June 2018, the FASB issued Accounting Standard Update No. 2018-07, Compensation—Stock Compensation (“ASU 2018-07”), to simplify the accounting for share-based payments to nonemployees by aligning it with the accounting for share-based payments for employees, with certain exceptions. Under the new guidance, the cost for nonemployee awards may be lower and less volatile than under current GAAP because the measurement generally will occur earlier and will be fixed at the grant date. This update is effective for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020.

In August 2018, the FASB issued Accounting Standard Update No. 2018-13, Fair Value Measurement Disclosure Framework (“ASU 2018-13”), to modify certain disclosure requirements for fair value measurements. Under the new guidance, registrants will need to disclose weighted average information for significant unobservable inputs for all Level 3 fair value measurements. The guidance does not specify how entities should calculate the weighted average, but requires them to explain their calculation. The new guidance also requires disclosing the changes in unrealized gain and losses for the period included in other comprehensive income for recurring Level 3 fair value measurements of instruments held at the end of the reporting period. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019 and for interim periods within those fiscal years, although early adoption is permitted for either the entire standard or only the provisions that eliminate or modify the requirements.

We do not expect ASU 2018-07 or ASU 2018-13 to have a material effect on our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and we plan to adopt these standards on October 1, 2019 and October 1, 2020, respectively.

Accounting Standards Recently Adopted

In May 2014, the FASB issued Accounting Standard Update No. 2014-09, which provides a single comprehensive accounting standard for revenue recognition for contracts with customers and supersedes prior industry-specific guidance. The new standard requires companies to recognize revenue when control of promised goods or services is transferred to customers at an amount that reflects the consideration to which the company expects to be entitled. The new model requires companies to identify contractual performance obligations and determine whether revenue should be recognized at a point in time or over time for each obligation. The new standard also expands disclosure requirements regarding revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers.

We adopted the new revenue recognition standard on October 1, 2018 (“Adoption Date”), using the modified retrospective method, which provides for a cumulative effect adjustment to beginning fiscal 2019 retained earnings for uncompleted contracts impacted by the adoption. We recorded an adjustment of $102 to beginning fiscal 2019 retained earnings as a result of adoption of the new standard. The changes to the method and/or timing of our revenue recognition associated with the new standard primarily affect revenue recognition within our Infrastructure Solutions segment for which, as of October 1, 2018, certain of our contracts do not qualify for revenue recognition over time. In addition, we have now combined in process contracts that historically had been accounted for as separate contracts in cases where those contracts meet the criteria for combination of contracts under the new standard, and we now capitalize certain commissions which were previously expensed when incurred. The impact on our results for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2019, of applying the new standard to our contracts was not material.

Consistent with our adoption method, the comparative prior period information for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2018, continues to be reported using the previous accounting standards in effect for the period presented. We have elected to utilize the modified retrospective transition practical expedient that allows us to evaluate the impact of contract modifications as of the Adoption Date rather than evaluating the impact of the modifications at the time they occurred prior to the Adoption Date.

See Note 3, “Revenue Recognition” for additional discussion of our revenue recognition accounting policies and expanded disclosures.

In January 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standard Update No. 2016‑01, Financial Instruments. This standard is associated with the recognition and measurement of financial assets and liabilities, with further clarifications made in February 2018 with the issuance of Accounting Standard Update No. 2018-03. The amended guidance requires certain equity investments that are not consolidated and not accounted for under the equity method to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income rather than as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). It further states that an entity may choose to measure equity investments that do not have readily determinable fair values using a quantitative approach, or measurement alternative, which is equal to its cost minus impairment, if any, plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or a similar investment of the same issuer. Our adoption of this standard on October 1, 2018 had no impact on our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

In January 2017, the FASB issued Accounting Standard Update No. 2017-01, Business Combinations. This standard clarifies the definition of a business to assist entities with evaluation of whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions or disposals of assets or businesses. Our adoption of this standard on October 1, 2018 using the prospective transition method had no impact on our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

In May 2017, the FASB issued Accounting Standard Update No. 2017-09, Compensation—Stock Compensation, to reduce the diversity in practice and the cost and complexity when changing the terms or conditions of a share-based payment award. Our adoption of this standard on October 1, 2018 using the prospective transition method had no impact on our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.