Summary of significant accounting policies

Unaudited interim consolidated financial statements

The accompanying interim consolidated financial statements have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for interim financial reporting. These consolidated statements are unaudited and, in the opinion of management, include all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments and accruals) necessary to state fairly the consolidated balance sheets, consolidated statements of comprehensive income, consolidated statements of cash flows and consolidated statements of stockholders’ equity, for the periods presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP). The consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2012, has been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements at that date. Operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013 and cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2013, or any other future period. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in annual financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP have been omitted in accordance with the rules and regulations for interim reporting of the SEC. These interim consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, and other forms filed with the SEC from time to time.

Basis of consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Blackbaud, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Use of estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions. These estimates and assumptions affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, as well as the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. On an ongoing basis, we reconsider and evaluate our estimates and assumptions, including those that impact revenue recognition, long-lived and intangible assets and goodwill, stock-based compensation, the provision for income taxes, capitalization of software development costs, our allowance for sales returns and doubtful accounts, deferred sales commissions, accounting for business combinations and loss contingencies. Changes in the facts or circumstances underlying these estimates could result in material changes and actual results could materially differ from these estimates.

Revenue recognition

Our revenue is primarily generated from the following sources: (i) charging for the use of our software products in a hosted environment; (ii) selling perpetual licenses of our software products; (iii) providing professional services including implementation, training, consulting, analytic, hosting and other services; and (iv) providing software maintenance and support services.

We recognize revenue when all of the following conditions are met:

•Persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists;

•The product or services have been delivered;

•The fee is fixed or determinable; and

•Collection of the resulting receivable is probable.

Determining whether and when these criteria have been met can require significant judgment and estimates. We deem acceptance of an agreement to be evidence of an arrangement. Delivery of our services occurs when the services have been performed. Delivery of our products occurs when the product is shipped or transmitted, and title and risk of loss have transferred to the customers. Our typical agreements do not include customer acceptance provisions; however, if acceptance provisions are provided, delivery is deemed to occur upon acceptance. We consider the fee to be fixed or determinable unless the fee is subject to refund or adjustment or is not payable within our standard payment terms. Payment terms greater than 90 days are considered to be beyond our customary payment terms. Collection is deemed probable if we expect that the customer will be able to pay amounts under the arrangement as they become due. If we determine that collection is not probable, we defer revenue recognition until collection. Revenue is recognized net of sales returns and allowances.

We follow guidance provided in ASC 605-45, Principal Agent Considerations, which states that determining whether a company should recognize revenue based on the gross amount billed to a customer or the net amount retained is a matter of judgment that depends on the facts and circumstances of the arrangement and that certain factors should be considered in the evaluation.

Subscriptions

We provide hosting services to customers who have purchased perpetual rights to certain of our software products (hosting services). Revenue from hosting services, as well as data enrichment services, data management services and online training programs, is recognized ratably beginning on the activation date over the term of the agreement, which generally ranges from one to three years. Any related set-up fees are recognized ratably over the estimated period that the customer benefits from the related hosting service.

We make certain of our software products available for use in hosted application arrangements without licensing perpetual rights to the software (hosted applications). Revenue from hosted applications is recognized ratably beginning on the activation date over the term of the agreement, which generally ranges from one to three years. Any revenue related to upfront activation, set-up or implementation fees is recognized ratably over the estimated period that the customer benefits from the related hosted application. Direct and incremental costs relating to activation, set-up and implementation for hosted applications are capitalized until the hosted application is deployed and in use, and then expensed over the estimated period that the customer benefits from the related hosted application.

For arrangements that have multiple elements and do not include software licenses, we allocate arrangement consideration at the inception of the arrangement to those elements that qualify as separate units of accounting. The arrangement consideration is allocated to the separate units of accounting based on relative selling price method in accordance with the selling price hierarchy, which includes: (i) vendor specific objective evidence (VSOE) if available; (ii) third-party evidence (TPE) if VSOE is not available; and (iii) best estimate of selling price (BESP) if neither VSOE nor TPE is available. In general, we use VSOE to allocate the selling price to subscription and service deliverables.

We offer certain payment processing services with the assistance of third-party vendors. When we are the primary obligor in a transaction, have latitude in establishing prices and are the party determining the service specifications or have several but not all of these indicators, we record the revenue on a gross basis. Otherwise, we record revenue associated with the related subscribers on a net basis, netting the cost of revenue associated with the service against the gross amount billed the customer and record the net amount as revenue.

Revenue from transaction processing fees is recognized when the service is provided and the amounts are determinable. Revenue directly associated with processing donations for customers are included in subscriptions revenue, net of related transaction costs.

License fees

We sell software licenses with maintenance, varying levels of professional services and, in certain instances, with hosting services. We allocate revenue to each of the elements in these arrangements using the residual method under which we first allocate revenue to the undelivered elements, typically the non-software license components, based on objective evidence of the fair value of the various elements. We determine the fair value of the various elements using different methods. Fair value for maintenance services associated with software licenses is based upon renewal rates stated in the agreements with customers, which vary according to the level of support service provided under the maintenance program. Fair value of professional services and other products and services is based on sales of these products and services to other customers when sold on a stand-alone basis. Any remaining revenue is allocated to the delivered elements which is normally the software license in the arrangement.

When a software license is sold with software customization services, generally the services are to provide customer support for assistance in creating special reports and other enhancements that will assist with efforts to improve operational efficiency and/or to support business process improvements. These services are generally not essential to the functionality of the software. However, when software customization services are considered essential to the functionality of the software, we recognize revenue for both the software license and the services using the percentage-of-completion method.

Services

We generally bill consulting, installation and implementation services based on hourly rates plus reimbursable travel-related expenses. Revenue is recognized for these services over the period the services are performed.

We recognize analytic services revenue from donor prospect research engagements, the sale of lists of potential donors, benchmarking studies and data modeling service engagements upon delivery. In arrangements where we provide customers the right to updates to the lists during the contract period, revenue is recognized ratably over the contract period.

We sell training at a fixed rate for each specific class at a per attendee price or at a packaged price for several attendees, and recognize the related revenue upon the customer attending and completing training. Additionally, we sell fixed-rate programs, which permit customers to attend unlimited training over a specified contract period, typically one year, subject to certain restrictions, and revenue is recognized ratably over the contract period.

Maintenance

We recognize revenue from maintenance services ratably over the contract term, typically one year. Maintenance contracts are at rates that vary according to the level of the maintenance program and are generally renewable annually. Maintenance contracts also include the right to unspecified product upgrades on an if-and-when available basis. Certain support services are sold in prepaid units of time and recognized as revenue upon their usage.

Deferred revenue

To the extent that our customers are billed for the above described services in advance of delivery, we record such amounts in deferred revenue.

Goodwill

The change in goodwill for each reportable segment during the nine months ended September 30, 2013, consisted of the following:



(in thousands)	ECBU			GMBU			IBU			Target Analytics		Other		Total
Balance at December 31, 2012	$	148,322		$	75,149		$	6,311		$	33,177	$	2,096	$	265,055
Additions related to business combinations	—			—			413			—		—		413
Adjustments related to prior year business combinations	(494		)	(193		)	—			—		—		(687		)
Effect of foreign currency translation	—			—			(142		)	—		—		(142		)
Balance at September 30, 2013	$	147,828		$	74,956		$	6,582		$	33,177	$	2,096	$	264,639

Amortization expense

Amortization expense related to finite-lived intangible assets acquired in business combinations is allocated to cost of revenue and operating expenses on the consolidated statements of comprehensive income based on the revenue stream to which the asset contributes. The following table summarizes amortization expense:



	Three months ended September 30,				Nine months ended September 30,
(in thousands)	2013		2012		2013		2012
Included in cost of revenue:
Cost of license fees	$	87	$	119	$	334	$	366
Cost of subscriptions	4,657		4,044		13,968		7,732
Cost of services	631		571		1,897		1,450
Cost of maintenance	114		114		342		608
Cost of other revenue	19		18		57		56
Total included in cost of revenue	5,508		4,866		16,598		10,212
Included in operating expenses	614		690		1,928		1,417
Total	$	6,122	$	5,556	$	18,526	$	11,629

The following table outlines the estimated future amortization expense for each of the next five years for our finite-lived intangible assets as of September 30, 2013:



Year ending December 31,	Amortization
(in thousands)	expense
2013 - remaining	$	6,074
2014	22,601
2015	22,227
2016	21,819
2017	19,501
Total	$	92,222

Recently adopted accounting pronouncements

Effective January 1, 2013, we adopted ASU 2013-02, Comprehensive Income (Topic 220), Reporting of Amounts Reclassified Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income, which requires that entities provide information about the amounts reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income by component. In addition, entities are required to present, either on the face of the statement where net income is presented or in the notes, significant amounts reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income by the respective line items of net income but only if the amount reclassified is required under GAAP to be reclassified to net income in its entirety in the same reporting period. For other amounts that are not required under GAAP to be reclassified in their entirety to net income, entities are required to cross-reference to other disclosures required under GAAP that provide additional detail about those amounts. The adoption of ASU 2013-02 did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. We have presented the amounts reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income by component in Note 8 and Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements.

Effective January 1, 2013, we adopted ASU 2012-02, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350), Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment, which simplifies how entities test indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment. ASU 2012-02 permits an entity to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that an indefinite-lived intangible asset is impaired as a basis for determining whether it is necessary to perform the quantitative impairment test currently required by ASC Topic 350-30 on general intangibles other than goodwill. The adoption of ASU 2012-02 did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Recently issued accounting pronouncements

In July 2013, the FASB issued ASU 2013-11, Income Taxes (Topic 740), Presentation of an Unrecognized Tax Benefit When a Net Operating Loss Carryforward, a Similar Tax Loss, or a Tax Credit Carryforward Exists. Under ASU 2013-11, an unrecognized tax benefit, or a portion of an unrecognized tax benefit, should be presented in the financial statements as a reduction to a deferred tax asset for a net operating loss carryforward or a similar tax loss, or a tax credit carryforward, except as follows. To the extent a net operating loss carryforward, a similar tax loss, or a tax credit carryforward is not available at the reporting date under the tax law of the applicable jurisdiction to settle any additional income taxes that would result from the disallowance of a tax position or the tax law of the applicable jurisdiction does not require the entity to use, and the entity does not intend to use, the deferred tax asset for such purpose, the unrecognized tax benefit should be presented in the financial statements as a liability and should not be combined with deferred tax assets. ASU 2013-11 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2013. Early adoption is permitted. We do not anticipate any material impact from the adoption of ASU 2013-11.