NOTE 1 - SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Nature of Operations

Data I/O Corporation (“Data I/O”, “We”, “Our”, “Us”) designs, manufactures and sells programming systems used by designers and manufacturers of electronic products.  Our programming system products are used to program integrated circuits (“ICs” or “devices” or “semiconductors”) with the specific unique data necessary for the ICs contained in various products, and are an important tool for the electronics industry experiencing growing use of programmable ICs.  Customers for our programming system products are located around the world, primarily in the Far East, Europe and the Americas.  Our manufacturing operations are currently located in Redmond, Washington, United States and Shanghai, China.

Principles of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Data I/O Corporation and our wholly-owned subsidiaries.  Intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and 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.

Significant estimates include:

• Revenue Recognition
• Allowance for Doubtful Accounts
• Inventory
• Warranty Accruals
• Tax Valuation Allowances
• Share-based Compensation

Foreign Currency Translation

Assets and liabilities of foreign subsidiaries are translated at the exchange rate on the balance sheet date.  Revenues, costs and expenses of foreign subsidiaries are translated at average rates of exchange prevailing during the year.  Translation adjustments resulting from this process are charged or credited to stockholders’ equity, net of taxes recognized.  Realized and unrealized gains and losses resulting from the effects of changes in exchange rates on assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are included in non-operating expense as foreign currency transaction gains and losses.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

All highly liquid investments purchased with an original maturity of 90 days or less are considered cash equivalents.  We maintain our cash and cash equivalents with major financial institutions in the United States of America, which are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and foreign jurisdictions.  Deposits in U.S. banks exceed the FDIC insurance limit.  We have not experienced any losses on our cash and cash equivalents.  Cash and cash equivalents held in foreign bank accounts, primarily China, Germany and Canada, totaled (in millions) $6.2 at December 31, 2017 and $5.6 at December 31, 2016.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

Certain financial instruments are carried at cost on the consolidated balance sheets, which approximates fair value due to their short-term, highly liquid nature.  These instruments include cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts payable and accrued expenses, and other short-term liabilities.

Accounts Receivable

The majority of our accounts receivable are due from companies in the electronics manufacturing industries.  Credit is extended based on an evaluation of a customer’s financial condition and, generally, collateral is not required.  Accounts receivable are typically due within 30 to 60 days and are stated at amounts due from customers net of an allowance for doubtful accounts.  Accounts receivable outstanding longer than the contractual payment terms are considered past due.  We determine the allowance by considering a number of factors, including the length of time trade accounts receivable are past due, the industry and geographic payment practices involved, our previous bad debt experience, the customer’s current ability to pay their obligation to us, and the condition of the general economy and the industry as a whole.  We write off accounts receivable when they become uncollectible, and payments subsequently received on such receivables are credited to the allowance for doubtful accounts.  Interest may be accrued, at the discretion of management and according to our standard sales terms, beginning on the day after the due date of the receivable.  However, interest income is subsequently recognized on these accounts either to the extent cash is received, or when the future collection of interest and the receivable balance is considered probable by management.

Inventories

Inventories are stated at the lower of cost or net realizable value with cost being the currently adjusted standard cost, which approximates cost on a first-in, first-out basis.  We estimate changes to inventory for obsolete, slow-moving, excess and non-salable inventory by reviewing current transactions and forecasted product demand.  We evaluate our inventories on an item by item basis and record an adjustment (lower of cost or market) accordingly.

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, plant and equipment, including leasehold improvements, are stated at cost and depreciation is calculated over the estimated useful lives of the related assets or lease terms on the straight-line basis.  We depreciate substantially all manufacturing and office equipment over periods of three to seven years.  We depreciate leasehold improvements over the remaining portion of the lease or over the expected life of the asset if less than the remaining term of the lease.

We regularly review all of our property, plant and equipment for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable.  If the total of future undiscounted cash flows is less than the carrying amount of these assets, an impairment loss, if any, based on the excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of the assets, is recorded.  Based on this evaluation, no impairment was noted for property, plant and equipment for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016. 

Patent Costs

We expense external costs, such as filing fees and associated attorney fees, incurred to obtain initial patents, but capitalize patents obtained through acquisition as intangible assets. We also expense costs associated with maintaining and defending patents subsequent to their issuance.

Income Taxes

Income taxes are computed at current enacted tax rates, less tax credits using the asset and liability method.  Deferred taxes are adjusted both for items that do not have tax consequences and for the cumulative effect of any changes in tax rates from those previously used to determine deferred tax assets or liabilities.  Tax provisions include amounts that are currently payable, changes in deferred tax assets and liabilities that arise because of temporary differences between the timing of when items of income and expense are recognized for financial reporting and income tax purposes, and any changes in the valuation allowance caused by a change in judgment about the reliability of the related deferred tax assets.  A valuation allowance is established when necessary to reduce deferred tax assets to amounts expected to be realized.  Tax reform and the effect of the “Deemed Repatriation” have been included in our 2017 financial statements.  

Share-Based Compensation

All stock-based compensation awards are measured based on estimated fair values on the date of grant and recognized as compensation expense on the straight-line single-option method.  Our share-based compensation is reduced for estimated forfeitures at the time of grant and revised as necessary in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates. 

Revenue Recognition

We recognize revenue at the time the product is shipped or when the service is delivered.  We have determined that our programming equipment has reached a point of maturity and stability such that product acceptance can be assured by testing at the factory prior to shipment and that the installation meets the criteria to be considered a separate element.  These systems are standard products with published product specifications and are configurable with standard options.  The evidence that these systems could be deemed as accepted was based upon having standardized factory production of the units, results from batteries of tests of product performance to our published specifications, quality inspections and installation standardization, as well as past product operation validation with the customer and the history provided by our installed base of products upon which the current versions were based.

The revenue related to products requiring installation that is perfunctory is recognized at the time of shipment.  Installation that is considered perfunctory includes any installation that can be performed by other parties, such as distributors, other vendors, or the customers themselves.  This takes into account the complexity, skill and training needed as well as customer expectations regarding installation.

We enter into multiple deliverable arrangements that arise during the sale of a system that includes an installation component, a service and support component and a software maintenance component.  We allocate the value of each element based on relative selling prices.  Relative selling price is based on the selling price of the standalone system.  For the installation and service and support components, we use the value of the discount given to distributors who perform these components.  For software maintenance components, we use what we charge for annual software maintenance renewals after the initial year the system is sold.  Revenue is recognized on the system sale based on shipping terms, installation revenue is recognized after the installation is performed, and hardware service and support and software maintenance revenue is recognized ratably over the term of the agreement, typically one year.

When we sell software separately, we recognize software revenue upon shipment, provided that only inconsequential obligations remain on our part and substantive acceptance conditions, if any, have been met.

We recognize revenue when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, shipment has occurred, the price is fixed or determinable, the buyer has paid or is obligated to pay, collectability is reasonably assured, substantive acceptance conditions, if any, have been met, the obligation is not contingent on resale of the product, the buyer’s obligation would not be changed in the event of theft, physical destruction or damage to the product, the buyer acquiring the product for resale has economic substance apart from us and we do not have significant obligations for future performance to directly bring about the resale of the product by the buyer.  We establish a reserve for sales returns based on historical trends in product returns and estimates for new items.

Sales were recorded net of actual sales returns and changes to the associated sales return reserve.  Sales return reserves were $80,000 and $50,000 at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. 

We transfer certain products out of service from their internal use and make them available for sale.  The products transferred are our standard products in one of the following areas: service loaners, rental or test units; engineering test units; or sales demonstration equipment.  Once transferred, the equipment is sold by our regular sales channels as used equipment inventory.  These product units often involve refurbishing and an equipment warranty, and are conducted as sales in our normal and ordinary course of business.  The transfer amount is the product unit’s net book value and the sale transaction is accounted for as revenue and cost of goods sold.

Research and Development

Research and development costs are generally expensed as incurred.

Advertising Expense

Advertising costs are expensed as incurred.  Total advertising expenses were approximately $154,000 and $108,000 in 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Warranty Expense

We record a liability for an estimate of costs that we expect to incur under our basic limited warranty when product revenue is recognized.  Factors affecting our warranty liability include the number of units sold and historical and anticipated rates of claims and costs per claim.  We normally provide a warranty for our products against defects for periods ranging from ninety days to one year.  We provide for the estimated cost that may be incurred under our product warranties and periodically assess the adequacy of our warranty liability based on changes in the above factors.  We record revenues on extended warranties on a straight-line basis over the term of the related warranty contracts.  Service costs are expensed as incurred. 

Earnings (Loss) Per Share

Basic earnings (loss) per share exclude any dilutive effects of stock options.  Basic earnings (loss) per share are computed using the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period.  Diluted earnings per share are computed using the weighted-average number of common shares and common stock equivalent shares outstanding during the period.  The common stock equivalent shares from equity awards used in calculating diluted earnings per share were 287,000 and 164,000 for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.  Options to purchase 12,603 and 117,352 shares of common stock were outstanding as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, but were excluded from the computation of diluted EPS for the period then ended because the options were anti-dilutive. 

Diversification of Credit Risk

Financial instruments, which potentially subject us to concentrations of credit risk, consist primarily of trade receivables.  Our trade receivables are geographically dispersed and include customers in many different industries.  As of December 31, 2017, one customer, Data Copy Limited, our distributor in China, accounted for greater than 10% of our consolidated accounts receivable balance at December 31, 2017.  Our consolidated accounts receivable balance as of December 31, 2017 and 2016 includes foreign accounts receivable in the functional currency of our foreign subsidiaries amounting to $1,228,000 and $2,554,000, respectively.  We generally do business with our foreign distributors in U.S. Dollars.  We believe that risk of loss is significantly reduced due to the diversity of our end-customers and geographic sales areas.  We perform on-going credit evaluations of our customers’ financial condition and require collateral, such as letters of credit and bank guarantees, or prepayment whenever deemed necessary.

New Accounting Pronouncements

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-09, Compensation-Stock Compensation (ASU 2016-09), “Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting”.  ASU 2016-09 requires excess tax benefits to be recognized in the statement of operations as an income tax expense and is applied prospectively by means of a cumulative-effect adjustment of excess tax benefits from equity in the period of adoption. The standard establishes an alternative practical expedient for estimating the expected term of an award by recognizing the effects of forfeitures in compensation cost when the forfeitures occur. We have continued to estimate forfeitures, and excess tax benefits have not been allocated to equity, as they are all in net operating losses, that have a full valuation allowance.  Adoption of the alternative practical expedient is applied prospectively on an entity-wide basis. The standard requires that amounts paid to a taxing authority on the employee’s behalf as a result of directly withholding shares for tax-withholding purposes are to be presented on a retrospective basis as a financing activity on the statement of cash flows. The standard was adopted effective beginning January 1, 2017 and did not have a material impact on our financial statements.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, “Leases” (ASU 2016-02).  ASU 2016-02 requires lessees to recognize almost all leases on the balance sheet as a right-of-use asset and a lease liability and requires leases to be classified as either an operating or a finance type lease. The standard excludes leases of intangible assets or inventory. Early adoption of the standard is allowed. The standard becomes effective beginning January 1, 2019.  We are in the process of evaluating the impact of adoption on our consolidated financial statements.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (ASU 2014-09).  ASU 2014-09 provides companies with a single model for accounting for revenue arising from contracts with customers and supersedes current revenue recognition guidance, including industry-specific revenue guidance. The core principle of the model is to recognize revenue when control of the goods or services transfers to the customer, as opposed to recognizing revenue when the risks and rewards transfer to the customer under the existing revenue guidance.  In August 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-14, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (ASU 2015-14), deferring the effective date of the new revenue recognition standard by one year and now takes effect for public entities in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017.  We expect to adopt the revenue standard as of January 1, 2018 and do not anticipate that the adoption of this standard will have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements including the potential impact of the additional disclosures.  We are implementing changes to our accounting policies, internal controls, and disclosures to support the new standard, however, these changes are not expected to be material.