BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES:	3 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2017
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES:	BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES: These condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared by Acxiom Corporation (“Registrant,” “Acxiom”, we, us or the “Company”), without audit, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC” or the “Commission”). In the opinion of the Registrant’s management, all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the periods included have been made, and the disclosures are adequate to make the information presented not misleading. All such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature. Certain note information has been omitted because it has not changed significantly from that reflected in Notes 1 through 19 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements filed as part of Item 8 of the Registrant’s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017 (“2017 Annual Report”), as filed with the Commission on May 26, 2017. This quarterly report and the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in connection with the 2017 Annual Report. The financial information contained in this quarterly report is not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any other period or for the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2018. Management of the Company has made a number of estimates and assumptions relating to the reporting of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities to prepare these condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”). Actual results could differ from those estimates. Certain of the accounting policies used in the preparation of these condensed consolidated financial statements are complex and require management to make judgments and/or significant estimates regarding amounts reported or disclosed in these financial statements. Additionally, the application of certain of these accounting policies is governed by complex accounting principles and their interpretation. A discussion of the Company’s significant accounting principles and their application is included in Note 1 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements and in Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, of the Company’s 2017 Annual Report. Accounting Pronouncements Adopted During the Current Year In January 2017, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2017-01, "Business Combinations (Topic 805): Clarifying the Definition of a Business" ("ASU 2017-01") which amended the existing FASB Accounting Standards Codification. The standard provides additional guidance to assist entities with evaluation of whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions (or disposals) of assets or businesses. The definition of a business affects many areas of accounting, including acquisitions, disposals, goodwill, and consolidation. ASU 2017-01 is effective for the Company beginning in fiscal 2019, with early adoptions permitted. We adopted the standard in the current fiscal quarter, on a prospective basis, and do not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material impact on our condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-18, "Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Restricted Cash" ("ASU 2016-18"). This standard is intended to reduce diversity in the presentation of restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents in the statement of cash flows. The standard requires that restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents be included as components of total cash and cash equivalents as presented on the statement of cash flows. As a result, entities will no longer present transfers between cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents in the statement of cash flows. ASU 2016-18 is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2017 (fiscal 2019 for the Company), including interim periods within those fiscal years; earlier adoption is permitted. We adopted the new standard during the current fiscal quarter. Early adoption did not result in any changes to our existing accounting policies, presentation of items in our condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures, or any changes resulting from the retrospective application to all periods reported. In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, "Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting" ("ASU 2016-09") which is intended to improve the accounting for stock-based payment transactions as part of the FASB's simplification initiative. The ASU changes five aspects of the accounting for stock-based payment award transactions that will affect public companies, including: (1) accounting for income taxes; (2) classification of excess tax benefits on the statement of cash flows; (3) forfeitures; (4) minimum statutory tax withholding requirements; and (5) classification of employee taxes paid on the statement of cash flows when an employer withholds shares for tax-withholding purposes. The inclusion of excess tax benefits and deficiencies as a component of income tax expense will increase volatility within our provision for income taxes as the amount of excess tax benefits or deficiencies from stock-based compensation awards depends on our stock price at the date the awards vest. This guidance also requires excess tax benefits to be presented as an operating activity on the statement of cash flows and allows an entity to make an accounting policy election to either estimate expected forfeitures or to account for them as they occur. We adopted ASU No. 2016-09 during the current fiscal quarter, which required us to reflect any adjustments as of April 1, 2017. We elected to account for forfeitures as they occur rather than estimating expected forfeitures. We recorded the cumulative impact of the adoptions through an increase in retained earnings of $2.2 million, of which $2.6 million related to deferred tax assets from certain federal and state research tax credit carryforwards attributable to excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation that had not been previously recognized, offset by $0.4 million related to elimination of the forfeiture pool. We elected to prospectively adopt the effect on the statement of cash flows and accordingly, did not restate the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the quarter ended June 30, 2016. Recent Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-04, "Intangibles-Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment" ("ASU 2017-04"), which eliminates step two from the goodwill impairment test. Under ASU 2017-04, an entity should recognize an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value; however, the loss recognized should not exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. ASU 2017-04 is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2019 (fiscal 2021 for the Company), including interim periods within those fiscal years; earlier adoption is permitted for goodwill impairment tests performed on testing dates after January 1, 2017. The Company does not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material impact on its condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, "Leases (Topic 842)" ("ASU 2016-02"), as a comprehensive new standard that amends various aspects of existing guidance for leases and requires additional disclosures about leasing arrangements. The new standard will require lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability on the balance sheet for all leases with the exception of short-term leases. For lessees, leases will continue to be classified as either operating or finance in the income statement. Lessor accounting is similar to the current model but updated to align with certain changes to the lessee model. Lessors will continue to classify leases as operating, direct financing or sales-type leases. ASU 2016-02 is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2018 (fiscal 2020 for the Company), including interim periods within those fiscal years. Earlier adoption is permitted. In the financial statements in which the ASU is first applied, leases shall be measured and recognized at the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented with an adjustment to equity. The Company is continuing to evaluate the impact of the adoption of this guidance on its condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. In May 2014, the FASB issued update ASU 2014-09, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)" ("ASU 2014-09") and issued subsequent amendments to the initial guidance in August 2015, March 2016, April 2016, May 2016 and December 2016 within ASU 2015-14, ASU 2016-08, ASU 2016-10, ASU 2016-12 and ASU 2016-20, respectively (ASU 2014-09 and the subsequent amendments, collectively, "Topic 606"). Topic 606 supersedes nearly all existing revenue recognition guidance under U.S. GAAP. The core principle of the new guidance is to recognize revenues when promised goods or services are transferred to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration that is expected to be received for those goods or services. The guidance defines a five-step process to achieve this core principle and, in doing so, it is possible more judgment and estimates may be required within the revenue recognition process than are required under existing U.S. GAAP, including identifying performance obligations in the contract, estimating the amount of variable consideration to include in the transaction price and allocating the transaction price to each separate performance obligation, among others. Topic 606 also provides guidance on the recognition of costs related to obtaining customer contracts. The effective date for the Company is the first quarter of fiscal 2019 using either of two methods: (i) retrospective application to each prior reporting period presented with the option to elect certain practical expedients; or (ii) retrospective application with the cumulative effect recognized at the date of initial application and providing certain additional disclosures. The Company has completed its preliminary assessment of the new standard and is continuing assessment as we complete implementation design activities. Preliminarily, we plan to adopt Topic 606 in the first quarter of fiscal 2019 pursuant to the aforementioned adoption method (ii) and we do not believe there will be a material impact to our revenues upon adoption. We are continuing to evaluate the impact to our revenues related to our pending adoption of Topic 606 and our preliminary assessments are subject to change. We are also continuing to evaluate the provisions of Topic 606 related to costs of obtaining customer contracts. The Company does not anticipate that the adoption of any other recent accounting pronouncements will have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES:

These condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared by Acxiom Corporation (“Registrant,” “Acxiom”, we, us or the “Company”), without audit, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC” or the “Commission”). In the opinion of the Registrant’s management, all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the periods included have been made, and the disclosures are adequate to make the information presented not misleading. All such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature. Certain note information has been omitted because it has not changed significantly from that reflected in Notes 1 through 19 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements filed as part of Item 8 of the Registrant’s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017 (“2017 Annual Report”), as filed with the Commission on May 26, 2017. This quarterly report and the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in connection with the 2017 Annual Report. The financial information contained in this quarterly report is not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any other period or for the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2018.

Management of the Company has made a number of estimates and assumptions relating to the reporting of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities to prepare these condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”). Actual results could differ from those estimates. Certain of the accounting policies used in the preparation of these condensed consolidated financial statements are complex and require management to make judgments and/or significant estimates regarding amounts reported or disclosed in these financial statements. Additionally, the application of certain of these accounting policies is governed by complex accounting principles and their interpretation. A discussion of the Company’s significant accounting principles and their application is included in Note 1 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements and in Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, of the Company’s 2017 Annual Report.

Accounting Pronouncements Adopted During the Current Year

In January 2017, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2017-01, "Business Combinations (Topic 805): Clarifying the Definition of a Business" ("ASU 2017-01") which amended the existing FASB Accounting Standards Codification. The standard provides additional guidance to assist entities with evaluation of whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions (or disposals) of assets or businesses. The definition of a business affects many areas of accounting, including acquisitions, disposals, goodwill, and consolidation. ASU 2017-01 is effective for the Company beginning in fiscal 2019, with early adoptions permitted. We adopted the standard in the current fiscal quarter, on a prospective basis, and do not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material impact on our condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-18, "Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Restricted Cash" ("ASU 2016-18"). This standard is intended to reduce diversity in the presentation of restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents in the statement of cash flows. The standard requires that restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents be included as components of total cash and cash equivalents as presented on the statement of cash flows. As a result, entities will no longer present transfers between cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents in the statement of cash flows. ASU 2016-18 is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2017 (fiscal 2019 for the Company), including interim periods within those fiscal years; earlier adoption is permitted. We adopted the new standard during the current fiscal quarter. Early adoption did not result in any changes to our existing accounting policies, presentation of items in our condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures, or any changes resulting from the retrospective application to all periods reported.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, "Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting" ("ASU 2016-09") which is intended to improve the accounting for stock-based payment transactions as part of the FASB's simplification initiative. The ASU changes five aspects of the accounting for stock-based payment award transactions that will affect public companies, including: (1) accounting for income taxes; (2) classification of excess tax benefits on the statement of cash flows; (3) forfeitures; (4) minimum statutory tax withholding requirements; and (5) classification of employee taxes paid on the statement of cash flows when an employer withholds shares for tax-withholding purposes. The inclusion of excess tax benefits and deficiencies as a component of income tax expense will increase volatility within our provision for income taxes as the amount of excess tax benefits or deficiencies from stock-based compensation awards depends on our stock price at the date the awards vest. This guidance also requires excess tax benefits to be presented as an operating activity on the statement of cash flows and allows an entity to make an accounting policy election to either estimate expected forfeitures or to account for them as they occur.

We adopted ASU No. 2016-09 during the current fiscal quarter, which required us to reflect any adjustments as of April 1, 2017. We elected to account for forfeitures as they occur rather than estimating expected forfeitures. We recorded the cumulative impact of the adoptions through an increase in retained earnings of $2.2 million, of which $2.6 million related to deferred tax assets from certain federal and state research tax credit carryforwards attributable to excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation that had not been previously recognized, offset by $0.4 million related to elimination of the forfeiture pool. We elected to prospectively adopt the effect on the statement of cash flows and accordingly, did not restate the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the quarter ended June 30, 2016.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-04, "Intangibles-Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment" ("ASU 2017-04"), which eliminates step two from the goodwill impairment test. Under ASU 2017-04, an entity should recognize an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value; however, the loss recognized should not exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. ASU 2017-04 is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2019 (fiscal 2021 for the Company), including interim periods within those fiscal years; earlier adoption is permitted for goodwill impairment tests performed on testing dates after January 1, 2017. The Company does not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material impact on its condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, "Leases (Topic 842)" ("ASU 2016-02"), as a comprehensive new standard that amends various aspects of existing guidance for leases and requires additional disclosures about leasing arrangements. The new standard will require lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability on the balance sheet for all leases with the exception of short-term leases. For lessees, leases will continue to be classified as either operating or finance in the income statement. Lessor accounting is similar to the current model but updated to align with certain changes to the lessee model. Lessors will continue to classify leases as operating, direct financing or sales-type leases. ASU 2016-02 is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2018 (fiscal 2020 for the Company), including interim periods within those fiscal years. Earlier adoption is permitted. In the financial statements in which the ASU is first applied, leases shall be measured and recognized at the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented with an adjustment to equity. The Company is continuing to evaluate the impact of the adoption of this guidance on its condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In May 2014, the FASB issued update ASU 2014-09, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)" ("ASU 2014-09") and issued subsequent amendments to the initial guidance in August 2015, March 2016, April 2016, May 2016 and December 2016 within ASU 2015-14, ASU 2016-08, ASU 2016-10, ASU 2016-12 and ASU 2016-20, respectively (ASU 2014-09 and the subsequent amendments, collectively, "Topic 606"). Topic 606 supersedes nearly all existing revenue recognition guidance under U.S. GAAP. The core principle of the new guidance is to recognize revenues when promised goods or services are transferred to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration that is expected to be received for those goods or services. The guidance defines a five-step process to achieve this core principle and, in doing so, it is possible more judgment and estimates may be required within the revenue recognition process than are required under existing U.S. GAAP, including identifying performance obligations in the contract, estimating the amount of variable consideration to include in the transaction price and allocating the transaction price to each separate performance obligation, among others. Topic 606 also provides guidance on the recognition of costs related to obtaining customer contracts. The effective date for the Company is the first quarter of fiscal 2019 using either of two methods: (i) retrospective application to each prior reporting period presented with the option to elect certain practical expedients; or (ii) retrospective application with the cumulative effect recognized at the date of initial application and providing certain additional disclosures. The Company has completed its preliminary assessment of the new standard and is continuing assessment as we complete implementation design activities. Preliminarily, we plan to adopt Topic 606 in the first quarter of fiscal 2019 pursuant to the aforementioned adoption method (ii) and we do not believe there will be a material impact to our revenues upon adoption. We are continuing to evaluate the impact to our revenues related to our pending adoption of Topic 606 and our preliminary assessments are subject to change. We are also continuing to evaluate the provisions of Topic 606 related to costs of obtaining customer contracts.

The Company does not anticipate that the adoption of any other recent accounting pronouncements will have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.