Revenue from contracts with customers Revenue from contracts with customers (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]

Revenue Recognition

The amount of revenue recognized in the six months ended June 30, 2019 that was included in the January 1, 2019 contract liability balance was $2.5 million. This revenue consists of services provided to customers who had prepaid for those services prior to the current year. The majority of the increase in the contract liability balance resulted from the acquisition of Balance Innovations, LLC in the second quarter of 2019 (see Note 6).

We also recognized revenue of $0.4 million in the six months ended June 30, 2019 from performance obligations satisfied in the prior year. This amount is a result of changes in the transaction price of our contracts with customers.

Contract Costs

Sales commissions directly related to obtaining new contracts with customers qualify for capitalization. These capitalized costs are amortized to expense ratably over the term of the contracts. At June 30, 2019, the net capitalized costs to obtain contracts was $1.9 million, which is included in other assets on the condensed consolidated balance sheet. Amortization expense was not significant and there were no impairment losses recognized related to these contract costs in the first six months of 2019.

Practical Expedients

For the majority of our contracts with customers, we invoice a fixed amount for each unit of service we have provided. These contracts provide us with the right to invoice for an amount or rate that corresponds to the value we have delivered to our customers. The volume of services that will be provided to customers over the term is not known at inception of these contracts. Therefore, while the rate per unit of service is known, the transaction price itself is variable. For this reason, we recognize revenue from these contracts equal to the amount for which we have the contractual right to invoice the customers. Because we are not required to estimate variable consideration related to the transaction price in order to recognize revenue, we are also not required to estimate the variable consideration to provide certain disclosures. As a result, we have elected to use the optional exemption related to the disclosure of transaction prices, amounts allocated to remaining performance obligations and the future periods in which revenue will be recognized, sometimes referred to as backlog.

We have also elected to use the practical expedient for financing components related to our contract liabilities. We do not recognize interest expense on contracts for which the period between our receipt of customer payments and our service to the customer is one year or less.

The majority of our revenues from contracts with customers are earned by providing services and these performance obligations are satisfied over time. Smaller amounts of revenues are earned from selling goods, such as safes, to customers where the performance obligations are satisfied at a point in time.

Certain of our high-value services involve the leasing of assets, such as safes, to our customers along with the regular servicing of those safe devices. Revenues related to the leasing of these assets are recognized in accordance with applicable lease guidance (ASC 842 beginning in 2019 and ASC 840 prior to 2019), but are included in the above table as the amounts are a small percentage of overall revenues.

Contract Balances

Contract Asset

Although payment terms and conditions can vary, for the majority of our customer contracts, we invoice for all of the services provided to the customer within a monthly period. For certain customer contracts, the timing of our performance may precede our right to invoice the customer for the total transaction price. For example, Brink's affiliates in certain countries, primarily in South America, negotiate annual price adjustments with certain customers and, once the price increases are finalized, the pricing changes are made retroactive to services provided in earlier periods. These retroactive pricing adjustments are estimated and recognized as revenue with a corresponding contract asset in the same period in which the related services are performed. As the estimate of the ultimate transaction price changes, we recognize a cumulative catch-up adjustment for the change in estimate.

Contract Liability

For other customer contracts, we may obtain the right to payment or receive customer payments prior to performing the related services under the contract. When the right to customer payments or receipt of payments precedes our performance, we recognize a contract liability.

For performance obligations related to the services described above, we generally satisfy our obligations as each action to provide the service to the customer occurs. Because the customers simultaneously receive and consume the benefits from our services, these performance obligations are deemed to be satisfied over time. We use an output method, units of service provided, to recognize revenue because that is the best method to represent the transfer of our services to the customer at the agreed upon rate for each action.

Although not as significant as our service offerings, we also sell goods to customers from time to time, such as safe devices. In those transactions, we satisfy our performance obligation at a point in time. We recognize revenue when the goods are delivered to the customer as that is the point in time that best represents when control has transferred to the customer.

Our contracts with customers describe the services we can provide along with the fees for each action to provide the service. We typically send invoices to customers for all of the services we have provided within a monthly period and payments are generally due within 30 to 60 days of the invoice date.

Although our customer contracts specify the fees for each action to provide service, the majority of the services stated in our contracts do not have a defined quantity over the contract term. Accordingly, the transaction price is considered variable as there is an unknown volume of services that will be rendered over the course of the contract. We recognize revenue for these services in the period in which they are provided to the customer based on the contractual rate at which we have the right to invoice the customer for each action.

Some of our contracts with customers contain clauses that define the level of service that the customer will receive. The service level agreements (“SLA”) within those contracts contain specific calculations to determine whether the appropriate level of service has been met within a specific period, which is typically a month. We estimate SLA penalties and recognize the amounts as a reduction to revenue.

Taxes collected from customers and remitted to governmental authorities are not included in revenues in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.