Principles of consolidation - The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of FirstCash, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. The Company regularly makes acquisitions and the results of operations for the acquired stores have been consolidated since the acquisition dates. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. See Note 3.

Cash and cash equivalents - The Company considers any highly liquid investments with an original maturity of three months or less at the date of acquisition to be cash equivalents. As of December 31, 2019, the amount of cash associated with indefinitely reinvested foreign earnings was $19.6 million, which is primarily held in Mexican pesos.

Customer loans and revenue recognition - Pawn loans typically have a term of 30 days and are secured by the customer’s pledge of tangible personal property, which the Company holds during the term of the loan. In certain markets, the Company also provides pawn loans collateralized by automobiles, which remain in the Company’s possession or in limited cases, remain in the possession of the customer. If a pawn loan defaults, the Company relies on the sale of the pawned property to recover the principal amount of an unpaid pawn loan, plus a yield on the investment, because the Company’s pawn loans are non-recourse against the customer. The customer’s creditworthiness does not affect the Company’s financial position or results of operations. The Company accrues pawn loan fee revenue on a constant-yield basis over the life of the pawn loan for all pawns for which the Company deems collection to be probable based on historical pawn redemption statistics. If the pawn loan is not repaid, the principal amount loaned becomes the inventory carrying value of the forfeited collateral, which is recovered through sales to other customers at prices above the carrying value.

The Company’s pawn merchandise sales are primarily retail sales to the general public in its pawn stores. The Company typically acquires pawn merchandise inventory through forfeited pawn loans and through purchases of used goods directly from the general public. The Company also retails limited quantities of new or refurbished merchandise obtained directly from wholesalers and manufacturers. The Company records sales revenue at the time of the sale. The Company presents merchandise sales net of any sales or value-added taxes collected. The Company does not provide direct financing to customers for the purchase of its merchandise, but does permit its customers to purchase merchandise on an interest-free “layaway” plan. Should the customer fail to make a required payment pursuant to a layaway plan, the item is returned to inventory and all or a portion of previous payments are typically forfeited to the Company. Interim payments from customers on layaway sales are recorded as deferred revenue and subsequently recorded as retail merchandise sales revenue when the merchandise is delivered to the customer upon receipt of final payment or when previous payments are forfeited to the Company. Some jewelry is processed at third-party facilities and the precious metal and diamond content is sold at either prevailing market commodity prices or a previously agreed upon price with a commodity buyer. The Company records revenue from these wholesale scrap jewelry transactions when a price has been agreed upon and the Company ships the commodity to the buyer.

Unsecured consumer loans are cash advances with terms that typically range from 7 to 45 days. The Company accrues unsecured consumer loan fees on a constant-yield basis over the term of the consumer loan. The Company offers a fee-based credit services organization program (“CSO Program”) to assist consumers in obtaining extensions of credit from an independent, non-bank, consumer lending company (the “Independent Lender”). The Company’s stand-alone unsecured consumer loan stores and select pawn stores in the state of Texas offer the CSO Program. The Company recognizes credit services fees ratably over the life of the

Credit loss provisions - The Company has determined no allowance related to credit losses on pawn loans is required, as the fair value of the pledged collateral is significantly in excess of the pawn loan amount. The Company maintains an allowance for credit losses on unsecured consumer loans on an aggregate basis at a level it considers sufficient to cover estimated losses in the collection of its unsecured consumer loans. The allowance for credit losses is periodically reviewed by management with any changes reflected in current operations.

Under the CSO Program, the Company assists customers in applying for a short-term extension of credit from an Independent Lender and issues the Independent Lender a guarantee for the repayment of the extension of credit. The Company is required to recognize, at the inception of the guarantee, a liability for the estimated fair value of the obligation undertaken by issuing the guarantee, which is included in accrued liabilities. The estimated fair value of the liability is periodically reviewed by management with any changes reflected in current operations.

Foreign currency transactions - The Company has significant operations in Latin America, where in Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia the functional currency is the Mexican peso, Guatemalan quetzal and Colombian peso, respectively. Accordingly, the assets and liabilities of these subsidiaries are translated into U.S. dollars at the exchange rate in effect at each balance sheet date, and the resulting adjustments are accumulated in other comprehensive income (loss) as a separate component of stockholders’ equity. Revenues and expenses are translated at the average exchange rates occurring during the respective period. Prior to translation, U.S. dollar-denominated transactions of the foreign subsidiaries are remeasured into their functional currency using current rates of exchange for monetary assets and liabilities and historical rates of exchange for non-monetary assets and liabilities. Gains and losses from remeasurement of dollar-denominated monetary assets and liabilities in Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia are included in (gain) loss on foreign exchange in the consolidated statements of income. Deferred taxes are not currently recorded on cumulative foreign currency translation adjustments as the Company indefinitely reinvests earnings of its foreign subsidiaries. The Company also has operations in El Salvador where the reporting and functional currency is the U.S. dollar.

The average value of the Mexican peso to the U.S. dollar exchange rate for 2019 was 19.3 to 1, compared to 19.2 to 1 in 2018 and 18.9 to 1 in 2017. The average value of the Guatemalan quetzal to the U.S. dollar exchange rate for 2019 was 7.7 to 1, compared to 7.5 to 1 in 2018 and 7.4 to 1 in 2017. The average value of the Colombian peso to the U.S. dollar exchange rate for 2019 was 3,280 to 1, compared to 2,956 to 1 in 2018 and 2,951 to 1 in 2017.

Store operating expenses - Costs incurred in operating the Company’s stores have been classified as store operating expenses. Operating expenses include salary and benefit expense of store-level employees, occupancy costs, bank charges, security, insurance, utilities, supplies and other costs incurred by the stores.

Layaway and deferred revenue - Interim payments from customers on layaway sales are credited to deferred revenue and subsequently recorded as retail merchandise sales revenue when the merchandise is delivered to the customer upon receipt of final payment or when the previous payments are forfeited to the Company. Layaway payments from customers are included in customer deposits in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

Inventories - Inventories represent merchandise acquired from forfeited pawns and merchandise purchased directly from the general public. The Company also retails limited quantities of new or refurbished merchandise obtained directly from wholesalers and manufacturers. Inventories from forfeited pawns are recorded at the amount of the pawn principal on the unredeemed goods, exclusive of accrued interest. Inventories purchased directly from customers, wholesalers and manufacturers are recorded at cost. The cost of inventories is determined on the specific identification method. Inventories are stated at the lower of cost or net realizable value and, accordingly, inventory valuation allowances are established if inventory carrying values are in excess of estimated selling prices, net of direct costs of disposal. Management has evaluated inventories and determined that a valuation allowance is not necessary.

Property and equipment - Property and equipment are recorded at cost. Depreciation is recorded on the straight-line method generally based on estimated useful lives of 30 to 40 years for buildings and three to five years for furniture, fixtures and equipment. The costs of improvements on leased stores are capitalized as leasehold improvements and are depreciated using the straight-line method over the applicable lease period, or useful life, if shorter. Maintenance and repairs are charged to expense as incurred and renewals and betterments are charged to the appropriate property and equipment accounts. Upon sale or retirement of depreciable assets, the cost and related accumulated depreciation is removed from the accounts, and the resulting gain or loss is included in the results of operations in the period the assets are sold or retired.

Goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets - Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net assets acquired in each business combination. The Company performs its goodwill impairment assessment annually as of December 31, and between annual assessments if an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying amount. The Company’s reporting units, which are tested for impairment, are U.S. operations and Latin America operations. The Company assesses goodwill for impairment at a reporting unit level by first assessing a range of qualitative factors, including, but not limited to, macroeconomic conditions, industry conditions, the competitive environment, changes in the market for the Company’s products and services, regulatory and political developments, entity specific factors, such as strategy and changes in key personnel, and overall financial performance. If, after completing this assessment, it is determined that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value, the Company proceeds to the two-step impairment testing methodology. See Note 13.

The Company’s material indefinite-lived intangible assets consist of trade names and pawn licenses. The Company performs its indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment assessment annually as of December 31, and between annual assessments if an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying amount. See Note 13.

Merger and other acquisition expenses - The Company incurs incremental costs directly associated with merger and acquisition activity, including, but not limited to, professional fees, legal expenses, severance, retention and other employee-related costs, contract breakage costs and costs related to consolidation of technology systems and corporate facilities. The Company presents merger and other acquisition expenses separately in the consolidated statements of income to identify these incremental activities apart from the expenses incurred to operate the business.

Long-lived assets - Property and equipment, intangible assets subject to amortization and non-current assets are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the net book value of the asset may not be recoverable. An impairment loss is recognized if the sum of the expected future cash flows (undiscounted and before interest) from the use of the asset is less than the net book value of the asset. Generally, the amount of the impairment loss is measured as the difference between the net book value of the asset and the estimated fair value of the related asset. As a result of certain regulatory impacts to the Company’s consumer loan operations, the Company recorded a fixed asset impairment charge of approximately $1.5 million related to certain stores primarily offering unsecured consumer loan products during the fourth quarter of 2018. The Company did not record any impairment loss for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2017.

Fair value of financial instruments - The fair value of financial instruments is determined by reference to various market data and other valuation techniques, as appropriate. Financial assets and liabilities are classified based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The Company’s assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement requires judgment, and may affect the valuation of the fair value of assets and liabilities and their placement within the fair value hierarchy levels. All fair value measurements related to acquisitions are level 3, non-recurring measurements, based on unobservable inputs. Unless otherwise disclosed, the fair values of financial instruments approximate their recorded values, due primarily to their short-term nature. See Note 6.

Share-based compensation - All share-based payments to employees and directors are recognized in the financial statements based on the grant date or if applicable, the subsequent modification date fair value. The Company recognizes compensation cost net of estimated forfeitures and recognizes the compensation cost for only those awards expected to vest on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the award, which is generally the vesting term. The Company records share-based compensation cost as an administrative expense. See Note 14.

Forward sales commitments - The Company periodically uses forward sale agreements with a major gold bullion bank to sell a portion of the expected amount of scrap gold, which is typically jewelry that is broken or of low retail value, produced in the normal course of business from its liquidation of such merchandise. These commitments qualify for an exemption from derivative accounting as normal sales, based on historical terms, conditions and quantities, and are therefore not recorded on the Company's balance sheet.

Earnings per share - Basic earnings per share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted-average number of shares outstanding during the year. Diluted earnings per share is calculated by giving effect to the potential dilution that could occur if securities or other contracts to issue common shares were exercised and converted into common shares during the year.



	Year Ended December 31,
	2019		2018		2017
Numerator:
Net income	$	164,618	$	153,206	$	143,892

Denominator:
Weighted-average common shares for calculating basic earnings per share	43,020		44,777		47,854
Effect of dilutive securities:
Stock options and restricted stock unit awards	188		107		34
Weighted-average common shares for calculating diluted earnings per share	43,208		44,884		47,888

Earnings per share:
Basic	$	3.83	$	3.42	$	3.01
Diluted	3.81		3.41		3.00

Pervasiveness of estimates - The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and related revenue and expenses, and the disclosure of gain and loss contingencies at the date of the financial statements. Such estimates and assumptions are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s estimates. Significant estimates include the accrual for earned but uncollected pawn loan fees, impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets and current and deferred tax assets and liabilities.

Recent accounting pronouncements - On January 1, 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s lease accounting standard (“ASC 842”) became effective requiring lessees to recognize, in the statement of financial position, a liability for the present value of future minimum lease payments (the lease liability) and an asset representing its right to use the underlying leased property for the lease term (the right of use asset). Leases will be classified as either financing or operating, with classification affecting the pattern of expense recognition in the income statement. Lessor accounting remains largely unchanged. ASC 842 provides for a modified retrospective transition approach, which requires lessees to recognize and measure leases on the balance sheet at the beginning of the earliest period presented, or a cumulative effect adjustment transition approach, which requires prospective application from the adoption date. The Company adopted ASC 842 prospectively as of January 1, 2019 using the cumulative effect adjustment approach. As a result of the transition method used, ASC 842 was not applied to periods prior to adoption and the adoption of ASC 842 had no impact on the Company’s comparative prior periods presented.

ASC 842 provides a number of optional practical expedients in transition. The Company elected the package of practical expedients, which permit it to not reassess under the new standard its prior conclusions about lease identification, lease classification and initial direct costs but did not elect any other practical expedient available under ASC 842.

In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU No. 2016-13, “Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments” (“ASU 2016-13”). ASU 2016-13 amends the impairment model by requiring entities to use a forward-looking approach based on expected losses to estimate credit losses on certain types of financial instruments, including trade receivables. In November 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU No. 2018-19, “Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses” (“ASU 2018-19”), which clarifies that receivables arising from operating leases are accounted for using lease guidance and not as financial instruments. In April 2019,

the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU No. 2019-04, “Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses, Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and Topic 825, Financial Instruments” (“ASU 2019-04”), which clarifies the treatment of certain credit losses. In May 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU No. 2019-05, “Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Targeted Transition Relief” (“ASU 2019-05”), which provides an option to irrevocably elect to measure certain individual financial assets at fair value instead of amortized cost. In November 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU No. 2019-11, “Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses” (“ASU 2019-11”), which provides guidance around how to report expected recoveries. ASU 2016-13, ASU 2018-19, ASU 2019-04, ASU 2019-05 and ASU 2019-11 (collectively, “ASC 326”) are effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. The Company will adopt ASC 326 on January 1, 2020 prospectively and has concluded ASC 326 will not materially impact the Company’s recognition of financial instruments within the scope of the standard.

In January 2017, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU No. 2017-04, “Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350) - Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment” (“ASU 2017-04”), which eliminates step 2 from the goodwill impairment test. ASU 2017-04 also eliminates the requirements for any reporting unit with a zero or negative carrying amount to perform a qualitative assessment and, if it fails that qualitative test, to perform step 2 of the goodwill impairment test. An entity still has the option to perform the qualitative assessment for a reporting unit to determine if the quantitative impairment test is necessary. The guidance is effective for annual or any interim goodwill impairment tests in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted for interim or annual goodwill impairment tests performed on testing dates after January 1, 2017 and should be adopted on a prospective basis. The Company does not expect ASU 2017-04 to have a material effect on the Company’s current financial position, results of operations or financial statement disclosures.

In June 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU No. 2018-07, “Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718) - Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting” (“ASU 2018-07”). ASU 2018-07 simplifies the accounting for nonemployee share-based payment transactions. The amendments specify that Topic 718 applies to all share-based payment transactions in which a grantor acquires goods or services to be used or consumed in a grantor’s own operations by issuing share-based payment awards. ASU 2018-07 is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018. The adoption of ASU 2018-07 did not have a material effect on the Company’s current financial position, results of operations or financial statement disclosures.

In July 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU No. 2018-09, “Codification Improvements” (“ASU 2018-09”). ASU 2018-09 does not prescribe any new accounting guidance, but instead makes minor improvements and clarifications of several different Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification areas based on comments and suggestions made by various stakeholders. Certain updates are applicable immediately while others provide for a transition period to adopt in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018. The adoption of ASU 2018-09 did not have a material effect on the Company’s current financial position, results of operations or financial statement disclosures.

In August 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU No. 2018-13, “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework-Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement” (“ASU 2018-13”). ASU 2018-13 modifies the disclosure requirements on fair value measurements. ASU 2018-13 is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted for any removed or modified disclosures. The removed and modified disclosures will be adopted on a retrospective basis and the new disclosures will be adopted on a prospective basis. The Company does not expect ASU 2018-13 to have a material effect on the Company’s current financial position, results of operations or financial statement disclosures.

In July 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU 2019-07, “Codification Updates to SEC Sections - Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to SEC Final Rule Releases No. 33-10532, Disclosure Update and Simplification, and Nos. 33-10231 and 33-10442, Investment Company Reporting Modernization and Miscellaneous Updates” (“ASU 2019-07”). ASU 2019-07 aligns the guidance in various SEC sections of the Codification with the requirements of certain SEC final rules. ASU 2019-07 is effective immediately and the adoption of ASU 2019-07 did not have a material effect on the Company’s current financial position, results of operations or financial statement disclosures.

In November 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued ASU No. 2019-08, “Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718) and Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Codification Improvements—Share-Based Consideration Payable to a Customer” (“ASU 2019-08”). ASU 2019-08 expands the scope of ASC Topic 718 to provide guidance for share-based payment awards granted to a customer in conjunction with selling goods or services accounted for under Topic 606. For entities that have adopted the amendments in ASU 2018-07, the amendments in ASU 2019-08 are effective in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, and interim periods within those fiscal years. An entity may early adopt the amendments in ASU 2019-08, but not before it adopts the amendments in ASU 2018-07. The Company adopted ASU 2019-08 effective December 31, 2019.