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Related Party Transactions
12 Months Ended
Aug. 31, 2013
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Party Transactions

18.RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

 

CoveyLink Acquisition

 

During fiscal 2009 we acquired the assets of CoveyLink Worldwide, LLC (CoveyLink). CoveyLink conducts training and provides consulting based upon the book The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey, who is the son of our former Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and the brother of one of our executive officers.

 

We accounted for the acquisition of CoveyLink using the guidance found in Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 141, Business Combinations.  The purchase price was $1.0 million in cash plus or minus an adjustment for specified working capital and the costs necessary to complete the transaction, which resulted in a total initial purchase price of $1.2 million.  The previous owners of CoveyLink, which includes Stephen M.R. Covey, are also entitled to earn annual contingent payments based upon earnings growth during the five years following the acquisition.

 

During the fiscal years ended August 31, 2013 and August 31, 2011, we paid $2.2 million and $5.4 million, respectively, in cash to the former owners of CoveyLink for required annual contingent payments.  The annual contingent payments are based on earnings growth over the specified earnings period and were classified as goodwill in our consolidated balance sheets under the accounting guidance applicable at the time of the acquisition.  Based on the earnings of CoveyLink during the third earnout period, we did not make a contingent earnout payment in fiscal 2012.

 

Prior to the acquisition date, CoveyLink had granted a non-exclusive license to the Company related to The Speed of Trust book and related training courses for which we paid CoveyLink specified royalties.  As part of the CoveyLink acquisition, an amended and restated license of intellectual property was signed that granted us an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, transferable, royalty-bearing license to use, reproduce, display, distribute, sell, prepare derivative works of, and perform the licensed material in any format or medium and through any market or distribution channel.  We are required to pay the brother of one of our executive officers royalties for the use of certain intellectual property developed by him.  The amount expensed for these royalties totaled $1.4 million, $1.2 million, and $1.1 million during the fiscal years ended August 31, 2013, 2012, and 2011.  As part of the acquisition of CoveyLink, we signed an amended license agreement as well as a speaker services agreement.  Based on the provisions of the speakers’ services agreement, we pay the brother of one of our executive officers a portion of the speaking revenues received for his presentations.  We expensed $0.7 million, $0.9 million, and $1.0 million for payment on these presentations during fiscal years 2013, 2012 and 2011.  We had $0.6 million and $0.1 million accrued for these royalties and speaking fees at August 31, 2013 and 2012,  respectively, which were included as components of accrued liabilities in our consolidated balance sheets.

 

FC Organizational Products

 

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008, we joined with Peterson Partners to create a new company, FC Organizational Products, LLC (FCOP).  This new company purchased substantially all of the assets of our consumer solutions business unit with the objective of expanding the worldwide sales of FCOP as governed by a comprehensive license agreement between us and FCOP.  On the date of the sale closing, we invested approximately $1.8 million to purchase a 19.5 percent voting interest in FCOP, and made a $1.0 million priority capital contribution with a 10 percent return.  At the time of the transaction, we determined that FCOP was not a variable interest entity.

 

As a result of FCOPs structure as a limited liability company with separate owner capital accounts, we determined that our investment in FCOP is more than minor and that we are required to account for our investment in FCOP using the equity method of accounting.  We have not recorded our share of FCOP’s losses in the accompanying consolidated income statements because we have impaired and written off investment balances, as defined within the applicable accounting guidance, in previous periods in excess of our share of FCOP’s losses through August 31, 2013.

 

Based on changes to FCOP’s debt agreements and certain other factors in fiscal 2012, we reconsidered whether FCOP was a variable interest entity as defined under ASC 810, and determined that FCOP was a variable interest entity.  Although the changes to the debt agreements did not modify the governing documents of FCOP, the changes were substantial enough to raise doubts regarding the sufficiency of FCOP’s equity investment at risk.  We further determined that we are not the primary beneficiary of FCOP because we do not have the ability to direct the activities that most significantly impact FCOP’s economic performance, which primarily consist of the day-to-day sale of planning products and related accessories, and we do not have obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits from FCOP that could potentially be significant.  Our voting rights and management board representation approximate our ownership interest and we are unable to exercise control through voting interests or through other means.

 

Our primary exposures related to FCOP at August 31, 2013 are from amounts owed to us by FCOP.  We receive reimbursement from FCOP for certain operating costs, which are billed to us by third party providers.  The operations of FCOP are primarily financed by the sale of planning products and accessories in the normal course of business.

 

Due to the settlement of litigation during fiscal 2012 (Note 9), the amount of cash we received from FCOP was reduced from previous forecasts and our receivable balance from FCOP increased significantly during fiscal 2012.  In addition, while we are not contractually obligated by the governing documents to fund the losses or make advances to FCOP, we have provided working capital and other advances to FCOP during fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2012.  We believe that our extension of credit to FCOP will allow them the opportunity to improve operational results and repay amounts owed to us, including amounts that were previously written off.    In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, we received revised information from FCOP regarding scheduled repayments to us and we reclassified a portion of the FCOP receivable to long-term assets and recorded a discount charge of $1.4 million to reduce the long-term receivable to its estimated present value at August 31, 2012.  We discounted the long-term portion of the receivable at 15 percent, which was the estimated risk-adjusted borrowing rate of FCOP at August 31, 2013.  This rate was based on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, current market interest rates for various qualities of comparable debt, discussions with FCOP’s lenders, and an evaluation of the realizability of FCOP’s future cash flows.  In fiscal 2013, we began to accrete this long-term receivable.  In addition, more long-term receivable balances arose during fiscal 2013, which we discounted at the 15 percent rate.  Based on improved operating results at FCOP and their forecasted cash flows in future periods, we believe that we will collect amounts receivable from FCOP and the remaining discount will be recovered as interest income in future periods.  However, the failure of FCOP to pay us for these receivables may have an adverse impact on our liquidity, financial position, and cash flows in future periods.

 

At August 31, 2013 and 2012, we had $7.8 million and $7.1 million receivable from FCOP, which have been classified in current assets and long-term assets in our consolidated balance sheets based on expected payment dates.  We also owed FCOP $0.1 million at each of August 31, 2013 and 2012 for items purchased in the ordinary course of business.  These liabilities were classified in accounts payable in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

 

Other Related Party Transactions

 

In previous periods, we paid the former Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors a percentage of the proceeds received for seminars that he presented.  However, the former Vice-Chairman retired from speaking engagements in late fiscal 2011 and did not deliver any speeches subsequent to his retirement.  During fiscal 2011, we expensed charges totaling $0.9 million.  We continue to pay the estate of the former Vice-Chairman a percentage of the royalty proceeds received from the sale of certain books that were authored by him.  During fiscal 2013, 2012, and 2011, we expensed $0.7 million, $0.8 million, and $0.3 million for royalties to the estate of the former Vice-Chairman under these agreements.  At August 31, 2013 and 2012, we had accrued $0.2 million and $1.4 million for payment to the estate of the former Vice-Chairman under the forgoing agreements.  These amounts were included as a component of accrued liabilities in our consolidated balance sheets.

 

We pay an executive officer of the Company a percentage of the royalty proceeds received from the sales of certain books authored by him in addition to his annual salary.  During the fiscal years ended August 31, 2013, 2012, and 2011, we expensed $0.3 million, $0.2 million, and $0.1 million for these royalties and had $0.2 million and $0.1 million accrued at August 31, 2013 and 2012 as payable under the terms of these arrangements.  These amounts are included as a component of accrued liabilities in our consolidated balance sheets.