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Change in Accounting Principle
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2017
Change in Accounting Principle  
Change in Accounting Principle

3.Change in Accounting Principle

 

In July 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-11,  “Earnings Per Share (Topic 260); Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (Topic 480); Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): (Part 1) Accounting for Certain Financial Instruments with Down Round Features, (Part II) Replacement of the Indefinite Deferral for Mandatorily Redeemable Financial Instruments of Certain Non public Entities and Certain Mandatorily Redeemable Non-controlling Interests with a Scope Exception” (“ASU 2017-11”).  Part I relates to the accounting for certain financial instruments with down round features in Subtopic 815-40, which is considered in determining whether an equity-linked financial instrument qualifies for a scope exception from derivative accounting.  Down round features are features of certain equity-linked instruments (or embedded features) that result in the strike price being reduced based on the pricing of future equity offerings.  An entity still is required to determine whether instruments would be classified in equity under the guidance in Subtopic 815-40 in determining whether they qualify for that scope exception. If they do qualify, freestanding instruments with down round features are no longer classified as liabilities.  In the case where the exception from derivative accounting does not apply, warrants must be accounted for as a liability and recorded at fair value at the date of grant and re-valued at the end of each reporting period.

 

The September 2012 and 2014 warrants (see Note 14) include anti-dilution provisions characterized as down round features and have previously been accounted for as liabilities, with the fair value of the warrant liabilities remeasured at each reporting date and the change in liabilities recorded as other non-operating income or loss.  The Company had recorded a “Warrant liability” of $1.9 million and a warrant derivative gain of $17.1 million in its “Accumulated deficit” as reported in its Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets for the year ended December 31, 2016 relating to the September 2012 and 2014 warrants.    The Company had recorded a warrant liability of $1.5 million as of June 30, 2017 and reported a warrant derivative gain of $0.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2017 relating to the September 2012 and 2014 warrants.

 

In addition, for freestanding equity-classified financial instruments, ASU 2017-11 also requires entities that present earnings per share (EPS) in accordance with Topic 260 to recognize the effect of the down round feature when it is triggered.  That effect is treated as a dividend and as a reduction of income available to common shareholders in basic EPS.  Certain equity transactions following the issuance of the September 2012 and 2014 warrants have triggered anti-dilution clauses in the warrant agreements resulting in additional warrant shares and a reduction to the original strike price of the warrants.  ASU 2017-11 prescribes a method to measure the value of a deemed dividend related to a triggering event by computing the difference in fair value between two instruments that have terms consistent with the actual instrument but that do not have a down round feature, where the number of warrant shares and strike price of one instrument corresponds to the actual instrument before the triggering event and the number of warrant shares and strike price of the other instrument corresponds to the actual instrument immediately after the triggering event.  Following ASU 2017-11, for periods ending on or prior to December 31, 2016 the Company would have reduced its “Accumulated deficit” as reported on its Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets by approximately $0.3 million related to prior triggering events.  During the nine month period ending September 30, 2017 the Company would have reduced its accumulated deficit by approximately $5,000 related to triggering events.

 

Except for the down round features in the September 2012 and 2014 warrants, the warrants would have been classified in equity under the guidance in Subtopic 815-40 and therefore qualify for the scope exception in ASU 2017-11As permitted, the Company has elected to adopt the accounting principles prescribed by ASU 2017-11 for the interim period ended September 30, 2017 and has recorded a cumulative-effect adjustment stemming from a change in accounting principle in its financial statements for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 measured retrospectively to the beginning of 2017.  The cumulative effect adjustment appears at the beginning of 2017 in the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity.  The results of operations for the Company for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 reflect application of the change in accounting principle from the beginning of 2017.

 

The following table details the impact stemming from the cumulative effect of the change in accounting principle on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets as of the beginning of 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reported after

 

    

As Previously

    

 

Cumulative

    

the Effect of a Change in

 

 

Reported

 

Effect Adjustment

 

Accounting Principle

Balance Sheet Accounts Impacted by

 

December 31,

 

at the Beginning

 

at the Beginning

September 2012 and 2014 Warrants

 

2016

 

of 2017

 

of 2017

 

 

(in thousands)

Warrant Liability - Related Party

 

$

976

 

$

(976)

 

$

 —

Warrant Liability

 

 

922

 

 

(922)

 

 

 —

Additional Paid-in Capital

 

 

495,455

 

 

19,046

 

 

514,501

Accumulated Deficit

 

 

(488,037)

 

 

(17,148)

 

 

(505,185)

 

As noted above, the Company had previously reported a warrant derivative gain of $0.4 million during the six month period ending June 30, 2017.  Because the Company has retroactively applied the change in accounting principle discussed above to the beginning of 2017, the Company is no longer reporting warrant derivative gains or losses for the September 2012 and 2014 warrants beginning in 2017.  Amounts reported for periods ending on or prior to December 31, 2016 have not been adjusted.