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BASIS OF CONSOLIDATION AND PRESENTATION
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
BASIS OF CONSOLIDATION AND PRESENTATION

1. BASIS OF CONSOLIDATION AND PRESENTATION

Business Description: West Corporation (the “Company” or “West”) is a leading provider of technology-driven communication services. “We,” “us” and “our” also refer to West and its consolidated subsidiaries, as applicable. We offer a broad portfolio of services, including conferencing and collaboration, unified communications, alerts and notifications, emergency communications, business process outsourcing and telephony / interconnect services. The scale and processing capacity of our proprietary technology platforms, combined with our expertise in managing voice and data transactions, enable us to provide reliable, high-quality, mission-critical communications designed to maximize return on investment for our clients. Our clients include Fortune 1000 companies, along with small and medium enterprises in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, retail, financial services, public safety, technology and healthcare. We have sales and operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and South America.

We operate in two business segments:

 

   

Unified Communications, including conferencing and collaboration, event services, Internet Protocol (“IP”)-based unified communications solutions, and alerts and notifications; and

 

   

Communication Services, including emergency communications, automated call processing, telephony / interconnect services and agent-based services.

Unified Communications

 

   

Conferencing & Collaboration. Operating under the InterCall® brand, we are the largest conferencing services provider in the world based on conferencing revenue, according to Wainhouse Research. We managed approximately 134 million conference calls in 2012, an 11% increase over 2011. We provide our clients with an integrated global suite of meeting services.

 

   

Event Services. InterCall offers multimedia platforms designed to give our clients the ability to create, manage, distribute and reuse content internally and externally. Through a combination of proprietary products and strategic partnerships, our clients have the tools to support all of their internal and external multimedia requirements.

 

   

IP-Based Unified Communications Solutions. We provide our clients with enterprise class IP-based communications solutions enabled by our technology. We offer hosted IP-private branch exchange (“PBX”) and enterprise call management, hosted and managed multi-protocol label switching (“MPLS”) network solutions, unified communications partner solution portfolio services, cloud-based security services, integrated conferencing/desktop messaging and presence tools, and professional services and systems integration expertise.

 

   

Alerts & Notifications. Our technology platforms allow clients to manage and deliver automated, proactive and personalized communications. We use multiple delivery channels (voice, text messaging, email, social media and fax), based on the preference of the recipient. For example, we deliver patient notifications and send and confirm appointments and prescription reminders on behalf of our healthcare clients; send and receive automated outage notifications on behalf of our utility clients; and transmit emergency evacuation notices on behalf of municipalities.

 

Communication Services

 

   

Emergency Communications. We believe we are one of the largest providers of emergency communications services, based on the number of 9-1-1 calls that we and other participants in the industry facilitate. Our services are critical in facilitating public safety agencies’ ability to receive emergency calls from citizens. Our clients generally enter into long-term contracts and fund their obligations through monthly charges on users’ telephone bills.

 

   

Automated Call Processing. We believe we have developed a best-in-class automated customer service platform. Our services allow our clients to effectively communicate with their customers through inbound and outbound interactive voice response (“IVR”) applications using natural language speech recognition, automated voice prompts and network-based call routing services. In addition to these front-end customer service applications, we also provide analyses that help our clients improve their automated communications strategy. Our open standards-based platform allows the flexibility to integrate new capabilities, such as mobility, social media and cloud-based services.

 

   

Telephony / Interconnect Services. Our telephony / interconnect services support the merging of traditional telecom, mobile and IP technologies to service providers and enterprises. We are a leading provider of local and national tandem switching services to carriers throughout the United States. We leverage our proprietary customer traffic information system, sophisticated call routing and control facility to provide tandem interconnection services to the competitive marketplace, including wireless, wire-line, cable telephony and Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) companies. We entered this market through the acquisition of HyperCube LLC (“HyperCube”) in March 2012.

 

   

Agent-Based Services. We provide our clients with large-scale, agent-based services. We target opportunities that allow our agent-based services to be a part of larger strategic client engagements and with clients for whom these services can add value. We believe that we are known in the industry as a premium provider of these services. We offer a flexible model that includes on-shore, off-shore and virtual home-based agent capabilities to fit our clients’ needs.

Basis of Consolidation—The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of West and our wholly-owned subsidiaries and reflect all adjustments (all of which are normal recurring accruals) which are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation of the financial position, operating results, and cash flows for the interim periods. The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, together with Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated. Our results for the three months ended March 31, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of what our results will be for other interim periods or for the full fiscal year.

Reverse Stock Split—On March 8, 2013, we completed a 1-for-8 reverse stock split and amended our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation by filing an amendment with the Delaware Secretary of State. We also adjusted the share amounts under our executive incentive plan and nonqualified deferred compensation plan as a result of the 1-for-8 reverse stock split. All numbers of common shares and per common share data in the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes have been retroactively adjusted to give effect to the reverse stock split and the changes to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company.

 

Initial Public Offering—On March 27, 2013, we completed an initial public offering (“IPO”) of 21,275,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share.

Use 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 disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Revenue Recognition—In our Unified Communications segment, conferencing and event services are generally billed and revenue recognized on a per participant minute basis. Web services are generally billed and revenue recognized on a per participant minute basis or, in the case of operating license arrangements, generally billed in advance and revenue recognized ratably over the service life period, IP-based services are generally billed and revenue recognized on a per seat basis and alerts and notifications are generally billed, and revenue recognized, on a per message or per minute basis. We also charge clients for additional features, such as conference call recording, transcription services or professional services. Our Communication Services segment recognizes revenue for platform-based and agent-based services in the month that services are performed and services are generally billed based on call duration, hours of input, number of calls or a contingent basis. Emergency communications revenue within the Communication Services segment is generated primarily from monthly fees based on the number of billing telephone numbers and cell towers covered under contract. In addition, product sales and installations are generally recognized upon completion of the installation and client acceptance of a fully functional system or, for contracts that are completed in stages, recognized upon completion of such stages. Contracts for annual recurring services such as support and maintenance agreements are generally billed in advance and are recognized as revenue ratably (on a monthly basis) over the contractual periods.

Revenue for contingent collection services and overpayment identification and recovery services is recognized in the month collection payments are received based upon a percentage of cash collected or other agreed upon contractual parameters.

Revenue for telephony / interconnect services is recognized in the period the service is provided and when collection is reasonably assured. These telephony / interconnect services are primarily comprised of switched access charges for toll-free origination services, which are paid primarily by interexchange carriers.

Cash and Cash Equivalents—We consider short-term investments with original maturities of three months or less at acquisition to be cash equivalents.

Trust and Restricted Cash—Trust cash represents cash collected on behalf of our clients that has not yet been remitted to them. A related liability is recorded in accounts payable until settlement with the respective clients. Restricted cash primarily represents cash held as collateral for certain letters of credit.

Foreign Currency and Translation of Foreign Subsidiaries—The functional currencies of the Company’s foreign operations are the respective local currencies. All assets and liabilities of the Company’s foreign operations are translated into U.S. dollars at fiscal period-end exchange rates. Income and expense items are translated at average exchange rates prevailing during the fiscal period. The resulting translation adjustments are recorded as a component of stockholders’ deficit and comprehensive income. Foreign currency transaction gains or losses are recorded in the statement of operations.

Subsequent Events—We have evaluated subsequent events. On April 26, 2013, the 11% senior subordinated notes, related accrued interest and debt call premium were paid in full. See note 5 to these condensed consolidated financial statements for additional details. No subsequent events requiring recognition were identified and therefore none were incorporated into the condensed consolidated financial statements presented herein.

 

Recent Accounting Pronouncements—In July 2012, the FASB issued ASU No. 2012-02, Intangibles-Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment (ASU 2012-02), allowing entities the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the quantitative impairment test. If the qualitative assessment indicates it is more-likely-than-not that the fair value of an indefinite-lived intangible asset is less than its carrying amount, the quantitative impairment test is required. Otherwise, no testing is required. ASU 2012-02 became effective for the Company January 1, 2013 and the adoption did not have an effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

In February 2013, the FASB issued ASU No. 2013-02, Reporting of Amounts Reclassified Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Topic 220)(ASU 2013-02), which adds additional disclosure requirements for items reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income. ASU 2013-02 became effective for the Company January 1, 2013 and the adoption did not have an effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.