Blackberry Limited and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Critical Accounting Estimates (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Nov. 30, 2021

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Basis of presentation and preparation

Basis of Presentation and Preparation

These interim consolidated financial statements have been prepared by management in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). They do not include all of the disclosures required by U.S. GAAP for annual financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements of BlackBerry Limited (the “Company”) for the year ended February 28, 2021 (the “Annual Financial Statements”), which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. In the opinion of management, all normal recurring adjustments considered necessary for fair presentation have been included in these interim consolidated financial statements. Operating results for the three and nine months ended November 30, 2021 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year ending February 28, 2022. The consolidated balance sheet at February 28, 2021 was derived from the audited Annual Financial Statements but does not contain all of the footnote disclosures from the Annual Financial Statements.

Certain of the comparative figures have been reclassified to conform to the current period’s presentation.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2022, the Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”), who is the Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of the Company, began making decisions and assessing the performance of the Company using three operating segments, whereas the CODM previously made decisions and assessed the performance of the Company as a single operating segment. As a result of the internal reporting reorganization, the Company is now organized and managed as three reportable operating segments: Cybersecurity, IoT (collectively, “Software & Services”), and Licensing and Other, as further discussed in Note 11.

New Accounting Pronouncements

Accounting Standards Adopted During Fiscal 2022

ASC 740, Income Taxes

In December 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) released ASU 2019-12 on the topic of simplifying the accounting for income taxes, as part of its simplification initiative to reduce the cost and complexity in accounting for income taxes. The amendments in this update remove certain exceptions from Topic 740, Income Taxes, including: (i) the exception to the incremental approach for intra-period tax allocation; (ii) the exception to accounting for basis differences when there are ownership changes in foreign investments; and (iii) the exception in interim period income tax accounting for year-to-date losses that exceed anticipated losses. The update also simplifies U.S. GAAP in several other areas of Topic 740 such as: (i) franchise taxes and other taxes partially based on income; (ii) transactions with a government that result in a step up in the tax basis of goodwill; (iii) separate financial statements of entities not subject to tax; and (iv) enacted changes in tax laws in interim periods.

The guidance was effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2020, with early adoption permitted. The only aspect of ASU 2019-12 that impacts the Company is the removal of the exception related to intra-period tax allocation. As a result of its adoption of the new standard, the Company determines the tax attributable to continuing operations without regard to the tax effect of other items included in other comprehensive income. The Company adopted this guidance in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 and it did not have a material impact on the Company’s results of operations, financial position or disclosures.