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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Basis of Presentation and AccountingThe accompanying unaudited, interim Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP.

Business Combinations

The Company accounts for business combinations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Bureau, or FASB, Accounting Standards Codification 805, Business Combinations, or ASC 805, which requires the acquisition method to be used for all business combinations. Under ASC 805, the assets and liabilities of an acquired company are reported at business fair value along with the fair value of acquired intangible assets at the date of acquisition. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price of an acquired business over the amount assigned to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, and the fair value assigned to identifiable intangible assets.

Principles of Consolidation

The accompanying unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of APEI and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All material intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

Unaudited Interim Financial Information

The unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements do not include all of the information and notes required by GAAP for audited annual financial statement presentations. In the opinion of management, these statements include all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) considered necessary to present a fair statement of the Company’s financial position, results of operations, and cash flows. Operating results for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2022. This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes in its audited financial statements included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, or the Annual Report.

Use of Estimates

In preparing financial statements in conformity with GAAP, the Company is required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. The Company evaluates these estimates and judgments on an ongoing basis and bases its estimates on experience, current and expected future conditions, and various other assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from those estimates under different assumptions or conditions, and the impact of such differences may be material to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all short-term highly liquid investments with maturities of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. Cash and cash equivalents consist of demand deposits with financial institutions, money market funds, and U.S. Treasury bills. Cash and cash equivalents are Level 1 assets in the fair value reporting hierarchy.

Restricted Cash

Restricted Cash Restricted cash includes funds held for students for unbilled educational services that were received from Title IV programs. As a trustee of these Title IV program funds, the Company is required to maintain and restrict these funds pursuant to the terms of the program participation agreement with ED. Restricted cash also includes amounts to secure letters of credit, including $24.2 million in a restricted certificate of deposit account to secure a letter of credit for the benefit of ED on behalf of RU in connection with RU’s 2020 composite score, which is used by ED for determining compliance with financial responsibility standards, being below the minimum required, and a $0.6 million restricted certificate of deposit to secure a letter of credit in lieu of a security deposit for a RU leased campus.

Goodwill and Intangible Assets

Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price of an acquired business over the amount assigned to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed. Goodwill is not amortized. Intangible assets are recorded at their estimated fair value as of the acquisition date and are classified as either indefinite-lived or definite-lived. Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets are assessed at least annually for impairment or more frequently if circumstances indicate potential impairment.

Definite-lived intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful life of the asset.

Stock-based Compensation

Stock-based payments may include incentive stock options or non-qualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units, dividend equivalent rights, performance shares, performance units, cash-based awards, other stock-based awards, including unrestricted shares, or any combination of the foregoing. Stock-based compensation cost is recognized as expense, generally over a three-year vesting period, using the straight-line method for employees and the graded-vesting method for members of the Board of Directors, and is measured using the Company’s closing stock price on the date of the grant. An accelerated one-year period is used to recognize stock-based compensation cost for employees who have reached certain service and retirement eligibility criteria on the date of grant. The fair value of each option award is estimated at the date of grant using a Black-Scholes option-pricing model that uses certain assumptions, including assumptions with respect to expected stock price volatility and the risk-free interest rate.

Judgment is required in estimating the percentage of share-based awards that are expected to vest, and in the case of performance stock units, or PSUs, the level of performance that will be achieved and the number of shares that will be earned. The Company estimates forfeitures of share-based awards at the time of grant and revises such estimates in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from original estimates. The forfeiture assumption is ultimately adjusted to the actual forfeiture rate. If actual results differ significantly from these estimates, stock-based compensation expense could be higher and have a material impact on the Consolidated Financial Statements. Estimates are subjective and are not intended to predict actual future events, and subsequent events are not indicative of the reasonableness of the original estimates of fair value.

Stock-based compensation expense for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 was as follows (in thousands):


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2022		2021
	(Unaudited)
Instructional costs and services	$	459	$	466
Selling and promotional	296		309
General and administrative	1,601		1,405
Total stock-based compensation expense	$	2,356	$	2,180

Incentive-based Compensation

The Company provides incentive-based compensation opportunities to certain employees through cash incentive and equity awards. The expense associated with these awards is reflected within the Company’s operating expenses. For the years ending December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Management Development and Compensation Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors approved an annual incentive arrangement for senior management employees. The aggregate amount of any awards payable is dependent upon the achievement of certain Company financial and operational goals, as well as the satisfaction of individual performance goals. Given that the awards are generally contingent upon achieving annual objectives, final determination of the current year incentive awards cannot be made until after the results for the year are finalized. The Company recognizes the estimated fair value of performance-based restricted stock units by assuming the satisfaction of any performance-based objectives at the “target” level, which is the most probable outcome determined for accounting purposes at the time of grant and multiplying the corresponding number of shares earned based upon such achievement by the closing price of the Company’s stock on the date of grant. To the extent performance goals are not met, compensation cost is not ultimately

recognized against the goals and, to the extent previously recognized, compensation cost is reversed. Amounts accrued are subject to change in future interim periods if actual future financial results or operational performance are better or worse than expected. During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company recognized an aggregate expense associated with the Company’s annual incentive-based compensation plans of $1.8 million and $1.2 million, respectively.

Income Taxes

The Company determines its interim tax provision by applying the estimated income tax rate expected for the full calendar year to income before income taxes for the period adjusted for discrete items.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

The Company considers the applicability and impact of all Accounting Standards Updates, or ASUs, issued by the FASB. All ASUs issued subsequent to the filing of the Annual Report on March 2, 2022 were assessed and determined to be either inapplicable or not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial position and/or results of operations.

Commitments and Contingencies

The Company accrues for costs associated with contingencies including, but not limited to, regulatory compliance and legal matters when such costs are probable and can be reasonably estimated. Liabilities established to provide for contingencies are adjusted as further information develops, circumstances change, or contingencies are resolved. The Company bases these accruals on management’s estimate of such costs, which may vary from the ultimate costs and expenses, associated with any such contingency.