Description of the Business and Significant Accounting Policies

9 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2022

Description of the Business and Significant Accounting Policies

Business

Splunk Inc. (“we,” “us,” “our”) provides innovative cloud services and licensed software solutions that deliver and operationalize insights from the data generated by digital systems. Data is produced by nearly every software application and electronic device across an organization and contains a real-time record of various activities, such as business transactions, customer and user behavior, and security threats. This data is growing significantly as a direct result of the prevalence and importance of digital systems used by today’s organizations. Our solutions help users remove barriers between insights derived from this data and actions organizations take to thrive in an era of unprecedented digital transformation. We were incorporated in California in October 2003 and reincorporated in Delaware in May 2006.

Fiscal Year

Our fiscal year ends on January 31. References to fiscal 2023, for example, refer to the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) and applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) regarding interim financial reporting. Certain information and note disclosures normally included in the financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. The condensed consolidated balance sheet data as of January 31, 2022 was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. Therefore, these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on March 24, 2022.

In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all normal recurring adjustments necessary to state fairly the financial position, results of operations, comprehensive loss and cash flows for the interim periods, but are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations to be anticipated for the full fiscal 2023.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates, judgments 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 reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods covered by the financial statements and accompanying notes. In particular, we make estimates with respect to the stand-alone selling price for each distinct performance obligation included in customer contracts with multiple performance obligations, uncollectible accounts receivable, the assessment of the useful life and recoverability of long-lived assets (property and equipment, goodwill and identified intangibles), the period of benefit for deferred commissions, stock-based compensation expense, the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in business combinations, income taxes, the discount rate used for operating leases, and contingencies. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Segments

We operate our business as one operating segment: the development and marketing of cloud services and licensed software solutions that enable our customers to gain real-time business insights by harnessing the value of their data. Our chief operating decision maker is our Chief Executive Officer, who reviews financial information presented on a consolidated basis for purposes of making operating decisions, assessing financial performance and allocating resources.

Principles of Consolidation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Splunk Inc. and its direct and indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated upon consolidation.

Foreign Currency

During fiscal 2022, we reassessed the functional currency of our foreign subsidiaries and determined it was the U.S. Dollar for all our subsidiaries. The impact of this change was not material. Foreign currency transaction gains and losses are included in “Other income (expense), net” on our condensed consolidated statements of operations and were not material for the three and nine months ended October 31, 2022 and 2021.

Revenue Recognition

We generate revenues in the form of cloud services fees, license and related maintenance fees, and other service fees. Cloud services are provided on a subscription basis and give our customers access to our cloud solutions, which include related customer support. Licenses for on-premises software (“licenses”) are typically term licenses and provide the customer with a right to use the software. When a term license is purchased, maintenance is bundled with the license for the term of the license period. Other services include training and professional services that are not integral to the functionality of the cloud services or licenses.

Our contracts with customers often contain multiple performance obligations, which may include a combination of cloud services, licenses, related maintenance and support services, and professional services including training. We apply significant judgment in identifying and accounting for each performance obligation, as a result of evaluating the terms and conditions in contracts. For these contracts, we account for cloud services, licenses, maintenance and support, and other services as separate performance obligations as they are each distinct. Revenue is recognized when the performance obligations are satisfied. We satisfy our cloud service performance obligation over the associated contract term and recognize the associated revenue ratably over the term of the contract once access is provided to the customer, consistent with the pattern of benefit to the customer of such services. We satisfy our obligation and recognize revenue for licenses upon transfer of control of the licenses, which occurs at delivery of the license key to customers, or when the license term commences, if later. We satisfy our maintenance and support performance obligations and recognize revenue ratably over the maintenance and support term, consistent with the pattern of benefit to the customer of such services. Professional services and training are either provided on a time and material basis or over a contract term. We satisfy our professional services and training performance obligations and recognize the associated revenue as services are delivered. With respect to contracts that include customer acceptance provisions, we recognize revenue upon customer acceptance. Our policy is to record revenues net of any applicable sales, use, goods and services, value added, and excise taxes.

Customers can purchase our products under different pricing options. Regardless of the pricing option selected, the consideration for our cloud services and license contracts is fixed and does not result in variable consideration. The transaction price is allocated to the separate performance obligations on a relative standalone selling price (“SSP”) basis. We determine the SSP based on an observable standalone selling price when it is available, as well as other factors, including the price charged to customers, our discounting practices, and our overall pricing objectives, while maximizing observable inputs. In situations where pricing is highly variable, we estimate the SSP using the residual approach.

Most of our multi-year cloud services and license contracts are invoiced annually. A receivable for multi-year cloud services is generally recorded upon invoicing. A receivable for multi-year license contracts is recorded upon delivery, whether or not invoiced, to the extent we have an unconditional right to receive payment in the future related to those licenses. The non-current portion of these receivables, primarily consisting of unbilled receivables from multi-year license contracts, is included in “Accounts receivable, non-current” on our condensed consolidated balance sheets.

Payment terms and conditions vary by contract type, although our standard payment terms generally require payment within 30 to 60 days. In instances where the timing of revenue recognition differs from the timing of payment, we have determined our contracts do not generally include a significant financing component. The primary purpose of our invoicing terms is to provide customers with simplified and predictable ways of purchasing our products and services, not to receive financing from our customers or to provide customers with financing.

Deferred revenue is recorded when we invoice a contract or deliver a license prior to recognizing revenue. It is comprised of balances related to cloud services, maintenance, training and professional services invoiced at the beginning of each service period, as well as licenses that were delivered prior to the license term commencing.

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

Standard

Description

Effective Date

Effect on the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
(or Other Significant Matters)

Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2020-06, Debt - Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging - Contracts in Entity's Own Equity (Subtopic 815 - 40)

This ASU amends the guidance on convertible instruments and the derivatives scope exception for contracts in an entity's own equity, which reduces the number of accounting models for convertible debt instruments and convertible preferred stock. Convertible instruments will no longer have to be separated into debt and equity components. Convertible debt instruments will be reported as a single liability and convertible preferred stock will be reported as a single equity instrument. Similarly, the embedded conversion feature will no longer be amortized as interest expense over the life of the instrument. Instead, a convertible debt instrument will be accounted for wholly as debt unless 1) a convertible instrument contains features that require bifurcation as a derivative, or 2) a convertible debt instrument was issued at a substantive premium. Among other potential impacts, this ASU is expected to reduce reported interest expense, decrease reported net loss, and result in a reclassification of certain conversion feature balance sheet amounts from stockholder’s equity to liabilities as it relates to the convertible senior notes. This ASU also simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculations by requiring the use of the if-converted method and that the effect of potential share settlement be included in diluted earnings per share calculations.

We adopted this standard as of February 1, 2022, using the modified retrospective method of transition, under which, financial results reported in periods prior to fiscal 2023 were not adjusted.

Under this new standard, the previously recorded equity components of the convertible senior notes outstanding and amortization of the debt discount and issuance costs classified as equity were reclassified from equity to debt through an adjustment to the opening balance of accumulated deficit as of February 1, 2022 which will result in reduced interest expense in future periods. Adoption of the standard resulted in a decrease to accumulated deficit of $299.7 million, decrease to additional paid-in capital of $1 billion and an increase to convertible senior notes, net of $726.9 million.

ASU No. 2021-08, Business Combinations (Topic 805): Accounting for Contract Assets and Contract Liabilities from Contracts with Customers

This ASU amends the guidance on accounting related to contract assets and liabilities acquired in business combinations. Entities will be required to recognize and measure contract assets and contract liabilities acquired in a business combination in accordance with Topic 606. Prior to this ASU, an acquirer generally recognizes contract assets and contract liabilities at fair value on the acquisition date. The guidance should be applied prospectively to business combinations occurring on or after the effective date of the amendment in this update.

We adopted this standard as of February 1, 2022.

We will apply the standard to any contract assets and liabilities acquired in any future business combination.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

There have been no accounting pronouncements or changes in accounting pronouncements that are significant or potentially significant to the Company.