NOTE 12 - FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENT

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

NOTE 12 — FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENT

The Company adopted the provisions of Accounting Standards Codification subtopic 825-10, Financial Instruments (“ASC 825-10”) on January 1, 2008. ASC 825-10 defines fair value as the price that would be received from selling an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. When determining the fair value measurements for assets and liabilities required or permitted to be recorded at fair value, the Company considers the principal or most advantageous market in which it would transact and considers assumptions that market participants would use when pricing the asset or liability, such as inherent risk, transfer restrictions, and risk of nonperformance. ASC 825-10 establishes a fair value hierarchy that requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. ASC 825-10 establishes three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value:

Level 1 – Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2 – Observable inputs other than Level 1 prices such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities; quoted prices in markets with insufficient volume or infrequent transactions (less active markets); or model-derived valuations in which all significant inputs are observable or can be derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.

Level 3 – Unobservable inputs to the valuation methodology that are significant to the measurement of fair value of assets or liabilities.

All items required to be recorded or measured on a recurring basis are based upon level 3 inputs.

To the extent that valuation is based on models or inputs that are less observable or unobservable in the market, the determination of fair value requires more judgment. In certain cases, the inputs used to measure fair value may fall into different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In such cases, for disclosure purposes, the level in the fair value hierarchy within which the fair value measurement is disclosed and is determined based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement.

Upon adoption of ASC 825-10, there was no cumulative effect adjustment to beginning retained earnings and no impact on the financial statements.

The carrying value of the Company’s cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts payable, short-term borrowings (including convertible notes payable), and other current assets and liabilities approximate fair value because of their short-term maturity.

As of September 30, 2016 or December 31, 2015, the Company did not have any items that would be classified as level 1 or 2 disclosures.

The Company recognizes its derivative liabilities as level 3 and values its derivatives using the methods discussed in notes 6 and 8. While the Company believes that its valuation methods are appropriate and consistent with other market participants, it recognizes that the use of different methodologies or assumptions to determine the fair value of certain financial instruments could result in a different estimate of fair value at the reporting date. The primary assumptions that would significantly affect the fair values using the methods discussed in Notes 6 and 8 are that of volatility and market price of the underlying common stock of the Company.

As of September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, the Company did not have any derivative instruments that were designated as hedges.

The derivative liability as of September 30, 2016, in the amount of $772,108 has a level 3 classification.

The following table provides a summary of changes in fair value of the Company’s Level 3 financial liabilities as of September 30, 2016:

	Warrant Liability			Debt Derivative
Balance, December 31, 2014		149,920		$	591,351
Total (gains) losses
Initial fair value of debt derivative at note issuance		—			1,097,379
Mark-to-market at December 31, 2015:		(137,711	)		122,616
Transfers out of Level 3 upon conversion and settlement of notes		—			(1,399,628	)
Balance, December 31, 2015		12,209			411,718
Total (gains) losses
Initial fair value of debt derivative at note issuance		—			618,946
Mark-to-market at September 30, 2016:		(12,121	)		281,943
Transfers out of Level 3 upon conversion or payoff of notes payable		—			(540,587	)
Balance, September 30, 2016	$	88		$	772,020
Net gain (loss) for the period included in earnings relating to the liabilities held at September 30, 2016	$	12,121		$	(281,943	)

Fluctuations in the Company’s stock price are a primary driver for the changes in the derivative valuations during each reporting period. The Company’s stock volatility increased approximately 21% from December 31, 2015 to September 30, 2016. As the stock volatility increases for each of the related derivative instruments, the value to the holder of the instrument generally increases. Stock price volatility is one of the significant unobservable inputs used in the fair value measurement of each of the Company’s derivative instruments.

The estimated fair value of these liabilities is sensitive to changes in the Company’s expected volatility. Increases in expected volatility would generally result in a higher fair value measurement.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

+ References + Details