Overview and Basis of Presentation (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, and applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or 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. Therefore, these condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, filed with the SEC on February 22, 2018. There have been no changes to our significant accounting policies described in the Annual Report on Form 10-K that have had a material impact on our condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes, except as described below.

Effective January 1, 2018, we adopted the requirements of Accounting Standards Update, or ASU 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” regarding Accounting Standards Codification, or ASC, Topic 606 and ASU 2016-18, “Statement of Cash Flows, Restricted Cash,” as discussed below. All amounts and disclosures set forth in this Form 10-Q have been updated to comply with the new standards, as indicated by “as adjusted.”

The unaudited consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2017 included herein was derived from the audited financial statements as of that date, giving effect to the adoption of ASC 606, as discussed below. The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all normal recurring adjustments necessary to present fairly our 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 year ending December 31, 2018.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of our consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make certain 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, as well as the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reported periods.

Significant items subject to such estimates and assumptions include the fair value of share-based awards, acquired intangible assets, and goodwill as well as unrecognized tax benefits, the useful lives of acquired intangible assets and property and equipment, the capitalization and estimated useful life of capitalized costs to obtain customer contracts and capitalized internal-use software, variable consideration related to revenue recognition, and financial forecasts used in currency hedging.

These estimates are based on information available as of the date of the financial statements; therefore, actual results could differ from those estimates.

Recently Issued and Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, issued ASU 2016-02, regarding ASC Topic 842 “Leases,” including subsequent amendments. This new guidance requires lessees to recognize most leases on their balance sheets as right-of-use assets with corresponding lease liabilities and eliminates certain real estate-specific provisions. The new guidance is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within that reporting period. Early adoption is permitted. We are in the process of identifying the population of potential lease arrangements and evaluating these arrangements in the context of the new guidance. While we continue to evaluate the effect of adoption on our consolidated financial statements, we expect the adoption will result in the recognition of right-of-use assets and lease liabilities that were not previously recognized, which will increase total assets and liabilities on our consolidated balance sheet.

In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-12, regarding ASC Topic 815 “Derivatives and Hedging.” This amendment simplifies various aspects of hedge accounting, including measurement and presentation of hedge ineffectiveness and certain documentation and assessment requirements. The amendment also makes more hedging strategies eligible for hedge accounting. The guidance is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within that reporting period. Early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the effect of this standard on our consolidated financial statements.

In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-02, “Income Statement - Reporting Comprehensive Income,” which provides for the reclassification of the effect of remeasuring deferred tax balances related to items within accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings resulting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or Tax Act. The guidance is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within that reporting period. Early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the effect of this standard on our consolidated financial statements.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2014, the FASB issued new revenue guidance under ASU 2014-09 that provides principles for recognizing revenue when promised goods or services are transferred to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled in exchange for the promised goods or services provided to customers. ASC 606 and ASC 340-40 also require the deferral of incremental costs of obtaining contracts with customers and subsequent amortization of those costs over the period of anticipated benefit. Collectively, we refer to this guidance as “ASC 606.”

We adopted ASC 606 on January 1, 2018, utilizing the full retrospective method of transition. The adoption resulted in changes to our accounting policies for revenue recognition and incremental costs to acquire contracts, as described below. We applied ASC 606 using the following practical expedients:


•	consideration allocated to the remaining performance obligations and an explanation of when we expect to recognize that amount as revenue is not disclosed for comparative periods prior to the adoption date;


•	completed contracts that included variable consideration utilize the final transaction price rather than an estimation of variable consideration for comparative periods prior to the adoption date; and


•	costs of obtaining contracts with customers are expensed when the amortization period would have been one year or less.

The effect of adopting ASC 606 on our 2017 and 2016 revenues was not material. The primary effect relates to the deferral of sales commissions and other incremental costs to acquire contracts, which we historically expensed as incurred. The impact of adoption is summarized in the tables below. Under ASC 606, all incremental costs to acquire contracts are capitalized and amortized on a straight-line basis over the anticipated period of benefit, which we have determined to be three years.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-15, regarding ASC Topic 230 “Statement of Cash Flows.” This update addresses eight specific cash flow issues with the objective of reducing the existing diversity in practice. The new guidance is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods within that reporting period. We adopted this standard in the first quarter of 2018. The adoption did not have an effect on our consolidated financial statements.

In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-18, “Statement of Cash Flows - Restricted Cash,” which requires entities to show the changes in the total of cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents in the statement of cash flows. We adopted this standard in the first quarter of 2018 on a retrospective basis, resulting in an immaterial change to our previously reported statements of cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2017, which is summarized in the table below.

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-01, “Business Combinations - Clarifying the Definition of a Business,” which clarifies the definition of a business when evaluating whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions or disposals of assets or businesses. We adopted this standard in the first quarter of 2018. The adoption did not have an effect on our consolidated financial statements.

In March 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-05, which amends ASC Topic 740 “Income Taxes” to conform with SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin 118, issued in December 2017. The guidance was issued to address the application of GAAP in situations when a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared, or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for certain income tax effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The standard is effective upon issuance. Additional work is necessary for a more detailed analysis of our deferred tax assets and liabilities and our historical foreign earnings as well as potential correlative adjustments. We are continuing our analysis and expect to finalize our assessment by the fourth quarter of 2018.

Revenue Recognition, Costs to Obtain Customer Contracts, Deferred Revenue

Revenue Recognition

We generate substantially all of our revenue from subscription services, which are comprised of subscription fees from customer accounts on Zendesk Support and, to a lesser extent, Chat, Talk and Guide. In addition, we generate revenue by providing additional features to certain of our subscription plans for a fee that is incremental to the base subscription rate for such plans. Subscription service arrangements are generally non-cancelable and do not provide for refunds to customers in the event of cancellations or any other right of return. We record revenue net of sales or excise taxes.

We derive an immaterial amount of revenue from implementation and training services, for which we recognize revenue upon completion. We also derive an immaterial amount of revenue from Talk credits, for which we recognize revenue based on usage.

Revenues are recognized when control of these services is transferred to our customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those services.

We determine revenue recognition through the following steps:

•Identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer

•Identification of the performance obligations in the contract

•Determination of the transaction price

•Allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract

•Recognition of revenue when, or as, the performance obligation is satisfied

Subscription revenue is recognized on a ratable basis over the contractual subscription term of the arrangement beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Payments received in advance of services being rendered are recorded as deferred revenue.

In limited circumstances, certain customers have arrangements that provide for a maximum number of users over the subscription term, with usage measured monthly. Incremental fees are incurred when the maximum number of users is exceeded. In determining the transaction price for these arrangements, we evaluate the expected usage pattern to estimate any incremental fees that we are entitled to throughout the subscription term and recognize revenue ratably over the subscription term. In making these assessments, we constrain our estimates based on factors that could lead to a probable reversal of revenue.

Certain of our product offerings include service-level agreements warranting defined levels of uptime reliability and performance and permitting those customers to receive credits for future services in the event that we fail to meet those levels. To date, we have not accrued for any significant liabilities in the accompanying consolidated financial statements as a result of these service-level agreements.

Costs to Obtain Customer Contracts

Sales commissions and related expenses are considered incremental and recoverable costs of acquiring customer contracts. These costs are capitalized and amortized on a straight-line basis over the anticipated period of benefit, which we have estimated to be three years. We determined the period of benefit by taking into consideration the length of our customer contracts, our technology lifecycle, and other factors. Amortization expense is recorded in sales and marketing expense within our consolidated statement of operations.

Deferred Revenue

We invoice customers for subscriptions to our products in monthly, quarterly, or annual installments. Deferred revenue consists primarily of customer billings made in advance of performance obligations being satisfied and revenue being recognized. The term between invoicing and when payment is due is not significant and we do not provide financing arrangements to customers. Deferred revenue associated with performance obligations that are anticipated to be satisfied, and thus revenue recognized, during the succeeding 12-month period is recorded as current deferred revenue and the remaining portion is recorded as noncurrent deferred revenue. Deferred revenue associated with implementation, Talk usage, and training services was immaterial as of December 31, 2017 and March 31, 2018.

We invoice customers based on billing schedules established in our contracts. Accounts receivable are recorded when the right to consideration becomes unconditional.