NOTE 2 - SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Policy Text Block [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The accompanying consolidated financial statements reflect the accounts of NuGene International, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries. All significant inter-company balances and transactions have been eliminated.

Use of Estimates

Use of Estimates

Conformity with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”) requires the use of estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts in the financial statements and accompanying notes. These estimates form the basis for judgments we make about the carrying values of our assets and liabilities, which are not readily apparent from other sources. We base our estimates and judgments on historical information and on various other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. GAAP requires us to make estimates and judgments in several areas, including, but not limited to, those related to revenue recognition, collectability of accounts receivable, contingent liabilities, fair value of financial instruments, fair value of acquired intangible assets and goodwill, useful lives of intangible assets and property and equipment, excess and obsolete inventory, deferred tax asset valuation and income taxes. These estimates are based on management’s knowledge about current events and expectations about actions we may undertake in the future. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates.

Risks and Uncertainties

Risks and Uncertainties

The Company operates in an industry that is subject to rapid change. The Company's operations are subject to significant risk and uncertainties including financial, operational, technological, regulatory and other risks, including the potential of business failure.

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include investments with initial maturities of three months or less. The Company maintains its cash balances at credit-worthy financial institutions that are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation up to $250,000.

Inventories

Inventories

The Company’s skincare inventories consist of raw materials and finished goods and are valued at the lower of cost (first-in, first-out) or net realizable value. The Company evaluates its inventory for excess and obsolescence on a regular basis. To determine if the cost of the Company's inventory should be written down, current and anticipated demand, customer preferences and age of the merchandise are considered. For the years ending December 31, 2014 and 2013 the Company did not recognize any charges to expense associated with excess and obsolete inventory cost adjustments.

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property and equipment consist of office furniture, computer equipment, laboratory equipment and improvements made to our leased office and are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is calculated using the straight-line method over the three year useful life of the assets or the remaining term of the lease. When property and equipment are retired or otherwise disposed of, the related cost and accumulated depreciation are removed from the respective accounts, and any gain or loss is included in operations. Expenditures for maintenance and repairs are expensed as incurred.

Intangible Assets

Intangible Assets

Identifiable intangible assets with indefinite lives are not amortized, but instead are tested for impairment annually, or more frequently if circumstances indicate a possible impairment may exist. Intangible assets with estimable useful lives are amortized over their respective estimated useful lives, generally on a straight-line basis, and are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable.

Website Development

Website Development

Under Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 350-50 – Intangibles – Goodwill and Other – Website Development Costs, costs and expenses incurred during the planning and operating stages of the Company’s website development are expensed as incurred through research and development. The Company accounts for the development of its website by expensing all costs associated with the planning of the website as incurred and capitalizing the costs to develop the website. Once the website is available for use, the asset will be amortized over its useful life on a straight line basis, estimated to be 3 years, and tested for impairment annually.

Accounts payable and accrued expenses

Accounts payable and accrued expenses

Accounts payable and accrued expenses are carried at amortized cost and represent liabilities for goods and services provided to the Company prior to the end of the financial year that are unpaid and arise when the Company becomes obliged to make future payments in respect of the purchase of these goods and services.

Deferred Revenue

Deferred Revenue

As of December 31, 2014, we recorded $234,916 in deferred revenues under current liabilities related to the sale of products undelivered as of year-end. Deferred revenues will be recognized as sales in 2015.

Revenue Recognition

Revenue Recognition

In addition to revenues recognized through the sale of our NuGene Line of skin care products, we generated revenues from an affiliate, Advanced Surgical Partners (“ASP”) which is also owned by our CEO and Chairman of the Board, Messrs. M. Ali and M. Saeed Kharazmi, respectively. Revenues generated from ASP resulted from NuGene providing Plasma Rich Platelet and Stem Cell injections for orthopedic and plastic surgery procedures to ASP. We provided these services to ASP as we transitioned into the cosmeceutical side of NuGene and expect to minimize these services to ASP in early 2015.

In accordance with ASC 605 - Revenue Recognition, the Company recognizes revenue from product sales when the product has been ordered by the customer, the selling price is fixed or determinable, the product is shipped to the customer, title has transferred and collectability is reasonably assured.

Concentration of Revenues

Concentration of Revenues

For the period ending December 31, 2014 and 2013, the Company recognized revenues from ASP in the amount of approximately $481,000 and $135,000 or 66% and 87% of total revenues, respectively. We provided these services to ASP as we transitioned into the cosmeceutical side of NuGene and expect to minimize these services to ASP in early 2015.

Excluding sales to ASP, 51% of our revenues during the year ended December 31, 2014 were derived from a single wholesale distributor. We do not have long-term purchase commitments from this wholesaler. This distributor purchases products from us on a purchase order basis on its standard terms. The distributor is under no obligation to continue to purchase our products. The loss of the wholesaler, a material reduction in its purchases or the cancellation of product orders or unexpected returns of unsold products could decrease our revenues and impede our future growth prospects.

Cost of Sales

Cost of Sales

Cost of sales includes all of the costs to manufacture the Company’s products. For products manufactured in the Company’s own facilities, such costs include raw materials and supplies, direct labor and factory overhead. For products manufactured for the Company by third-party contractors, such cost represents the amounts invoiced by the contractors.

Royalty Expense

Royalty Expense

The Company recognizes royalty expenses according to its license agreement. The licensee will pay the licensor up to 5% of net sales or a minimum guaranteed royalty of $100,000 beginning in year one and increasing in annual increments of $50,000 for the first eight years of the contract. Royalties are expensed in the statements of operation in the period that the related revenues are recognized, in cost of goods sold.

Research and Development

Research and Development

Internal research and development costs are expensed as incurred. Third-party research and development costs are expensed when the contracted work has been performed. Research and development consists of website development expenses.

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

The Company maintains allowances for doubtful accounts for estimated losses resulting from the inability of its customers to make required payments. Account balances are charged off against the allowance after all means of collection have been exhausted and the potential for recovery is considered remote. Our allowance for doubtful accounts was $3,000 and $0 at December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

Share Based Payments

Share Based Payments

The Company recognizes compensation expense for all equity–based payments in accordance with ASC 718 - Share-based payments. Under fair value recognition provisions, the Company recognizes equity–based compensation net of an estimated forfeiture rate and recognizes compensation cost only for those shares expected to vest over the requisite service period of the award.

Share-based payments to employees, including grants of employee stock options, are recognized as compensation expense in the financial statements based on their fair values. That expense is recognized over the period during which an employee is required to provide services in exchange for the award, known as the requisite service period (usually the vesting period).

The Company accounts for share–based payments granted to non–employees in accordance with ASC 505 - Equity Based Payments to Non–Employees. The Company determines the fair value of the stock–based payment as either the fair value of the consideration received or the fair value of the equity instruments issued, whichever is more reliably measurable. If the fair value of the equity instruments issued is used, it is measured using the stock price and other measurement assumptions as of the earlier of either (1) the date at which a commitment for performance by the counterparty to earn the equity instruments is reached, or (2) the date at which the counterparty’s performance is complete.

Earnings Per Share of Common Stock

Earnings Per Share of Common Stock

The Company computes earnings per share in accordance with ASC 260 - Earnings Per Share. ASC 260 requires presentation of both basic and diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) on the face of the income statement. Basic EPS is calculated by dividing the profit or loss attributable to common shareholders of the Company by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted EPS is determined by adjusting the profit or loss attributable to common shareholders and the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the effects of all potential dilutive common shares, such as stock issuable pursuant to the exercise of stock warrants or the conversion of preferred stock into common stock.

Common stock equivalents totaling, 2,417,720 on December 31, 2014 were not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share in 2014 on the consolidated statement of operations due to the fact that the Company reported a net loss in 2014 and to do so would be anti-dilutive.

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

Income taxes are accounted for in accordance with ASC Topic 740 - Income Taxes. Under the asset and liability method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future consequences of differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases (temporary differences). Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are recovered or settled. Valuation allowances for deferred tax assets are established when it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.

Management evaluates its tax positions on an annual basis and has determined that as of December 31, 2014 no additional accrual for income taxes is necessary. The federal and state income tax returns of the Company are subject to examination by the IRS and state taxing authorities, generally for three years after they were filed.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The Company measures assets and liabilities at fair value based on an expected exit price as defined by the authoritative guidance on fair value measurements, which represents the amount that would be received on the sale of an asset or paid to transfer a liability, as the case may be, in an orderly transaction between market participants. As such, fair value may be based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability. The authoritative guidance on fair value measurements establishes a consistent framework for measuring fair value on either a recurring or nonrecurring basis whereby inputs, used in valuation techniques, are assigned a hierarchical level.

The following are the hierarchical levels of inputs to measure fair value:

- Level 1: Quoted prices in active markets for identical instruments;

- Level 2: Other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices in active markets for similar instruments);

- Level 3: Significant unobservable inputs (including assumptions in determining the fair value of certain investments).

The carrying values for cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, other current assets, accounts payable and accrued liabilities, and deferred revenue approximate their fair value due to their short maturities.

Recent Accounting Standards Updates

Recent Accounting Standards Updates

In June 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-10—Development Stage Entities (Topic 915): Elimination of Certain Financial Reporting Requirements, Including an Amendment to Variable Interest Entities Guidance in Topic 810, Consolidation. ASU 2014-10 eliminates several of the reporting requirements for development stage entities, including the requirement to present inception to date information in the statements of income, cash flows, and shareholder equity, and to label the financial statements as those of a development stage entity. ASU 2014-10 also clarifies that the guidance in ASC Topic 275 Risks and Uncertainties, is applicable to entities that have not commenced principal operations, and eliminates an exception to the sufficiency-of-equity risk criterion for development stage entities, and will require all reporting entities that have an interest in development stage enterprises to apply consistent consolidation guidance for variable interest entities. ASU 2014-10 is effective for all annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2014, with early adoption permitted. The Company has elected to early adopt these amendments and accordingly has not labeled the financial statements as those of a development stage entity and has not presented inception-to-date information on the respective financial statements.

Other accounting standards that have been issued or proposed by FASB that do not require adoption until a future date are not expected to have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements upon adoption. The Company does not discuss recent pronouncements that are not anticipated to have an impact on or are unrelated to its financial condition, results of operations, cash flows or disclosures.