Nature of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2022

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Nature of Business

Nature of Business—ACV Auctions Inc. (“the Company” or "ACV") was formed on December 31, 2014. The Company operates in one industry segment, providing a digital wholesale auction marketplace (the “Marketplace”) to facilitate business-to-business used vehicle sales between a selling dealership (“Seller”) and a buying dealership (“Buyer”). Customers using the Marketplace are licensed automotive dealerships or other commercial automotive enterprises. At the election of the customer purchasing a vehicle, the Company can arrange third-party transportation services for the delivery of the purchased vehicle through its wholly owned subsidiary, ACV Transportation LLC. The Company can also provide the customer financing for the purchased vehicle through its wholly owned subsidiary, ACV Capital LLC. ACV also provides data services that offer insights into the condition and value of used vehicles for transactions both on and off the Company's Marketplace, which help dealerships, their end customers, and commercial partners make more informed decisions to transact with confidence and efficiency. Customers using data services are licensed automotive dealerships or other commercial automotive enterprises. All services are provided in the United States and certain data services are also provided internationally. Services provided are supported by the Company’s operations in the United States, Canada and France.

Basis of Consolidation

Basis of Consolidation —The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of ACV Auctions Inc. and all of its controlled subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Basis of Preparation

Basis of Preparation—The accompanying unaudited interim consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and pursuant to the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The Company has condensed or omitted certain information and notes normally included in complete annual financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. These financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as the Company's annual financial statements and, in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, which are necessary for the fair statement of the Company's financial information. The unaudited interim consolidated financial statements should therefore be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, as filed with the SEC on February 23, 2022 (the "Annual Report"). Any reference in these notes to applicable guidance is meant to refer to the authoritative GAAP as found in the Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) and Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”).

Initial Public Offering

Initial Public Offering—On March 26, 2021, the Company completed its initial public offering (“IPO”), in which the Company issued and sold 16,550,000 shares of its Class A common stock at a public offering price of $25.00 per share, which resulted in net proceeds of $388.9 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions. On March 26, 2021, the underwriters exercised their option to purchase an additional 2,482,500 shares of Class A common stock at $25.00 per share from selling stockholders identified in the Prospectus. The Company did not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of any shares of Class A common stock by the selling stockholders upon such exercise. Immediately prior to the closing of the IPO, all shares of common stock then outstanding were reclassified as Class B common stock and all shares of the convertible preferred stock then outstanding automatically converted into 115,269,221 shares of Class B common stock.

Prior to the IPO, deferred offering costs, which consist of direct incremental legal, accounting, and consulting fees relating to the IPO, were capitalized in prepaid expenses and other current assets in the condensed consolidated balance sheets. Upon the consummation of the IPO, $3.9 million of net deferred offering costs were reclassified into stockholders’ equity as an offset against IPO proceeds.

Emerging Growth Company

Emerging Growth Company—The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, compliance with requirements that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditors’ report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“Exchange Act”)) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

Because the market value of its Class A common stock held by non-affiliates exceeded $700 million as of June 30, 2022, the Company will be deemed a large accelerated filer under the Exchange Act and will lose its status as an “emerging growth company” as of December 31, 2022. The Company will no longer be able to avail itself of the extended transition period for compliance with new or revised accounting standards as of December 31, 2022.

Fair Value Measurements and Financial Instruments

Fair Value Measurements and Financial Instruments - Fair value accounting is applied for all financial assets and liabilities and non-financial assets and liabilities that are recognized or disclosed at fair value in the consolidated financial statements on a recurring basis (at least annually). Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date.

Assets and liabilities recorded at fair value in the consolidated financial statements are categorized based upon the level of judgment associated with the inputs used to measure their fair value. Hierarchical levels, which are directly related to the amount of subjectivity, associated with the inputs to the valuation of these assets or liabilities are as follows:

Level 1: Observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities.

Level 2: Inputs other than the quoted prices in active markets that are observable either directly or indirectly.

Level 3: Unobservable inputs in which there is little or no market data which require the Company to develop its own assumptions.

The Company’s financial instruments primarily consist of cash and cash equivalents, short term debt securities, trade and finance accounts receivable and accounts payable.

Accounting Pronouncements

Accounting Pronouncements—The following table provides a description of accounting standards that were adopted by the Company as well as standards that are not yet adopted that could have an impact to the consolidated financial statements upon adoption.

Accounting Standard Update	Description	Required date of adoption	Effect on consolidated financial statements
Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted
Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (ASU 2016-13, 2018-19, 2019-04, 2019-05, 2019-10, 2019-11, 2020-02, 2020-03)	The guidance changes the methodology for measuring credit losses on financial instruments and the timing of when such losses are recorded.	January 1, 2023 Early adoption permitted	The Company is currently evaluating the impact this guidance may have on the consolidated financial statements.

The Company reviewed all other recently issued accounting standards and concluded that they were not applicable to the consolidated financial statements.