Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Nature of Operations. Robert Half International Inc. (the “Company”) provides specialized staffing and risk consulting services through such divisions as Accountemps^®, Robert Half^® Finance & Accounting, OfficeTeam^®, Robert Half^® Technology, Robert Half^® Management Resources, Robert Half^® Legal, The Creative Group^®, and Protiviti^®. The Company, through its Accountemps, Robert Half Finance & Accounting, and Robert Half Management Resources divisions, is a specialized provider of temporary, full-time, and senior-level project professionals in the fields of accounting and finance. OfficeTeam specializes in highly skilled temporary administrative support professionals. Robert Half Technology provides project and full-time technology professionals. Robert Half Legal provides temporary, project, and full-time staffing of lawyers, paralegals and legal support personnel. The Creative Group provides creative, digital, marketing, advertising and public relations professionals. Protiviti is a global consulting firm that helps companies solve problems in finance, technology, operations, data, analytics, governance, risk and internal audit, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. Revenues are predominantly derived from specialized staffing services. The Company operates in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The Company is a Delaware corporation.

Basis of Presentation. The unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements (“Financial Statements”) of the Company are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Certain reclassifications have been made to prior year’s condensed consolidated financial statements to conform to the 2020 presentation. The comparative year-end Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position data presented was derived from audited financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of only normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair statement of the financial position and results of operations for the periods presented have been included. These Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the audited Consolidated Financial Statements of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2019, included in its Annual Report on Form 10-K. The results of operations for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of, nor comparable to, the results of operations for a full year.

Principles of Consolidation. The Financial Statements include the accounts of the Company and its subsidiaries, all of which are wholly-owned. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Use of Estimates. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates 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 the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. As of March 31, 2020, such estimates include allowances for credit losses, variable consideration, workers’ compensation losses, income and other taxes, and assumptions used in the Company’s goodwill impairment assessment and in the valuation of stock grants subject to market conditions.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization announced that a novel strain of coronavirus (“COVID-19”) had become pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic is already having a significant impact on global economies as a result of stay-at-home orders and business closures designed to stop the spread of the virus. We are continuing to monitor the spread of COVID-19 and related risks, including risks related to efforts to mitigate the disease’s spread, although the rapid development and fluidity of our response to the pandemic, including uncertainty around the duration and extent of COVID-19, precludes any prediction as to its ultimate impact on the Company’s results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity. In light of the currently unknown ultimate duration and severity of COVID-19, we face a greater degree of uncertainty than normal in making the judgments and estimates needed to apply the Company’s significant accounting policies. As COVID-19 continues to develop, we may make changes to these estimates and judgments over time, which could result in meaningful impacts to the Company’s financial statements in future periods. Actual results and outcomes may differ from management’s estimates and assumptions.

Service Revenues. The Company derives its revenues from three segments: temporary and consultant staffing, permanent placement staffing, and risk consulting and internal audit services. Revenues are recognized when promised goods or services are delivered to customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services. See Note C for further discussion of the revenue recognition accounting policy.

Costs of Services. Direct costs of temporary and consultant staffing consist of payroll, payroll taxes and benefit costs for the Company’s engagement professionals, as well as reimbursable expenses. Direct costs of permanent placement staffing services consist of reimbursable expenses. Risk consulting and internal audit direct costs of services include professional staff payroll, contract labor payroll, payroll taxes and benefit costs, as well as reimbursable expenses.

Advertising Costs. The Company expenses all advertising costs as incurred. Advertising costs were $14.5 million and $12.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Allowance for Credit Losses. The Company is exposed to credit losses resulting from the inability of its customers to make required payments. The Company establishes an allowance for these potential credit losses based on its review of customers’ credit profiles, historical loss statistics, prepayments, recoveries, current business conditions and macro-economic trends. The Company considers risk characteristics of trade receivables based on asset type, size, term, and geographical locations to evaluate trade receivables on a collective basis. The Company applies credit loss estimates to these pooled receivables to determine expected credit losses.

The following table sets forth the activity in credit losses from December 31, 2019, through March 31, 2020 (in

thousands):


	Credit Loss
Balance as of December 31, 2019	$	22,885
Adoption of accounting pronouncement	558
Balance as of January 1, 2020	$	23,443
Charges to expense	4,690
Deductions	(1,620)
Other, including translation adjustments	(213)
Balance as of March 31, 2020	$	26,300

Goodwill and Intangible Assets. Goodwill and intangible assets primarily consist of the cost of acquired companies in excess of the fair market value of their net tangible assets at the date of acquisition. Identifiable intangible assets are amortized over their lives, typically ranging from two to five years. Goodwill is not amortized, but is tested at least annually for impairment, or on an as needed interim basis.

Internal-use Software. The Company capitalizes direct costs incurred in the development of internal-use software. Cloud computing implementation costs incurred in hosting arrangements are capitalized and reported as a component of other assets. All other internal-use software development costs are capitalized and reported as a component of computer software within property and equipment on the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position. Capitalized internal-use software development costs were $13.0 million and $5.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.