NOTE A - SUMMARY OF ACCOUNTING POLICIES

12 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2016

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Significant Accounting Policies [Text Block]

NOTE A – SUMMARY OF ACCOUNTING POLICIES

A summary of the significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of the accompanying financial statements follows.

Business

Sparta Commercial Services, Inc. (“Sparta,” “we,” “us,” or the “Company”) is a Nevada corporation serving three markets. Sparta is a technology company that develops, markets and manages business mobile application (mobile apps) for smartphones and tablets. The Company also owns and manages websites which sell on-demand motorcycle, recreational vehicle, power-sport vehicle and truck title history reports for consumers, retail dealers, auction houses, insurance companies and banks/finance companies. Notwithstanding our discontinuance of consumer financing, we continue to offer, on a pass through basis, an equipment-leasing product for local and state agencies throughout the country seeking a better and more economical way to finance their essential equipment needs, including police motorcycles and cruisers, buses and EMS equipment.

Our roots are in the Powersports industry and our original focus was providing consumer and municipal financing to the powersports, recreational vehicle, and automobile industries (see Discontinued Operations). Presently, through our subsidiary, iMobile Solutions, Inc.  (“IMS”), we offer mobile application development, sales, marketing and support, and Vehicle Title History Reports.

Our mobile application (mobile app) offerings have broadened our base beyond vehicle dealers to a wide range of businesses including, but not limited to, racetracks, private clubs, country clubs, restaurants and grocery stores. We also offer a private label version of our mobile app framework to enable other businesses to offer custom apps to their customers.

Our vehicle history reports include Cyclechex (Motorcycle History Reports at www.cyclechex.com ); RVchecks (Recreational Vehicle History Reports at www.rvchecks.com ); CarVINreport (Automobile at www.carvinreport.com ) and Truckchex (Heavy Duty Truck History Reports at www.truckchex.com ). Our Vehicle History Reports are designed for consumers, retail dealers, auction houses, insurance companies and banks/finance companies.

Principles of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its majority owned subsidiary. All material intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation. The third party ownership of the Company’s subsidiary is accounted for as noncontrolling interest in the consolidated financial statements. Changes in the noncontrolling interest are reported in the statement of stockholders’ deficit.

Estimates

The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect certain reported amounts and disclosures. Accordingly, actual results could differ from those estimates.

Discontinued Operations

As discussed in Note C, in the second quarter of fiscal 2013, the Company’s Board of Directors approved management’s recommendation to discontinue the Company’s consumer lease and loan lines of business and the sale of the Company’s entire portfolio of performing RISCs, and a portion of its portfolio of leases. The sale was consummated in that quarter. The assets and liabilities have been accounted for as discontinued operations in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets for all periods presented. The operating results related to these lines of business have been included in discontinued operations in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations for all periods presented.

Revenue Recognition

The Company recognizes revenue when the following criteria have been met: persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, no significant Company obligations remain, collection of the related receivable is reasonably assured, and the fees are fixed or determinable. The Company acts as a principal in its revenue transactions as the Company is the primary obligor in the transactions.

Revenues from mobile app products are generally recognized upon delivery. Revenues from History Reports are generally recognized upon delivery / download. Prepayments received from customers before delivery (if any) are recognized as deferred revenue and recognized upon delivery.

Cash Equivalents

For the purpose of the accompanying financial statements, all highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less are considered to be cash equivalents.

Website Development Costs

The Company recognizes website development costs in accordance with ASC 350-50, “Accounting for Website Development Costs.” As such, the Company expenses all costs incurred that relate to the planning and post implementation phases of development of its website.  Direct costs incurred in the development phase are capitalized and recognized over the estimated useful life.  Costs associated with repair or maintenance for the website are included in cost of net revenues in the current period expenses.

Fair Value Measurements

The Company adopted ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurements (“ASC 820”) .”   ASC 820 establishes a three-level fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value.  The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets the lowest priority to unobservable inputs to fair value measurements of certain assets and Liabilities.  The three levels of the fair value hierarchy under ASC 820 are described below:

·   Level 1 — Quoted prices for identical instruments in active markets. Level 1 assets and liabilities include debt and equity securities and derivative contracts that are traded in an active exchange market, as well as certain securities that are highly liquid and are actively traded in over-the-counter markets.

·   Level 2 — Quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets; quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and model derived valuations in which all significant inputs and significant value drivers are observable in active markets.

·   Level 3 — Unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity and that are significant to the fair value measurements. Level 3 assets and liabilities include financial instruments whose value is determined using pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies, or similar techniques based on significant unobservable inputs, as well as management judgments or estimates that are significant to valuation.

This hierarchy requires the Company to use observable market data, when available, and to minimize the use of unobservable inputs when determining fair value. For some products or in certain market conditions, observable inputs may not always be available.

Income Taxes

We utilize ASC 740 “Income Taxes” which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been included in the financial statements or tax returns. Under this method, deferred income taxes are recognized for the tax consequences in future years of differences between the tax bases of assets and liabilities and their financial reporting amounts at year-end based on enacted laws and statutory tax rates applicable to the periods in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income.

The Company recognizes the impact of a tax position in the financial statements only if that position is more likely than not of being sustained upon examination by taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. Our practice is to recognize interest and/or penalties related to income tax matters in income tax expense.

Stock Based Compensation

We account for our stock based compensation under ASC 718 “Compensation – Stock Compensation” using the fair value based method. Under this method, compensation cost is measured at the grant date based on the value of the award and is recognized over the service period, which is usually the vesting period. This guidance establishes standards for the accounting for transactions in which an entity exchanges it equity instruments for goods or services. It also addresses transactions in which an entity incurs liabilities in exchange for goods or services that are based on the fair value of the entity’s equity instruments or that may be settled by the issuance of those equity instruments.

We use the fair value method for equity instruments granted to non-employees and use the Black-Scholes model for measuring the fair value of options. The stock based fair value compensation is determined as of the date of the grant or the date at which the performance of the services is completed (measurement date) and is recognized over the vesting periods.

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are recorded at cost. Minor additions and renewals are expensed in the year incurred. Major additions and renewals are capitalized and depreciated over their estimated useful lives. Depreciation is calculated using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives. Estimated useful lives of major depreciable assets are as follows:

Leasehold improvements	3 years
Furniture and fixtures	7 years
Website costs	3 years
Computer Equipment	5 years

Concentrations of Credit Risk

Financial instruments and related items, which potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk, consist primarily of cash, cash equivalents and receivables. The Company places its cash and temporary cash investments with high credit quality institutions. At times, such investments may be in excess of the FDIC insurance limit.   

Net Loss Per Share

The Company uses ASC 260-10, “Earnings Per Share,” for calculating the basic and diluted loss per share. The Company computes basic loss per share by dividing net loss and net loss attributable to common shareholders by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding. Common equivalent shares are excluded from the computation of net loss per share if their effect is anti-dilutive.

At April 30, 2016 and 2016, 1,534,522,006 potential shares (including 9,605,000 shares to be issued included on the balance sheet) and 20,081,014 potential shares (including 2,356,598 shares to be issued included on the balance sheet), respectively, were excluded from the shares used to calculate diluted earnings per share as their inclusion would reduce net loss per share.

Derivative Liabilities

The Company assessed the classification of its derivative financial instruments as of April 30, 2016 and 2015, which consist of convertible instruments and rights to shares of the Company’s common stock, and determined that such derivatives meet the criteria for liability classification under ASC 815.

ASC 815 generally provides three criteria that, if met, require companies to bifurcate conversion options from their host instruments and account for them as freestanding derivative financial instruments. These three criteria include circumstances in which (a) the economic characteristics and risks of the embedded derivative instrument are not clearly and closely related to the economic characteristics and risks of the host contract, (b) the hybrid instrument that embodies both the embedded derivative instrument and the host contract is not re-measured at fair value under otherwise applicable generally accepted accounting principles with changes in fair value reported in earnings as they occur and (c) a separate instrument with the same terms as the embedded derivative instrument would be considered a derivative instrument subject to the requirements of ASC 815. ASC 815 also provides an exception to this rule when the host instrument is deemed to be conventional, as described.

Convertible Instruments

The Company evaluates and accounts for conversion options embedded in its convertible instruments in accordance with professional standards for “Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities”.

The Company accounts for convertible instruments (when it has determined that the embedded conversion options should not be bifurcated from their host instruments) in accordance with professional standards when “Accounting for Convertible Securities with Beneficial Conversion Features,” as those professional standards pertain to “Certain Convertible Instruments.” Accordingly, the Company records, when necessary, discounts to convertible notes for the intrinsic value of conversion options embedded in debt instruments based upon the differences between the fair value of the underlying common stock at the commitment date of the note transaction and the effective conversion price embedded in the note. Debt discounts under these arrangements are amortized over the term of the related debt to their earliest date of redemption. The Company also records when necessary deemed dividends for the intrinsic value of conversion options embedded in preferred shares based upon the differences between the fair value of the underlying common stock at the commitment date of the note transaction and the effective conversion price embedded in the note. ASC 815-40 provides that, among other things, generally, if an event is not within the entity’s control could or require net cash settlement, then the contract shall be classified as an asset or a liability.

Reclassifications

Certain reclassifications have been made to conform to prior periods’ data to the current presentation. These reclassifications had no effect on reported losses.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-03, Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs, which requires debt issuance costs to be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the associated debt liability. This update is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015 and requires retrospective application for all periods presented. Early adoption is permitted. The Company will adopt this standard in the interim period beginning on May 1, 2016.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-09, “Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting” (ASU 2016-09). This ASU makes several modifications to Topic 718 related to the accounting for forfeitures, employer tax withholding on share-based compensation, and the financial statement presentation of excess tax benefits or deficiencies. ASU 2016-09 also clarifies the statement of cash flows presentation for certain components of share-based awards. The standard is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, with early adoption permitted. The Company expects to adopt this guidance when effective and is currently evaluating the effect that the updated standard will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In August 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-15, Presentation of Financial Statements - Going Concern (Topic 205-40): Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity's Ability to Continue as a Going Concern (“ASU 2014-15”). This amendment prescribes that an entity should evaluate whether there are conditions or events, considered in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt about the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued. The amendments will become effective for the Company’s annual and interim reporting periods beginning May 1, 2017. The Company will begin evaluating going concern disclosures based on this guidance upon adoption.

The FASB issued the following accounting standard updates related to Topic 606, Revenue Contracts with Customers: 

• ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606) (“ASU 2014-09”) in May 2014. ASU 2014-09 requires entities to recognize revenue through the application of a five-step model, which includes identification of the contract, identification of the performance obligations, determination of the transaction price, allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations and recognition of revenue as the entity satisfies the performance obligations.

• ASU No. 2016-08, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Principal versus Agent Considerations (Reporting Revenue Gross versus Net) ("ASU 2016-08") in March 2016. ASU 2016-08 does not change the core principle of revenue recognition in Topic 606 but clarifies the implementation guidance on principal versus agent considerations.

• ASU No. 2016-10, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Identifying Performance Obligations and Licensing ("ASU 2016-10") in April 2016. ASU 2016-10 does not change the core principle of revenue recognition in Topic 606 but clarifies the implementation guidance on identifying performance obligations and the licensing implementation guidance, while retaining the related principles for those areas.

• ASU No. 2016-11, Revenue Recognition (Topic 605) and Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Rescission of SEC Guidance Because of Accounting Standards Updates 2014-09 and 2014-16 Pursuant to Staff Announcements at the March 3, 2016 EITF Meeting (SEC Update) ("ASU 2016-11") in May 2016. ASU 2016-11 rescinds SEC paragraphs pursuant to two SEC Staff Announcements at the March 3, 2016 EITF meeting. The SEC Staff is rescinding SEC Staff Observer comments that are codified in Topic 605 and Topic 932, effective upon adoption of Topic 606.

• ASU No. 2016-12, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Narrow-Scope Improvements and Practical Expedients in May 2016. ASU 2016-12 does not change the core principle of revenue recognition in Topic 606 but clarifies the implementation guidance on a few narrow areas and adds some practical expedients to the guidance.

These ASUs will become effective for the Company beginning interim period May, 2018. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of ASC 606, but at the current time does not know what impact the new standard will have on revenue recognized and other accounting decisions in future periods, if any, nor what method of adoption will be selected if the impact is material.

A variety of proposed or otherwise potential accounting standards are currently under study by standard setting organizations and various regulatory agencies. Due to the tentative and preliminary nature of those proposed standards, we have not determined whether implementation of such proposed standards would be material to our consolidated financial statements.