Segments

12 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2021

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segments

12. Segments

The Company has seven reportable segments: Consulting, Digital, Executive Search North America, Executive Search EMEA, Executive Search Asia Pacific, Executive Search Latin America and RPO & Professional Search. Revenues are directly attributed to a reportable segment and expenses not directly associated with a specific segment are allocated based on the most relevant measures applicable, including revenues, headcount and other factors.

The Company’s seven reportable segments operate through the following four lines of business:

1. Consulting aligns organization structure, culture, performance and people to drive sustainable growth by addressing four fundamental needs: Organizational Strategy, Assessment and Succession, Leadership and Professional Development and Total Rewards. This work is supported by a comprehensive range of some of the world’s leading lP and data.

2. Digital leverages an artificial intelligence powered, machine-learning platform to identify structure, roles, capabilities and behaviours needed to drive business forward. This end-to-end system combines Korn Ferry proprietary data, client data, and external market data to generate insight and recommend action.

3. Executive Search helps organizations recruit board level, chief executive and other senior executive and general management talent. Behavioral interviewing and proprietary assessments are used to determine ideal organizational fit, and salary benchmarking builds appropriate frameworks for compensation and retention.

4. RPO and Professional Search combines people, process expertise and IP-enabled technology to deliver enterprise talent acquisition solutions to clients. Transaction sizes range from single professional searches to team, department and line of business projects, and global outsource recruiting solutions.

Executive Search is managed by geographic regional leaders. Worldwide operations for Consulting, Digital, and RPO and Professional Search are managed by their Chief Executive Officers. The Executive Search geographic regional leaders and the Chief Executive Officers of Consulting, Digital, and RPO & Professional Search report directly to the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. The Company also operates Corporate to record global expenses.

The Company evaluates performance and allocates resources based on the Company’s chief operating decision maker (“CODM”) review of (1) fee revenue and (2) adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“Adjusted EBITDA”). To the extent that such costs or charges occur, Adjusted EBITDA excludes restructuring charges, integration/acquisition costs, certain separation costs and certain non-cash charges (goodwill, intangible asset and other impairment charges). The CODM is not provided asset information by reportable segment.

Financial highlights by reportable segments are as follows:

	Year Ended April 30, 2021
					Executive Search
	Consulting		Digital		North America		EMEA		Asia Pacific		Latin America		RPO & Professional Search		Corporate			Consolidated
	(in thousands)
Fee revenue	$	515,844	$	287,306	$	397,275	$	138,954	$	83,306	$	17,500	$	369,862	$	—		$	1,810,047
Total revenue	$	517,046	$	287,780	$	399,104	$	139,213	$	83,463	$	17,500	$	375,840	$	—		$	1,819,946
Net income attributable to Korn Ferry																		$	114,454
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest																			1,108
Other income, net																			(37,194	)
Interest expense, net																			29,278
Income tax provision																			48,138
Operating income																		$	155,784
Depreciation and amortization																			61,845
Other income, net																			37,194
Integration/acquisition costs																			737
Restructuring charges, net																			30,732
Adjusted EBITDA(1)	$	81,522	$	86,095	$	98,099	$	11,742	$	16,676	$	1,289	$	69,411	$	(78,542	)	$	286,292

^{(1) Adjusted EBITDA refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and further excludes integration/acquisition and net restructuring charges.}

	Year Ended April 30, 2020
					Executive Search
	Consulting		Digital		North America		EMEA		Asia Pacific		Latin America		RPO & Professional Search		Corporate			Consolidated
	(in thousands)
Fee revenue	$	543,095	$	292,366	$	434,624	$	170,314	$	98,132	$	29,400	$	364,801	$	—		$	1,932,732
Total revenue	$	557,255	$	294,261	$	447,528	$	172,978	$	99,209	$	29,493	$	376,606	$	—		$	1,977,330
Net income attributable to Korn Ferry																		$	104,946
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest																			2,071
Other loss, net																			2,879
Interest expense, net																			22,184
Income tax provision																			43,945
Operating income																		$	176,025
Depreciation and amortization																			55,311
Other loss, net																			(2,879	)
Integration/acquisition costs																			12,152
Restructuring charges, net																			58,559
Separation costs																			1,783
Adjusted EBITDA(1)	$	61,092	$	83,073	$	120,725	$	31,067	$	22,885	$	6,402	$	60,168	$	(84,461	)	$	300,951

^{(1) Adjusted EBITDA refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and further excludes integration/acquisition costs, net restructuring charges and separation costs.}

	Year Ended April 30, 2019
					Executive Search
	Consulting		Digital		North America		EMEA		Asia Pacific		Latin America		RPO & Professional Search		Corporate			Consolidated
	(in thousands)
Fee revenue	$	568,321	$	252,727	$	455,826	$	182,829	$	104,291	$	31,896	$	330,143	$	—		$	1,926,033
Total revenue	$	585,893	$	252,727	$	469,743	$	186,131	$	105,543	$	31,960	$	341,865	$	—		$	1,973,862
Net income attributable to Korn Ferry																		$	102,651
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest																			2,145
Other income, net																			(10,405	)
Interest expense, net																			16,891
Income tax provision																			29,544
Operating income																		$	140,826
Depreciation and amortization																			46,489
Other income, net																			10,405
Integration/acquisition costs																			6,746
Tradename write-offs																			106,555
Adjusted EBITDA(1)	$	66,531	$	84,455	$	131,343	$	31,660	$	26,073	$	4,730	$	54,407	$	(88,178	)	$	311,021

^{(1) Adjusted EBITDA refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and further excludes, integration/acquisition costs and tradename write-offs.}

Fee revenue attributed to an individual customer or country, other than the U.S. and United Kingdom, did not account for more than 10% of the total fee revenue in fiscal 2021, 2020 or 2019. Fee revenue classified by country in which the Company derives revenues are as follows:

	Year Ended April 30,
	2021		2020		2019
	(in thousands)
U.S.	$	837,682	$	875,605	$	859,969
United Kingdom		189,893		204,271		202,055
Other countries		782,472		852,856		864,009
Total fee revenue	$	1,810,047	$	1,932,732	$	1,926,033

Other than the U.S. and United Kingdom, no single country had over 10% of the total long-lived assets, excluding financial instruments and tax assets. Long-lived assets, excluding financial instruments and tax assets, classified by location of the controlling statutory country are as follows:

	Year Ended April 30,
	2021		2020		2019
	(in thousands)
U.S. (1)	$	182,218	$	199,436	$	98,455
United Kingdom		34,081		35,739		6,466
Other countries		89,600		102,630		26,584
Total long-lived assets	$	305,899	$	337,805	$	131,505

⁽¹⁾ Includes Corporate long-lived assets