Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

v3.19.1
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars and have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“US GAAP”), and pursuant to the accounting and disclosure rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

These unaudited condensed interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and notes thereto for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, filed with the SEC on February 28, 2019.  The accounting policies used in preparing these unaudited condensed interim financial statements are consistent with those described in the Company’s December 31, 2018 audited financial statements.

Use of Estimates

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with US GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent liabilities at the date of the financial statements as well as the reported expenses during the reporting periods.  

The Company’s significant estimates and assumptions include the valuation of stock-based compensation instruments, recognition of revenue, the useful lives of long-lived assets, and income tax expense. Some of these judgments can be subjective and complex, and, consequently, actual results may differ from these estimates. Although the Company believes that its estimates and assumptions are reasonable, they are based upon information available at the time the estimates and assumptions were made. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all short-term, highly liquid investments with an original maturity at the date of purchase of three months or less to be cash equivalents. The Company maintains cash balances that may be uninsured or in deposit accounts that exceed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation limits. The Company maintains its cash deposits with major financial institutions.

Revenue Recognition

Revenue Recognition

On January 1, 2018, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-09, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers" (Topic 606), which is described below in Recent Accounting Pronouncements.

In accordance with Topic 606, the Company recognizes revenue using the following five-step approach:

 

 

1.

Identify the contract with a customer.

 

2.

Identify the performance obligations in the contract.

 

3.

Determine the transaction price of the contract.

 

4.

Allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract.

 

5.

Recognize revenue when the performance obligations are met or delivered.

The Company records revenue associated with product development projects that it enters into with certain customers. In general, these development projects are complex, and the Company does not have certainty about its ability to achieve the project milestones. The achievement of a milestone is dependent on the Company’s performance obligation and requires acceptance by the customer.  The Company recognizes revenue based on when the performance obligation is met. However, the Company does not recognize revenue in excess of that payable upon achievement of an accepted milestone, as there would be uncertainty of payment for work that has not been accepted. The payment associated with achieving the performance obligation is generally commensurate with the Company’s effort or the value of the deliverable and is nonrefundable. The Company records the expenses related to these projects in research and development expense, in the periods such expenses were incurred.

The Company records royalty revenue from its manufacturing partner, Dialog, based on shipments from Dialog to its customers.

Currently, other than royalty revenue from Dialog, the Company’s only revenue source is product development projects.

Research and Development

Research and Development

Research and development expenses are charged to operations as incurred. For internally developed patents, all patent application costs are expensed as incurred as research and development expense. Patent application costs, which are generally legal costs, are expensed as research and development costs until such time as the future economic benefits of such patents become more certain. The Company incurred research and development costs of $6,800,678 and $8,721,552 for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Stock-Based Compensation

Stock-Based Compensation

The Company accounts for equity instruments issued to employees, board members and contractors in accordance with accounting guidance that requires awards to be recorded at their fair value on the date of grant and are amortized over the vesting period of the award. The Company recognizes compensation costs on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the award, which is typically the vesting term of the equity instrument issued.

Under the Energous Corporation Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”), employees may purchase a limited number of shares of the Company’s common stock at a 15% discount from the lower of the closing market prices measured on the first and last days of each half-year period. The Company recognizes compensation expense for the fair value of the purchase options, as measured on the grant date.

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

Tax benefits are recognized only for tax positions that are more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by tax authorities. The amount recognized is measured as the largest amount of benefit that is greater than 50 percent likely to be realized upon settlement. A liability for “unrecognized tax benefits” is recorded for any tax benefits claimed in the Company’s tax returns that do not meet these recognition and measurement standards. As of March 31, 2019, no liability for unrecognized tax benefits was required to be reported. The Company’s policy is to record interest and penalties on uncertain tax positions as a component of income tax expense. No interest or penalties were recorded during the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018.

Net Loss Per Common Share

Net Loss Per Common Share

Basic net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss available to common stockholders by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. Diluted earnings per share is computed using the weighted average number of common shares and, if dilutive, potential common shares outstanding during the period. Potential common shares consist of the incremental common shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options and warrants (using the treasury stock method), the vesting of restricted stock units (“RSUs”), performance stock units (“PSUs”) and the shares issuable from the enrollment of employees in the ESPP. The computation of diluted loss per share excludes potentially dilutive securities of 7,601,654 and 7,420,048 for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively, because their inclusion would be anti-dilutive.

Potentially dilutive securities outlined in the table below have been excluded from the computation of diluted net loss per share because the effect of their inclusion would have been anti-dilutive.  

 

 

 

For the Three Months

Ended March 31,

 

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

 

Financing Warrant to purchase common stock

 

-

 

 

 

13,889

 

 

Warrant issued to private investors

 

 

4,702,354

 

 

 

3,035,688

 

 

Options to purchase common stock

 

 

576,293

 

 

 

857,507

 

 

RSUs

 

 

2,323,007

 

 

 

2,641,405

 

 

PSUs

 

 

-

 

 

 

871,559

 

 

Total potentially dilutive securities

 

 

7,601,654

 

 

 

7,420,048

 

 

 

Leases

Leases

 

As of January 1, 2019, the Company determines if an arrangement is a lease at the inception of the arrangement. The Company applies the short-term lease recognition exemption and recognizes lease payments in profit or loss at lease commencement for facility or equipment leases that have a lease term of 12 months or less and do not include a purchase option whose exercise is reasonably certain. Operating leases are included in operating lease right-of-use (ROU) assets and operating lease liabilities.

 

ROU assets represent the right to use an underlying asset for the lease term, and lease liabilities represent the obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. Operating lease ROU assets and liabilities are measured and recorded at the later of the adoption date, January 1, 2019, or the service commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. The Company uses the implicit interest rate when readily determinable; however, most leases do not establish an implicit rate, so the Company uses an estimate of the incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the time of measurement. Lease expense for lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. See Note 4 – Commitments and Contingencies, Operating Leases for further discussion of the Company’s operating leases.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

 

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

 

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842)”. This standard requires that a lessee recognize the assets and liabilities that arise from operating leases. A lessee should recognize in the statement of financial position a liability to make lease payments (the lease liability) and a right-of-use asset representing its right to use the underlying asset for the lease term. For leases with a term of 12 months or less, a lessee is permitted to make an accounting policy election by class of underlying asset not to recognize lease assets and lease liabilities. In transition, lessees and lessors are required to recognize and measure leases at the beginning of the earliest period presented using a modified approach. ASU 2016-02 is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2018. The Company has adopted ASU 2016-02 and its adoption had no material impact on its financial statements.

In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-18, “Statement of Cash Flows (230) – Restricted Cash.” ASU No. 2016-18 requires an entity to include amounts described as restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents with cash and cash equivalents when reconciling the beginning-of-period and end-of-period total amounts shown on the statement of cash flows. It is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018. The Company has adopted ASU 2016-18 and its adoption had no material impact on its financial statements.

In July 2017, the FASB issued a two-part ASU No. 2017-11, I. Accounting for Certain Financial Instruments with Down Round Features and II. Replacement of the Indefinite Deferral for Mandatorily Redeemable Financial Instruments of Certain Nonpublic Entities and Certain Mandatorily Redeemable Noncontrolling Interests with a Scope Exception. ASU 2017-11 amends guidance in FASB ASC 260, Earnings Per Share, FASB ASC 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity, and FASB ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging. The amendments in Part I of ASU 2017-11 change the classification analysis of certain equity-linked financial instruments (or embedded features) with down round features. The amendments in Part II of ASU 2017-11 re-characterize the indefinite deferral of certain provisions of Topic 480 that now are presented as pending content in the Codification, to a scope exception. Those amendments do not have an accounting effect. ASU 2017-11 is effective for public business

entities for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2018. The Company has adopted ASU 2017-11 and its adoption had no material impact on its financial statements.

 

In June 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-07, “Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Nonemployee Share-based Payment Accounting.” ASU 2018-07 aligns accounting for share-based payments issued to nonemployees to that of employees under the existing guidance of Topic 718, with certain exceptions. This update supersedes previous guidance for equity-based payments to nonemployees under Subtopic 505-50, “Equity – Equity-based Payments to Nonemployees.” It is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018. The Company adopted ASU 2018-07 and its adoption had no material impact on its financial statements.

Management's Evaluation of Subsequent Events

Management’s Evaluation of Subsequent Events

The Company evaluates events that have occurred after the balance sheet date of March 31, 2019, through the date which the financial statements are issued. Based upon the review, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.