(2) Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Revenue Recognition

The Company enters into contracts that provide customers access to a broad spectrum of learning options including cloud-based learning content, talent management solutions, virtual, on-demand and classroom training, and individualized coaching. The Company recognizes revenue that reflects the consideration that we expect to be entitled to receive in exchange for these services. We apply judgment in determining our customer’s ability and intent to pay, which is based on a variety of factors, including the customer’s historical payment experience, credit, or financial information. The Company is not required to exercise significant judgment in determining the timing for the satisfaction of performance obligations or the transaction price.

The Company’s cloud-based solutions generally do not provide customers with the right to take possession of the software supporting the platform or to download course content without continuing to incur fees for hosting services and, as a result, are accounted for as service arrangements. Access to the platform and course content represents a series of distinct services as the Company continually provides access to, and fulfill its obligation to, the end customer over the subscription term. The series of distinct services represents a single performance obligation that is satisfied over time. Accordingly, the fixed consideration related to subscription revenue is generally recognized on a straight-line basis over the contract term, beginning on the date that the service is made available to the customer. The Company’s subscription contracts typically vary from one year to three years. The Company’s cloud-based solutions arrangements are generally non-cancellable and non-refundable.

Revenue from virtual, on-demand and classroom training, and individualized coaching is recognized in the period in which the services are rendered.

The Company also sells professional services related to its cloud solutions which are typically considered distinct performance obligations and are recognized over time as services are performed. For fixed-price contracts, revenue is recognized over time based on a measure of progress that reasonably reflects our progress toward satisfying the performance obligation.

While the Company’s revenue primarily relates to SaaS subscription services where the entire arrangement fee is recognized on a ratable basis over the contractual term, the Company sometimes enter into contractual arrangements that have multiple distinct performance obligations, one or more of which have different periods over which the services or products are delivered. These arrangements may include a combination of subscriptions and non-subscription products such as professional services. The Company allocates the transaction price of the arrangement based on the relative estimated standalone selling price, or SSP, of each distinct performance obligation.

Reimbursements received from customers for out-of-pocket expenses are recorded as revenues, with related costs recorded as cost of revenues. The Company presents revenues net of any taxes collected from customers and remitted to government authorities.

As the Company’s contractual agreements predominately call for advanced billing, contract assets are rarely generated.

Deferred Revenue

The Company records as deferred revenue amounts that have been billed in advance for products or services to be provided. Deferred revenue includes the unrecognized portion of revenue associated with service fees for which the Company has received payment or for which amounts have been billed and are due for payment.

Deferred Contract Acquisition Costs

The Company defers sales commissions, and associated fringe costs, such as payroll taxes, paid to direct sales personnel and other incremental costs of obtaining contracts with customers, provided the Company expects to recover those costs. The Company determines whether costs should be deferred based on its sales compensation plans if the commissions are in fact incremental and would not have occurred absent the customer contract.

Sales commissions for renewal of a subscription contract are not considered commensurate with the commissions paid for the acquisition of the initial subscription contract given the substantive difference in commission rates between new and renewal contracts. Commissions paid upon the initial acquisition of a contract are amortized over an estimated period of benefit, which assumes a level of renewals and typically exceeds the original contract term, while commissions paid related to renewal contracts are amortized over the contractual term of the renewal. Amortization is recognized on a straight-line basis upon commencement of the transfer of control of the services, commensurate with the pattern of revenue recognition.

The period of benefit for commissions paid for the acquisition of initial subscription contracts is determined by taking into consideration the initial estimated customer life and the technological life of the Company’s platform and related significant features. The Company determines the period of benefit for renewal subscription contracts by considering the average contractual term for renewal contracts. Amortization of deferred contract acquisition costs is included within sales and marketing expense in the consolidated statements of operations. For each of the Predecessor periods, the Company applied the practical expedient allowing for recognizing expense as incurred sales commissions and other contract acquisition costs, where the amortization period would be one year or less. The Company does not apply the practical expedient for the Successor period.

Foreign Currency Translation

Assets and liabilities recorded in foreign currencies are translated at the exchange rate on the balance sheet date. Revenue and expenses are translated at average rates of exchange prevailing during the year. Translation adjustments resulting from this process are recorded to other comprehensive income (loss). Foreign currency gains or losses on transactions denominated in a currency other than an entity’s functional currency are recorded in other income/(expenses) in the accompanying statements of operations. For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 (Successor), the period from June 12, 2021 through January 31, 2022 (Successor), the period from February 1, 2021 through June 11, 2021 (Predecessor (SLH)), the period from August 28, 2020 through January 31, 2021 (Predecessor (SLH)), and the period from February 1, 2020 through August 27, 2020 (Predecessor (PL)), gains (losses) arising from transactions denominated in foreign currencies other than an entity’s functional currency were approximately $3.8 million, ($2.4) million, ($0.1) million, $0.4 million, and ($0.3) million, respectively.

Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Stock

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with original maturities of 90 days or less at the time of purchase to be cash equivalents. As of  January 31, 2023 and  January 31, 2022, the Company did not have any cash equivalents or available-for-sale investments.

At January 31, 2023 and January 31, 2022, the Company had approximately $170.4 million and $138.2 million of cash and cash equivalents, respectively and $7.2 million and $14.0 million of restricted cash, respectively, primarily related to the accounts receivable facility. Under the terms of the accounts receivable facility, the Company has three accounts considered restricted, an interest reserve account, a foreign exchange reserve account and a concentration reserve account. The interest reserve account requires three months interest on the greater of the facility balance or facility balance floor (the facility balance floor was $10.0 million as of January 31, 2023). The foreign exchange reserve account requires the Company to restrict cash for an amount equivalent to the change in the translated value on our foreign receivables borrowed from the date the receivable was sold. The concentration account requires the Company to deposit receipts from the receivables sold until the Company submits a monthly reconciliation report. At that time, the funds may be returned if they are replaced with new receivables.

Acquisition-Related and Recapitalization Costs

The Company expenses acquisition-related and recapitalization costs as incurred, which primarily consist of professional services and advisory fees related to (i) mergers and acquisitions, including the Churchill, Global Knowledge, Pluma and Codecademy transactions, (ii) divestitures, and (ii) other transactions that were explored but not consummated.

Risks and Uncertainties

The Company is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties common to companies in similar industries and stages of development, including, but not limited to, the uncertainty of economic, political and market conditions; data security and privacy risk; regulatory risks; management of growth; dependence on key individuals; management of international operations; intellectual property risks; competition from substitute products and services of larger companies; product development risk; ability to keep pace with technological developments; and customer adoption of new products. We record a loss contingency when it is deemed probable and reasonably estimable, based on our best estimate.

Property and Equipment

The Company records property and equipment at cost. Depreciation and amortization are charged to operations based on the cost of property and equipment over their respective estimated useful lives on a straight-line basis using the half-year convention, as follows:

Expenditures for maintenance and repairs are expensed as incurred, while expenditures for renewals or betterments are capitalized. The Company evaluates the carrying amount of our property and equipment whenever events or circumstances indicate that the carrying value of such assets may not be recoverable. As of January 31, 2023, the Company believes the carrying amounts of its property and equipment are recoverable and no impairment exists.

Leases

We determine if an arrangement is a lease at inception. Operating leases are included in operating lease right-of-use (“ROU”) assets and operating lease liabilities in our consolidated balance sheets. ROU assets represent our right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and lease liabilities represent our obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. Operating lease ROU assets and liabilities are recognized at commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. As most of our leases do not provide an implicit rate, we generally use our incremental borrowing rate based on the estimated rate of interest for collateralized borrowing over a similar term of the lease payments at commencement date. The operating lease ROU asset also includes any lease payments made and excludes lease incentives. Our lease terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that we will exercise that option. Lease expense for lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. If the Company has lease agreements with lease and non-lease components, generally we account for them separately.

Content and Software Development Expenses

Content and software development expenses consist primarily of personnel and contractor related expenditures to develop the Company’s content, platform and other product offerings and the Company’s policy is to expense costs as incurred. The Company outsources certain aspects of content production to third parties who produce original content on behalf of Skillsoft. Third party costs incurred in these development efforts with external resources may include prepayments and are recognized as expense in proportion to the level of services completed.

Software development costs are expensed as incurred, except for costs attributable to upgrades and enhancements that qualify for capitalization. See policy “Capitalized Software Development Costs” for further discussion on this matter.

For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 (Successor), the period from June 12, 2021 through January 31, 2022 (Successor), the period from February 1, 2021 through June 11, 2021 (Predecessor (SLH)), the period from August 28, 2020 through January 31, 2021 (Predecessor (SLH)), and the period from February 1, 2020 through August 27, 2020 (Predecessor (PL)), the Company incurred $32.1 million, $15.5 million, $7.8 million, $11.2 million, and $12.2 million, respectively of proprietary content development expenses.

Capitalized Software Development Costs

The Company capitalizes certain internal use software development costs related to its SaaS platform incurred during the application development stage when management with the relevant authority authorizes and commits to the funding of the project, it is probable that the project will be completed, and the software will be used as intended. The Company also capitalizes costs related to specific upgrades and enhancements when it is probable that the expenditures will result in additional functionality. Costs related to preliminary project activities and to post-implementation activities are expensed as incurred. Internal use software is amortized on a straight-line basis over its estimated useful life, which is generally 5 years. Management evaluates the useful lives of these assets on an annual basis and tests for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances occur that could impact the recoverability of the assets. Capitalized costs are recorded as intangible assets in the accompanying balance sheets. For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 (Successor), the period from June 12, 2021 through January 31, 2022 (Successor), the period from February 1, 2021 through June 11, 2021 (Predecessor (SLH)), the period from August 28, 2020 through January 31, 2021 (Predecessor (SLH)), and the period from February 1, 2020 through August 27, 2020 (Predecessor (PL)) Company capitalized $7.3 million, $2.9 million, $1.7 million, $1.9 million and $3.0 million, respectively, and recognized amortization of $1.2 million, $0.2 million, $0.2 million, $0.1 million, and $2.7 million, respectively.

Content Partner Royalty Expenses

For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 (Successor), the period from June 12, 2021 through January 31, 2022 (Successor), the period from February 1, 2021 through June 11, 2021 (Predecessor (SLH)), the period from August 28, 2020 through January 31, 2021 (Predecessor (SLH)), and the period from February 1, 2020 through August 27, 2020 (Predecessor (PL)), the Company recognized $30.9 million, $25.7 million, $6.2 million, $6.4 million, and $8.2 million, respectively of royalty expenses for third party content used or provisioned in the Company’s content library.

Derivative Instruments

We account for debt and equity issuances as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the instrument's specific terms and applicable authoritative guidance in FASB ASC 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (“ASC 480”) and ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”). The assessment considers whether the instruments are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and whether the instruments meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the instruments are indexed to our own common stock and whether the holders could potentially require “net cash settlement” in a circumstance outside of our control, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of issuance of the instruments and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the instruments are outstanding.

For issued or modified instruments that meet all of the criteria for equity classification, the instruments are required to be recorded as a component of additional paid-in capital at the time of issuance. For issued or modified instruments that do not meet all the criteria for equity classification, the instruments are required to be recorded at their initial fair value on the date of issuance, and each balance sheet date thereafter. Changes in the estimated fair value of the instruments are recognized as a non-cash gain or loss on the statements of operations.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

Financial instruments consist mainly of cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable, debt interest rate cap derivatives and warrants. The carrying amount of accounts receivable is net of an allowance for doubtful accounts, which is based on historical collections and known credit risks. See Note 22 for discussion related to the fair value of the Company’s borrowing agreements.

Short-Term and Long-Term Debt

Short-term debt has contractual or expected maturities of one year or less. Long-term debt has contractual or expected maturities greater than one year. The Company amortizes deferred debt financing costs (including issuance costs and creditor fees) and original issuance discounts, both recorded as a reduction to the carrying amount of the related debt liability, as interest expense over the terms of the underlying obligations using the effective interest method.

Financial Instruments

The Company accounts for debt and equity issuances as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the instruments specific terms and applicable accounting guidance. The assessment considers whether the instruments are freestanding financial instruments meet the definition of a liability and whether the instrument's meet all of the requirements for equity classification, including whether the instruments are indexed to the Company’s own common stock and whether the holders could potentially require “net cash settlement” in a circumstance outside of the Company’s control, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of issuance of the instruments and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the instruments are outstanding.

For issued or modified instruments that meet all of the criteria for equity classification, the instruments are required to be recorded as a component of additional paid-in capital at the time of issuance. For issued or modified instruments that do not meet all the criteria for equity classification (which includes 15.8 million of private placement warrants held by the sponsors for Churchill), the instruments are required to be recorded at their initial fair value on the date of issuance, and each balance sheet date thereafter. Changes in the estimated fair value of the instruments are recognized as a non-cash gain or loss on the statements of operations.

The Company has elected to not designate their derivatives as hedging relationships. As such the changes in the fair value of the derivatives are recorded directly in statement of operations.

Concentrations of Credit Risk and Off-Balance-Sheet Risk

For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 (Successor), the period from June 12, 2021 through January 31, 2022 (Successor), the period from February 1, 2021 through June 11, 2021 (Predecessor (SLH)), the period from August 28, 2020 through January 31, 2021 (Predecessor (SLH)), and the period from February 1, 2020 through August 27, 2020 (Predecessor (PL)), no customer individually comprised greater than 10% of revenue. As of January 31, 2023 and 2022, no customer individually comprised more than 10% of accounts receivable.

The Company considers its customers’ financial condition and generally does not require collateral. The Company maintains a reserve for doubtful accounts and sales credits that is the Company’s best estimate of potentially uncollectible trade receivables. Provisions are made based upon a specific review of all significant outstanding invoices that are considered potentially uncollectible in whole or in part. For those invoices not specifically reviewed or considered uncollectible, provisions are provided at different rates, based upon the age of the receivable, historical experience, and other currently available evidence. The reserve estimates are adjusted as additional information becomes known or payments are made.

The Company has no off-balance-sheet arrangements nor concentration of credit risks such as foreign exchange contracts, option contracts or other foreign hedging arrangements.

Intangible Assets, Goodwill and Indefinite‑Lived Intangible Impairment Assessments

We recognize the excess of the purchase price, plus the fair value of any noncontrolling interest in the acquiree, over the fair value of identifiable net assets acquired, which includes the fair value of specifically identifiable intangible assets, as goodwill.

The Company amortizes its finite-lived intangible assets, including customer contracts and internally developed software, over their estimated useful life. The Company reviews the carrying values of intangible assets subject to amortization at least annually to determine if any adverse conditions exist or a change in circumstances has occurred that would indicate impairment or a change in remaining useful life. Conditions that would indicate impairment and trigger a more frequent impairment assessment include, but are not limited to, a significant adverse change in legal factors or business climate that could affect the value of an asset, or an adverse action or assessment by a regulator.

In addition, the Company reviews the carrying values of its indefinite-lived intangible assets, including goodwill and certain trademarks, during the fourth quarter of each year for impairment, or more frequently if certain indicators are present or changes in circumstances suggest that impairment may exist and reassesses their classification as indefinite-lived assets. See Note 7 for a discussion of impairment charges recognized for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 (Successor).

Restructuring Charges

Liabilities for restructuring costs include, but are not limited to, one-time involuntary termination benefits provided to employees under the terms of a benefit arrangement that, in substance, are not an ongoing benefit arrangement or a deferred compensation contract, which are recognized on the communication date and certain contract termination costs, including operating lease termination costs which are recognized on the termination date or cease-use date for ongoing lease payments.

In addition, the Company accounts for certain employee-related restructuring charges as an ongoing benefit arrangement, based on its prior practices and policies for the calculation and payment of severance benefits. The Company recognizes employee-related restructuring charges when the likelihood of future payment is probable, and the amount of the severance benefits is reasonably estimable.

The Company recorded facility-related restructuring charges in accordance with ASC 420, Liabilities: Exit or Disposal Cost Obligations ("ASC 420"), before it adopted ASC Topic 842, Leases (“ASC 842”), on February 1, 2021. ASC 842 amended ASC 420 to exclude costs to terminate a contract that is a lease from the scope of ASC 420. The Company evaluates right-of-use (ROU) assets abandonment and impairment in accordance with ASC 360, Property, Plant, and Equipment and recognizes ROU assets abandonment related amortization and write-offs as restructuring charges in its statement of operations.

Stock-based Compensation

We recognize compensation expense for stock options and time-based restricted stock units granted to employees on a straight-line basis over the service period that awards are expected to vest, based on the estimated fair value of the awards on the date of the grant. For restricted-stock units that have market conditions, we recognize compensation expense using an accelerated attribution method. We recognize forfeitures as they occur. We estimate the fair value of options utilizing the Black-Scholes model, which is dependent on several subjective variables, such as the expected option term and expected volatility over the expected option term. We determine the expected term using the simplified method. The simplified method sets the term to the average of the time to vesting and the contractual life of the options. Since we do not have a trading history of our common stock, the expected volatility is estimated by considering (i) the average historical stock volatilities of a peer group of public companies within our industry over a period equivalent to the expected term of the stock option grants and (ii) the implied volatility of warrants to purchase our common stock that are actively traded in public markets. The fair value of restricted stock units that vest based on market conditions are estimated using the Monte Carlo valuation method. These fair value estimates of stock related awards and assumptions inherent therein are estimates and, as a result, may not be reflective of future results or amounts ultimately realized by recipients of the grants.

Advertising Costs

Costs incurred for production and communication of advertising initiatives are expensed when incurred. Advertising expenses amounted to approximately $15.8 million, $8.2 million, $2.8 million, $3.7 million, and $3.2 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 (Successor), the period from June 12, 2021 through January 31, 2022 (Successor), the period from February 1, 2021 through June 11, 2021 (Predecessor (SLH)), the period from August 28, 2020 through January 31, 2021 (Predecessor (SLH)), and the period from February 1, 2020 through August 27, 2020 (Predecessor (PL)), respectively.

Income Taxes

The Company provides for deferred income taxes resulting from temporary differences between the basis of its assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes as compared to tax purposes, using rates expected to be in effect when such differences reverse. The Company records valuation allowances to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount that is more likely than not to be realized.

The Company follows the authoritative guidance on accounting for and disclosure of uncertainty in tax positions which requires the Company to determine whether a tax position of the Company is more likely than not to be sustained upon examination, including resolution of any related appeals of litigation processes, based on the technical merits of the position. For tax positions meeting the more likely than not threshold, the tax amount recognized in the financial statements is reduced to the largest benefit that has a greater than fifty percent likelihood of being realized upon the ultimate settlement with the relevant taxing authority.

Interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions is included in the provision for income taxes in the consolidated statement of operations.

Recently Adopted Accounting Guidance

On February 1, 2020, the Company adopted ASC Topic 842, Leases (“ASC 842”) using the modified retrospective transition approach, as provided by ASU No. 2018-11, Leases - Targeted Improvements (“ASU 2018-11”). The Company elected the package of practical expedients, which among other things, which allowed the Company to not reassess whether expired or existing contracts are or contain leases and to carry forward the historical lease classification for those leases that commenced prior to the date of adoption. For all lease arrangements, the Company accounts for lease and non-lease components as a single lease component. Leases with an initial term of 12 months or less are not recorded on the balance sheet as the Company recognizes lease expense on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Results for reporting periods beginning after February 1, 2020 are presented under ASC 842, while prior periods have not been adjusted and continue to be reported in accordance with the Company’s historic accounting under previous GAAP. The primary impact of ASC 842 is that substantially all of the Company’s leases are recognized on the balance sheet, by recording right-of-use assets and short-term and long-term lease liabilities. The new standard did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated statement of operations and cash flows, and the effects of applying ASC 842 as a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of February 1, 2020 was immaterial.

On October 28, 2021, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued ASU 2021‑08 – Business Combinations (Topic 805): Accounting for Contract Assets and Contract Liabilities from Contracts with Customers (“ASU 2021‑08”). ASU 2021‑08 requires an acquirer in a business combination to recognize and measure deferred revenue from acquired contracts using the revenue recognition guidance in Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 606, rather than the prior requirement to record deferred revenue at fair value. ASU 2021‑08 allows for immediate adoption on a retrospective basis for all business combinations that have occurred since the beginning of the annual period that includes the interim period of adoption. The Company elected to adopt ASU 2021‑08 early on a retrospective basis, effective at the beginning of the Successor period on June 11, 2021.

The adoption of ASU 2021‑08 also resulted in the increase of goodwill by $123.5 million attributable to the acquisitions of Software Luxembourg, Global Knowledge and Pluma Inc. during the period ended July 31, 2021, as a result of the revised measurement of deferred revenue for acquisitions.

Recently Issued Accounting Guidance

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (“ASU 2016-13”), which provides new authoritative guidance with respect to the measurement of credit losses on financial instruments. This update changes the impairment model for most financial assets and certain other instruments by introducing a current expected credit loss (“CECL”) model. The CECL model is a more forward-looking approach based on expected losses rather than incurred losses, requiring entities to estimate and record losses expected over the remaining contractual life of an asset. We will be adopting ASU 2016-13 effective February 1, 2023. We do not expect the adoption of the standard to have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.