Due to the industry and geographic diversity of our operations and services, our operations are subject to a variety of rules and regulations. Several foreign and U.S. federal and state agencies regulate various aspects of our business. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors — Risks Relating to Our Business — We are subject to laws and regulations in the United States and other countries in which we operate, concerning our operations, including export restrictions, U.S. economic sanctions and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and similar anti-corruption laws. If we are not in compliance with applicable legal requirements, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties and other remedial measures.”

Risk factors, which could cause actual results to differ from our expectations and which could negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations, are discussed below and elsewhere in this annual report. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. If any of the risks or uncertainties described below or any additional risks and uncertainties actually occur, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected. In particular, forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”Statements”.

We have experienced rapid growth and significantly expanded our business over the past several years. Our revenues grew from $221.8 million in 2010 to $730.0 million in 2014 as a result of organic growthyears, both organically and growth through strategic acquisitions. As of December 31, 2014, we had 11,824 IT professionals, as compared to 5,344 IT professionals as of December 31, 2010. We have also grown our support function headcount, including finance, legal and other areas.

Moreover, we intend to continue our expansion for the foreseeable future to pursue existing and potential market opportunities. As we introduce new services or enter into new markets, we may face new market, technological, operational, compliance and administrative risks and challenges, and we may not be able to mitigate these risks and challenges to successfully grow those services or markets. As a result of these problems associated with expansion, we may not be able to achieve our anticipated growth and our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Our success depends largely on the contributions ofThe ability to hire and retain highly-skilled information technology professionals is critical to our IT professionals.success. To maintain and renew existing engagements and obtain new business, we must attract, train and retain skilled IT professionals, including experienced management IT professionals. Competition for IT professionals can be intense in the markets in whichwhere we operate can be intense and, accordingly, we may not be able to retainhire or hireretain all of the IT professionals necessary to meet our ongoing and future business needs. If we are unable to attract and retain the highly-skilled IT professionals we need,Consequently, we may have to forgo projects fordue to lack of resources or be unableinability to staff projects optimally. The total attrition rates among our IT professionals who have worked for us for at least six months were 11.8%, 13.1% and 10.7% for 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. We may encounter higher attrition rates in the future. Any reductions in headcount for economic or business reasons, however temporary, could negatively affect our reputation as an employer and our ability to hire IT professionals to meet our business requirements.

A significant increase in the attrition rate among IT professionals with specialized skills could decrease our operating efficiency and productivity and could lead to a decline in demand for our services. In addition, any reductions in headcount for economic or business reasons, however temporary, could negatively affect our reputation as an employer and our ability to hire IT professionals to meet our business requirements.

Wage costs for IT professionals in CIS, CEE and APAC, and certain other geographies in which we operate are lower than comparable wage costs in more developed countries. However, wage costs in the service industry in these countries may

Additionally, we have granted certain equity-based awards under our stock incentive plans and entered into certain other stock-based compensation arrangements in the past, as a result of which we have recorded $24.6 million, $13.2 million and $6.8 million as stock-based compensation expenses for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

Our future success heavily depends upon the continued services of our senior executives and other key employees. If one or more of our senior executives or key employees are unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, it could disrupt our business operations, and we may not be able to replace them easily or at all. In addition, competition for senior executives and key personnel in our industry is intense, and we may be unable to retain our senior executives and key personnel or attract and retain new senior executives and key personnel in the future, in which case our business may be severely disrupted.

If any of our senior executives or key personnel, such as business development managers, joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may lose clients, suppliers, know-how and key IT professionals and staff members to them. Additionally, there could be unauthorized disclosure or use of our technical knowledge, practices or procedures by such personnel. If any dispute arises between our senior executives or key personnel and us, any non-competition, non-solicitation and non-disclosure agreements we have with our senior executives or key personnel might not provide effective protection to us, especially in CIS and CEE countries where some of our senior executives and key employees reside, in light of uncertainties with legal systems in CIS and CEE countries.

Our business may be negatively affected by instability, disruption or destruction in a geographic region in which we operate, regardless of cause, including war, terrorism, riot, civil insurrection or social unrest; and natural or manmade disasters, including famine, flood, fire, earthquake, storm or disease. Such events may cause clients to delay their decisions on spending for IT services and give rise to sudden significant changes in regional and global economic conditions and cycles. These events also pose significant risks to our people and to physical facilities and operations around the world, whether the facilities are ours or those of our clients, which could materially adversely affect our financial results. By disrupting communications and travel, giving rise to travel restrictions, and increasing the difficulty of obtaining and retaining highly-skilled and qualified IT professionals, these events could make it difficult or impossible for us to deliver services to some or all of our clients. Travel restrictions could cause us to incur additional unexpected labor costs and expenses or could restrain our ability to retain the skilled IT professionals we need for our operations. In addition, any extended disruptions of electricity, other public utilities or network services at our facilities, as well as system failures at, or security breaches in, our facilities or systems, could also adversely affect our ability to serve our clients.

We have significant operations in CIS and CEE countries, India and beginning in 2014 in Asia,other Asian countries, which are generally considered to be emerging markets. Investors in emerging markets should be aware that these markets are vulnerable to market downturns and economic slowdowns elsewhere in the world and are subject to greater risks than more developed markets, including complying with foreign laws and regulations and the potential imposition of trade or foreign exchange restrictions or sanctions, tax increases, fluctuations in exchange rates, inflation and unstable political and military situations, and labor issues. For example, theThe economies of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary and other CIS and CEEcertain countries where we operate have experienced periods of considerable instability and have been subject to abrupt downturns. Moreover, theseemerging markets have less established legal systems, which can be characterized by gaps in regulatory structures, selective enforcement of laws, and limited judicial and administrative guidance on legislation, among other limitations. As has happened in the past, financialFinancial problems or an increase in the perceived risks associated with investing in emerging economies could dampen foreign investment in these markets and materially adversely affect their economies. Such economic instability and any future deterioration in the international economic situation could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

EscalatingContinuing military activities in Ukraine and on its eastern border have combined with Ukraine’s weak economic conditions to createfuel ongoing uncertainty in Ukraine, Russia and other markets. TheIn response to the actions in Ukraine, have prompted condemnation from the international community and combined with the continuing political and economic uncertainties in Ukraine have had an adverse effect on the Ukrainian and Russian economies. In April 2014, theEU, United States, Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) added certain individualsCanada, Japan, Switzerland and entities to its list of Specially Designated Nationals. In Julyother nations have imposed, and September 2014, OFAC imposed limited,may continue imposing further, economic sanctions, including specific sanctions on certain Russian entities by listing them on the Sectoral Sanctions Identification

We have delivery centers in the Ukraine employing approximately 2,9563,734 IT professionals, none of which are located in Crimea.the most volatile regions of Eastern Ukraine. We also have delivery centers in Russia, employing approximately 1,7142,235 IT professionals located in various cities including Moscow and St. Petersburg. To date we have not experienced any interruption in our office infrastructure, utility supply or Internet connectivity. All EPAM offices remain open and fully functional, including those we use in the Ukraine and Russiaconnectivity needed to support our clients. We continue to monitor the situation closely. Our contingency plans include relocating work or personnel to other locations and adding new locations, as appropriate. We have no way to predict the progress or outcome of the situation, as the political and civil unrest and reported military activities are fluid and beyond our control.  Prolonged unrest, military activities, or broad-basedpolitical instability in Ukraine, sanctions should they be implemented,against Russia and Russia’s potential response to such sanctions could have a material adverse effect on our operations.

Our ability to maintain close relationships with our major clients is essential to the growth and profitability of our business. However, the volume of work performed for any specific client is likely to vary from year to year, especially since we generally are not our clients’ exclusive IT services provider and we do not have long-term commitments from any clients to purchase our services. The IT services we provide to our clients, and the revenues and net income from those services, may decline or vary based on the type and quantity of services we provide, wage inflation and other pricing considerations. Furthermore, our reliance on any individual client for a significant portion of our revenues may give that client a certain degree of pricing leverage against us when negotiating contracts and terms of service. The loss of any of our major clients, or a significant decrease in the volume of work they outsource to us or the price at which we sell our services to them, could materially adversely affect our revenues and thus our results of operations.

There are a number of factors relating to our clients that are outside of our control, which might lead them to terminate a contract or project with us, including a client's:client’s:

A substantial portion of our clients is concentrated in fourfive specific industry verticals: Banking and Financial Services; ISVsSoftware and Technology; Business InformationHi-Tech; Media and Media; andEntertainment; Travel and Consumer.Consumer; and Life Sciences and Healthcare. Our business growth largely depends on

A downturn in any of our targeted industries, a slowdown or reversal of the trend to outsource IT services in any of these industries or the introduction of regulations that restrict or discourage companies from outsourcing could result in a decrease in the demand for our services and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, a worsening of economic conditions in the financial services industry, or significant consolidation in any of these industries may reduce the demand for our services and negatively affect our revenues and profitability. Other developments in the industries in which we operate may also lead to a decline in the demand for our services, and we may not be able to successfully anticipate and prepare for any such changes. Decreased demand for our services, or increased pricing pressure on us from our clients in these key industries could adversely affect our results of operations.

We negotiate pricing terms with our clients utilizing a range of pricing structures and conditions. We face a number of risks when pricing our contracts. Our pricing is highly dependent on our internal forecasts, assumptions and predictions about our projects, the marketplace and global economic conditions (including foreign exchange volatility), which may be based on limited data and could be inaccurate.. Many of our projects entail the coordination of operations and personnel in multiple locations with different skill sets and competencies. Our pricing and cost estimates for the work that we perform sometimesmay include anticipated long-term cost savings from transformational and other initiatives that we expect to achieve and sustain over the life of the contract. There is a risk thatBecause of these inherent uncertainties, we willmay underprice our projects particularly(particularly with fixed-price contracts,contracts), fail to accurately estimate the costs of performing the work or fail to accurately assess the risks associated with potential contracts. In particular, anyAny increased or unexpected costs, delays or failures to achieve anticipated cost savings, or unexpected risks we encounter in connection with the performance of this work, including those caused by factors outside our control, could make these contracts less profitable or unprofitable. Moreover, if we are not able to pass on to our clients increases in compensation cost (whether driven by competition for talent or ordinary-course pay increases) or charge premium prices when justified by market demand or the type of service, our profitability may suffer.

In addition, a number of our contracts contain pricing terms that condition a portion of the payment of fees by the client on our ability to meet defined performance goals, service levels and completion schedules set forth in the contracts. Our failure to meet such performance goals, service levels or completion schedules or our failure to meet client expectations in such contracts may result in less profitable or unprofitable engagements.

Our profitability is significantly impacted by our utilization levels of fixed-cost resources, including human resources as well as other resources such as computers and office space, and our ability to increase our productivity levels. We have expanded our operations significantly in recent years, which has resulted in a significant increase inmaterially increased both our headcount and fixed overhead costs. Some of our IT professionals are specially trained to work for specific clients or on specific projects and some of our offshore development centers are dedicated to specific clients or specific projects. Our ability to manage our utilization levels depends significantly on our ability to hire and train high-performing IT professionals and to staff projects appropriately, and on the general economy and its effect on our clients and their business decisions regarding the use of our services. If we experience a slowdown or stoppage of work for any client or on any project for which we have dedicated IT professionals or facilities, we may not be able to efficiently reallocate these IT professionals and facilities to other clients and projects to keep their utilization and productivity levels high. If we are not able to maintain optimal resource utilization levels without corresponding cost reductions or price increases, our profitability will suffer.

To successfully perform larger and more complex projects, we need to establish and maintain effective, close relationships with our clients, continue high levels of client satisfaction and develop a thorough understanding of our clients’ operations. In addition, we may face a number of challenges managing larger and more complex projects, including:

Our ability to successfully manage large and complex projects depends significantly on the skills of our management personnel and IT professionals, some of whom do not have experience managing large-scale or complex projects. In addition, large and complex projects may involve multiple engagements or stages, and there is a risk that a client may choose not to retain us for additional stages or may cancel or delay additional planned engagements. Such cancellations or delays may make it difficult to plan our project resource requirements. If we fail to successfully obtain engagements for large and complex projects, we may not achieve our revenue growth and other financial goals. Even if we are successful in obtaining such engagements, a failure by us to effectively manage these large and complex projects could damage our reputation, cause us to lose business, impactcompress our margins and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We have a long selling cycle for our IT services, which requires significant investment of human resources and time by both our clients and us. Before committing to use our services, potential clients require us to expend substantial time and resources educating them on the value of our services and our ability to meet their requirements. Therefore, our selling cycle is subject to many risks and delays over which we have little or no control, including our clients’ decision to choose alternatives to our services (such as other IT services providers or in-house resources) and the timing of our clients’ budget cycles and approval processes. If our sales cycle unexpectedly lengthens for one or more large projects, it would negatively affect the timing of our revenues and hinder our revenue growth. For certain clients, we may begin work and incur costs prior to executing a contract. A delay in our ability to obtain a signed agreement or other persuasive evidence of an arrangement, or to complete certain contract requirements in a particular quarter, could reduce our revenues in that quarter.

Implementing our services also involves a significant commitment of resources over an extended period of time from both our clients and us. Our clients may experience delays in obtaining internal approvals or delays associated with technology, thereby further delaying the implementation process. Our current and future clients may not be willing or able to invest the time and resources necessary to implement our services, and we may fail to close sales with potential clients to whom we have devoted significant time and resources. Any significant failure to generate revenues or delays in recognizing revenues after incurring costs related to our sales or services process could materially adversely affect our business.

Our business depends on our ability to successfully obtain payment from our clients of the amounts they owe us for work performed. We usually bill and collect on relatively short cycles. We maintain allowances against receivables. Actual losses on client balances could differ from those that we currently anticipate and, as a result, we might need to adjust our allowances. There is no guarantee that we will accurately assess the creditworthiness of our clients. Weak or volatile macroeconomic conditions and related turmoil in the global financial system conditions could also result in financial difficulties including limited access to the credit markets, insolvency, or bankruptcy for our clients, and, as a result, could cause clients to delay payments to us, request modifications to their payment arrangements that could increase our receivables balance, or default on their payment obligations to us. Timely collection of client balances also depends on our ability to complete our contractual commitments and bill and collect our contracted revenues. If we are unable to meet our contractual requirements, we might experience delays in collection of and/or be unable to collect our client balances, and if this occurs, our results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely affected. Moreover, in the event of delays in payment from our governmental and quasi-governmental clients, we may have difficulty collecting on receivables owed. In addition, if we experience an increase in the time to bill and collect for our services, our cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

The market for IT services is highly competitive, and we expect competition to persist and intensify. We believe that the principal competitive factors in our markets are reputation and track record, industry expertise, breadth and depth of service offerings, quality of the services offered, language, marketing and selling skills, scalability of infrastructure, ability to address clients’ timing requirements and price.

Current or prospective clients may elect to perform certain services themselves or may be discouraged from transferring services from onshore to offshore IT services providers to avoid negative perceptions that may be associated with using an offshore IT services provider. This shift away from offshore outsourcing would seriously harm our ability to compete effectively with competitors that provide services from within the countries in which our clients operate.

Some of our present and potential competitors may have substantially greater financial, marketing or technical resources than EPAM. Client buying patterns can change if clients become more price sensitive and accepting of low-cost suppliers with less emphasis on quality. Therefore, we cannot assure you that we will be able to retain our clients while competing against such competitors. Increased competition, our inability to compete successfully, pricing pressures or loss of market share could materially adversely affect our business.

Our services are marketed to clients and prospective clients based on a number of factors. Since many of our specific client engagements involve unique services and solutions, our corporate reputation is a significant factor in our clients’ evaluation of whether to engage our service, and our clients’ perception of our ability to add value through our services is critical to the profitability of our engagements. We believe the EPAM brand name and our reputation are important corporate assets that help distinguish our services from those of our competitors and also contribute to our efforts to recruit and retain talented employees.

However, our corporate reputation is potentially susceptible to damage by actions or statements made by current or former clients, competitors, vendors, adversaries in legal proceedings, government regulators, as well as members of the investment community and the media. There is a risk that negative information about our company, even if based on false rumor or misunderstanding, could adversely affect our business. In particular, damage to our reputation could be difficult and time-consuming to repair, could make potential or existing clients reluctant to select us for new engagements, resulting in a loss of business, and could adversely affect our recruitment and retention efforts. Damage to our reputation could also reduce the value and effectiveness of the EPAM brand name and could reduce investor confidence in us.

Rapidly changing technologies, methodologies and evolving industry standards are inherent in the market for our services. Our future success will depend in part upon our ability to anticipate developments in IT services, enhance our existing services and to develop and introduce new services to keep pace with such changes and developments and to meet changing client needs. The process of developing our client solutions is extremely complex and is expected to become increasingly complex and expensive in the future due to the introduction of new platforms, operating systems, technologies and methodologies. Our ability to keep pace with, anticipate or respond to changes in technology, methodology and business is subject to a number of risks, including that:

We may not be successful in anticipating or responding to these developments in a timely manner, or if we do respond, the services, technologies or methodologies we develop or implement may not be successful in the marketplace. Further, services, technologies or methodologies that are developed by our competitors may render our services non-competitive or obsolete. Our failure to enhance our existing services and to develop and introduce new services to promptly address the needs of our clients could cause us to lose clients and materially adversely affect our business.

Our software development solutions involve a high degree of technological complexity, have unique specifications and could contain design defects or software errors that are difficult to detect and correct. Errors or defects may result in the loss of current clients and loss of, or delay in, revenues, loss of market share, loss of client data, a failure to attract new clients or achieve market acceptance, diversion of development resources and increased support or service costs. We cannot provide assurance that, despite testing by our clients and us, errors will not be found in new software product development solutions, which could result in litigation, other claims for damages against us, as well as reputational harm and thus could materially adversely affect our business.

In the ordinary course of business, we have access to, collect, store, process and transmit sensitive or confidential data, including intellectual property, our proprietary business information and that of our clients, and personally identifiable information of our clients and employees, in our data centers and on our networks. The secure processing, maintenance and transmission of this information is critical to our operations and business strategy. Despite our security measures, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or breached due to human error, malfeasance or other disruptions. Any such breach could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed, publicly disclosed, misappropriated, lost or stolen. Any such access, disclosure or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under applicable laws that protect the privacy of personal information and regulatory penalties. Such a breach or disruption could also disrupt our operations and the services we provide to customers, damage our reputation, and cause a loss of confidence in our products and services, as well as require us to expend significant resources to protect against further breaches and to rectify problems caused by such a breach or disruption. Any of these results could adversely affect our business, revenues and competitive position.

Part of our service model is to maintain active voice and data communications, financial control, accounting, customer service and other data processing systems between our clients’ offices, our delivery centers and our client management locations (including our headquarters in Newtown, PA).locations. Moreover, many of our key systems for corporate operations are internally-developed applications. Our business activities may be materially disrupted in the event of a partial or complete failure of any of these internet, IT or communication systems, which could be caused by, among other things, software malfunction, computer virus attacks, conversion errors due to system upgrading, damage from fire, earthquake, power loss, telecommunications failure, unauthorized entry, demands placed on internet infrastructure by growing numbers of users and time spent online or increased bandwidth requirements or other events beyond our control. Internally-developed systems may not possess the same level of control, security or support that traditional third-party systems and applications do. Loss of all or part of the infrastructure or systems for a period of time could hinder our performance or our ability to complete client projects on time which, in turn, could lead to a reduction of our revenue or otherwise materially adversely affect our business and business reputation.

If any person, including any of our employees,personnel, misappropriates sensitive or confidential client information, including personally identifiable information, we could be subject to significant liability from our clients or from our clients’ customers for breaching contractual confidentiality provisions or privacy laws. Some of our client agreements do not limit our potential liability for certain occurrences, including breaches of confidentiality and infringement indemnity. Furthermore, breaches of confidentiality may entitle the aggrieved party to equitable remedies, including injunctive relief. Any such breach or misappropriation resulting in unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential client information, or a violation of intellectual property rights, whether through employee misconduct, breach of our computer systems, systems failure or otherwise, may subject us to liabilities, damage our reputation and cause us to lose clients.

If our IT professionals make errors in the course of delivering services to our clients or fail to consistently meet service requirements of a client, these errors or failures could disrupt the client’s business, which could result in a reduction in our revenues or a claim for substantial damages against us. Furthermore, any errors by our employees in the performance of services for a client, or poor execution of such services, could result in a client terminating our engagement and seeking damages from us. In addition, a failure or inability to meet a contractual requirement could seriously damage our reputation and affect our ability to attract new business. Any failure in a client’s system or breach of security relating to the services we provide to the client could damage our reputation or result in a claim for substantial

We have madeAs our business grows, we may invest in new facilities and continue to make significant contractual commitments related to capital expenditures on construction or expansion of our delivery centers, such as in Minsk, Belarus.physical infrastructure. We may encounter cost overruns or project delays in connection with new facilities. These expansions will likely increase our fixed costs and if we are unable to grow our business and revenues proportionately, our profitability may be reduced.

We have from time to time expandedPart of our service capabilities and gained new clients throughexpansion strategy includes strategic acquisitions. Our abilityThese transactions involve significant challenges, including that the risk that an acquisition does not advance our business strategy, that we do not achieve a satisfactory return on our investment, that we are unable to successfully integrate acquired assets or an acquired entitycompany’s employees, client relationships and realize the benefits of an acquisition requires, among other things, successful integration of technologies, operations, and personnel in a timely and efficient manner. Challenges we face inthat the acquisition and integration process include:

The primary value of many potential acquisition targets in the IT services industry lies in their skilled IT professionals and established client relationships. Transitioning these types of assets to our business can be particularly difficult due to different corporate cultures and values, geographic distance and other intangible factors. For example, some newly acquired employees may decide not to work with us or to leave shortly after their move to our company and some acquired clients may decide to discontinue their commercial relationships with us. These challenges could disrupt our ongoing business, distract our management and employees and increase our expenses, including causing us to incur significant one-time expenses and write-offs, and make it more difficult and complex for our management to effectively manage our operations. If we are not able to successfully integrate an acquired entity and its operations and to realize the benefits envisioned for such acquisition, our overall growth and profitability plans may be adversely affected.

We conduct business globally and file income tax returns in multiple jurisdictions. Our effective tax rate could be materially adversely affected by several factors, including changes in the amount of income taxed by or allocated to the various jurisdictions in which we operate that have differing statutory tax rates; changing tax laws, regulations and interpretations of

We report our results of operations based on our determination of the amount of taxes owed in the various jurisdictions in which we operate. We have transfer pricing arrangements among our subsidiaries in relation to various aspects of our business, including operations, marketing, sales and delivery functions. U.S. transfer pricing regulations, as well as regulations applicable in other countries in which we operate, require that any international transaction involving associated enterprises be on arm’s-length terms. We consider the transactions among our subsidiaries to be on arm’s-length terms. The determination of our provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities requires estimation, judgment and calculations where the ultimate tax determination may not be certain. Our determination of tax liability is always subject to review or examination by authorities in various jurisdictions.

If a tax authority in any jurisdiction reviews any of our tax returns and proposes an adjustment, including as a result of a determination that the transfer prices and terms we have applied are not appropriate, such an adjustment could have a negative impact on our business.

We do not accrue incremental U.S. taxes on all CIS and CEE earnings as these earnings (as well as other foreign earnings for all periods) are considered to be indefinitely reinvested outside of the United States. While we have no plans to do so, events may occur in the future that could effectively force us to change our intent not to repatriate our foreign earnings. If we change our intent and repatriate such earnings, we will have to accrue the applicable amount of taxes associated with such earnings and pay taxes at a substantially higher rate than our effective income tax rate in 2014.2015. These increased taxes could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Our subsidiary in Belarus is a member of the Belarus Hi-Tech Park, in which member technology companies are 100% exempt from Belarusian income tax (which as of the date of this annual report was 18%) and from the value added tax for a period of 15 consecutive years effective July 1, 2006 and levied at a reduced rate on a variety of taxes. In addition, our subsidiary in Hungary benefited from a tax credit of 10% of qualified salaries, taken over a four-year period, for up to 70% of the total tax due for that period. We have been able to take the full 70% credit for 2007 to 2012. The Hungarian tax authorities repealed the tax credit beginning with 2012. Credits earned in years prior to 2012, however, will be allowed through 2014. We have fully utilized the 70% limit in 2014. Our subsidiary in Russia benefits from a substantially reduced rate on social contributions and an exemption on value added tax in certain circumstances, which is a benefit to qualified IT companies in Russia. If thethese tax holiday relating to our Belarusian subsidiary, the tax incentives relating to our Hungarian subsidiary or the lower tax rates and social contributions relating to our Russian subsidiarybenefits are changed, terminated, not extended or comparable new tax incentives are not introduced, we expect that our effective income tax rate and/or our operating expenses would increase significantly, which could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. See “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations -Provision— Provision for Income Taxes.”

Some of our IT professionals are retained as independent contractors. Although we believe that we have properly classified these individuals as independent contractors, there is nevertheless a risk that the IRS or another federal, state, provincial or foreign authority will take a different view. Furthermore, the tests governing the determination of whether an individual is considered to be an independent contractor or an employee are typically fact sensitive and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Laws and regulations that governjurisdiction, as can the status and misclassificationinterpretation of independent contractors are subject to change or interpretation by various authorities.the applicable laws. If a federal, state, provincial or foreigngovernment authority or court enacts legislation or adopts regulations that change the manner in which employees and independent contractors are classifiedthese classification tests or makes any adverse determination with respect to some or all of our independent contractors, we could incur significant costs, under such laws and regulations, including for prior periods, in respect of tax withholding, social security taxes or payments, workers’ compensation and unemployment contributions, and recordkeeping, or we may be required to modify our business model, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. There is also a risk that we may be subject to significant monetary liabilities arising from fines or judgments as a result of any such actual or alleged non-compliance with federal, state, provincial or foreign tax laws.applicable laws in this area. Further, if it were determined that any of our independent contractors should be treated as employees, we could possibly incur additional liabilities under our applicable employee benefit plans.

In addition, we have classified nearly all of our U.S. employees as “exempt” under the Federal Labor Standards Act, or the FLSA. If it were determined that any of our U.S. employees should be classified as “non-exempt” under the FLSA, we may incur costs and liabilities for back wages, unpaid overtime, fines or penalties and/or be subject to employee litigation.

Although we maintain some insurance coverage, including professional liability insurance, property insurance coverage for certain of our facilities and equipment and business interruption insurance coverage for certain of our operations, we do not insure for all risks in our operations. If any claims for injury are brought against us, or if we experience any business disruption, litigation or natural disaster, we might incur substantial costs and diversion of resources.

Most of the agreements we have entered into with our clients require us to purchase and maintain specified insurance coverage during the terms of the agreements, including commercial general insurance or public liability insurance, umbrella insurance, product liability insurance, and workers’ compensation insurance. Some of these types of insurance are not available on reasonable terms or at all in CIS and CEE countries.some countries in which we operate. Although to date no client has brought any claims against us for such failure, our clients have the right to terminate these agreements as a result of such failure.

Banking and other financial systems in the CIS are less developed and regulated than in some more developed markets, and legislation relating to banks and bank accounts is subject to varying interpretations and inconsistent application. Banks in the CIS generally do not meet the banking standards of more developed markets, and the transparency of the banking sector lags behind international standards. Furthermore, in Russia, Belarus and other CIS countries, bank deposits made by corporate entities generally are not insured. As a result, the banking sector remains subject to periodic instability. Another banking crisis, or the bankruptcy or insolvency of banks through which we receive or with which we hold funds, particularly in Belarus, may result in the loss of our deposits or adversely affect our ability to complete banking transactions in the CIS,that region, which could materially adversely affect our business and financial condition.

If we fail to meet our contractual obligations or otherwise breach obligations to our clients, we could be subject to legal liability. We may enter into non-standard agreements because we perceive an important economic opportunity or because our personnel did not adequately adhere to our guidelines. In addition, the contracting practices of our competitors may cause contract terms and conditions that are unfavorable to us to become standard in the marketplace. If we cannot or do not perform our obligations, we could face legal liability and our contracts might not always protect us adequately through limitations on the scope and/or amount of our potential liability. As a result, we might face significant legal liability and payment obligations, and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark, unfair competition and trade secret laws, as well as intellectual property assignment and confidentiality agreements and other methods to protect our intellectual property rights. Protection of intellectual property rights and confidentiality in CIS and CEE countries, and othersome countries in which we operate may not be as effective as that in the United States or other countries with more mature legal systems.

We rely on our trademarks, trade names, service marks and brand names to distinguish our services and solutions from the services of our competitors, and have registered or applied to register many of these trademarks. We cannot assure you that our trademark applications will be approved. Third parties may oppose our trademark applications, or otherwise challenge our use of our trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our services and solutions, which could result in loss of brand recognition, and could require us to devote resources to advertising and marketing new brands. Further, we cannot assure you that competitors will not infringe our trademarks, or that we will have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks.

We may need to enforce our intellectual property rights through litigation. Litigation relating to our intellectual property may not prove successful and might result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention.

In addition, we rely on certain third-party software to conduct our business. If we lose the licenses which permit us to use such software, they may be difficult to replace and it may be costly to do so.

Our success largely depends on our ability to use and develop our technology, tools, code, methodologies and services without infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties, including patents, copyrights, trade secrets and trademarks. We may be subject to litigation involving claims of patent infringement or violation of other intellectual property rights of third parties.

We typically indemnify clients who purchase our services and solutions against potential infringement of intellectual property rights, which subjects us to the risk of indemnification claims. These claims may require us to initiate or defend protracted and costly litigation on behalf of our clients, regardless of the merits of these claims and are often not subject to liability limits or exclusion of consequential, indirect or punitive damages. If any of these claims succeed, we may be forced to

The holders of patents and other intellectual property rights potentially relevant to our service offerings may make it difficult for us to acquire a license on commercially acceptable terms. In addition, we may be unaware of intellectual property registrations or applications relating to our services that may give rise to potential infringement claims against us. There may also be technologies licensed to and relied on by us that are subject to infringement or other corresponding allegations or claims by third parties, which may damage our ability to rely on such technologies.

Further, our current and former employees and/or subcontractors could challenge our exclusive rights in the software they have developed in the course of their employment. In Russia and certain other countries in which we operate, an employer is deemed to own the copyright in works created by its employees during the course, and within the scope, of their employment, but the employer may be required to satisfy additional legal requirements in order to make further use and dispose of such works. While we believe that we have complied with all such requirements, and have fulfilled all requirements necessary to acquire all rights in software developed by our independent contractors and/or subcontractors, these requirements are often ambiguously defined and enforced. As a result, we cannot assure that we would be successful in defending against any claim by our current or former employees, independent contractors and/or subcontractors challenging our exclusive rights over the use and transfer of works those employees, independent contractors and/or subcontractors created or requesting additional compensation for such works.

Parties making infringement claims may be able to obtain an injunction to prevent us from delivering our services or using technology involving the allegedly infringing intellectual property. Intellectual property litigation is expensive, time-consuming and could divert management’s attention from our business. A successful infringement claim against us, whether with or without merit, could, among others things, require us to pay substantial damages, develop non-infringing technology, or rebrand our name or enter into royalty or license agreements that may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all, and would require us to cease making, licensing or using products that have infringed a third party’s intellectual property rights. Protracted litigation could also result in existing or potential clients deferring or limiting their purchase or use of our software product development services or solutions until resolution of such litigation, or could require us to indemnify our clients against infringement claims in certain instances. Any of these actions, regardless of the outcome of litigation or merits of the claim, could damage our reputation and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As a company with international operations, we are subject to many laws and regulations restricting our operations, including activities involving restricted countries, organizations, entities and persons that have been identified as unlawful actors or that are subject to U.S. sanctions imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, or other international sanctions that prohibit us from engaging in trade or financial transactions with certain countries, businesses, organizations and individuals. We are subject to the FCPA, which prohibits U.S. companies and their intermediaries from bribing foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business or otherwise obtaining favorable treatment, and other laws concerning our international operations. The FCPA’s foreign counterparts contain similar prohibitions, although varying in both scope and jurisdiction and not limited to transactions with government officials. We operate in many parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption to some degree, and, in certain circumstances, strict compliance with anti-bribery laws may conflict with local customs and practices.

We have a compliance program with controls and procedures designed to ensure our compliance with the FCPA, OFAC sanctions, and similar sanctions, laws and regulations. The continuing implementation and ongoing development and monitoring of such program may be time consuming and expensive, and could result in the discovery of issues or violations with respect to the foregoing by us or our employees, independent contractors, subcontractors or agents of which we were previously unaware.

Any violations of these or other laws, regulations and procedures by our employees, independent contractors, subcontractors and agents could expose us to administrative, civil or criminal penalties, fines or business restrictions and would adversely affect our reputation and the market for shares of our common stock and may require certain of our investors to disclose their investment in our company under certain state laws.

The vast majority of our employees are nationals of CIS and CEE countries.countries, and in 2015, we added significant headcount in India. Some of our projects require a portion of the work to be undertaken at our clients’ facilities, which are sometimes located outside the CIS, CEE and CEE.India. The ability of our employees to work in necessary locations around the United States, Europe, the CIS and CEE, and other countries outside the CIS and CEEworld depends on their ability to obtain the necessaryrequired visas and work permits. Historically, thepermits, and this process for obtaining visas for nationals of CIS and CEE countries to certain countries, including the United States and Europe, has beencan be lengthy and cumbersome.difficult. Immigration laws in the United States and in other countries are subject to legislative change, as well as to variations in standards of application and enforcement due to political forces and economic conditions.

In addition, the issue of companies outsourcing services to organizations operating in other countries is a topic of political discussion in many countries, including the United States, which is our largest source of revenues. Many organizations and public figures in the United States and Europe have publicly expressed concern about a perceived association between offshore outsourcing IT services providers and the loss of jobs in their home countries, and there are legislative measures under consideration in the U.S. Congress and in various state legislatures to address this concern. It is possible that pending legislation in the United States may impose restrictions on our ability to deploy employees holding U.S. work visas to client locations, which could adversely impact our ability to do business in the jurisdictions in which we have clients.business. It is generally difficult to predict the political and economic events that could affect immigration laws, or the restrictive impact they could have on obtaining or maintaining business visas for our employees. However, if enacted, such measures may broaden restrictions on outsourcing by federal and state government agencies and on government contracts with firms that outsource services directly or indirectly, impact private industry with measures such as tax disincentives or intellectual property transfer restrictions, and/or restrict the use of certain work visas.

Our reliance on visas for a number of employees makes us vulnerable to such changes and variations as it affects our ability to staff projects with employees who are not citizens of the country where the work is to be performed. We may not be able to obtain a sufficient number of visas for our employees or we may encounter delays or additional costs in obtaining or maintaining such visas, in which case we may not be able to provide services to our clients on a timely and cost-effective basis or manage our sales and delivery centers as efficiently as we otherwise could, any of which could hamper our growth and cause our revenues to decline.

Similarly, legislation enacted in certain European jurisdictions and any future legislation in European jurisdictions or any other country in which we have clients restricting the performance of services from an offshore location could also materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, legislation enacted in the United Kingdom, based on the 1977 EC Acquired Rights Directive, has been adopted in some form by many European Union countries, and provides that if a company outsources all or part of its business to an IT services provider or changes its current IT services provider, the affected employees of the company or of the previous IT services provider are entitled to become employees of the new IT services provider, generally on the same terms and conditions as their original employment. In addition, dismissals of employees who were employed by the company or the previous IT services provider immediately prior to that transfer are automatically considered unfair dismissals that entitle such employees to compensation. As a result, in order to avoid unfair dismissal claims, we may have to offer, and become liable for, voluntary redundancy payments to the employees of our clients who outsource business to us in the United Kingdom and other European Union countries who have adopted similar laws. This legislation could materially affect our ability to obtain new business from companies in the United Kingdom and European Union and to provide outsourced services to companies in the United Kingdom and European Union in a cost-effective manner.

We operate in CIS countries primarily through locally organized subsidiaries. Certain provisions of Russian law and the laws of other CIS countries may allow a court to order liquidation of a locally organized legal entity on the basis of its formal noncompliance with certain requirements during formation, reorganization or during its operations. If the company fails to comply with certain requirements including those relating to minimum net assets, governmental or local authorities can seek the involuntary liquidation of such company in court, and the company’s creditors will have the right to accelerate their claims or demand early performance of the company’s obligations as well as demand compensation of any damages. If involuntary liquidation of any of our subsidiaries were to occur, such liquidation could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We believe that our current cash, cash flow from operations and revolving line of credit are sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for at least the next 12 months. We may, however, require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions or other future developments, including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to pursue. If these resources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity or debt securities or obtain another credit facility. The sale of additional equity securities could result in dilution to our stockholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could require us to agree to operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. Our ability to obtain additional capital on acceptable terms is subject to a variety of uncertainties, including:

Our common stock has at times experienced substantial price volatility as a result of variations between our actual and anticipated financial results, announcements by our competitors and us, projections or speculation about our business or that of our competitors by the media or investment analysts or uncertainty about current global economic conditions. The stock market, as a whole, also has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected the market price of many technology companies in ways that may have been unrelated to these companies’ operating performance. Furthermore, we believe our stock price should reflect future growth and profitability expectations and, if we fail to meet these expectations, our stock price may significantly decline.

Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, SEC regulations and New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, rules, are creating uncertainty for companies such as ours. These new or changed laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies, which could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and corporate governance practices. As a result, our efforts to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards have resulted in, and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new or changed laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to practice, our reputation may be harmed.

None.