Summary of Significant Accounting Policies | Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Basis of Presentation The consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared on the accrual basis of accounting in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Operating and Reportable Segment The Company operates and manages its business and financial information on a consolidated basis for the purposes of evaluating financial performance and the allocation of resources. The Company's management determined that it operates in one operating and reportable segment that is focused exclusively on providing cloud-based digital solutions in the United States. In reaching this conclusion, management considers the definition of the chief operating decision maker (“CODM”), how the business is defined by the CODM, the nature of the information provided to the CODM and how that information is used to make operating decisions, allocate resources, and assess performance. The Company's CODM is the chief executive officer. The results of operations provided to and analyzed by the CODM are at the consolidated level, and accordingly, key resource decisions and assessment of performance are performed at the consolidated level. The Company assesses its determination of operating segments at least annually. The following table disaggregates the Company’s net revenues by solution type (in thousands): Year Ended December 31, 2021 2020 2019 Lending Software Solutions $ 176,793 $ 133,754 $ 113,296 Data Verification Software Solutions 90,883 65,586 39,435 Total $ 267,676 $ 199,340 $ 152,731 Lending Software Solutions accounted for 66%, 67%, and 74% of total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. Data Verification Software Solutions accounted for 34%, 33%, and 26% of total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. Business Combinations The Company accounts for business combinations in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 805, “Business Combinations.” The results of businesses acquired in a business combination are included in the Company’s consolidated financial statements from the date of the acquisition. Purchase accounting results in assets and liabilities of an acquired business generally being recorded at their estimated fair values on the acquisition date. Any excess consideration over the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed is recognized as goodwill. Transaction costs associated with business combinations are expensed as incurred and are included in acquisition related costs on the consolidated statements of operations. The Company performs valuations of assets acquired and liabilities assumed and allocates the purchase price to its respective assets and liabilities. Determining the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed requires management to use significant judgment and estimates, including the selection of valuation methodologies, estimates of future revenue, costs and cash flows, discount rates, and selection of comparable companies. The Company engages the assistance of valuation specialists in concluding on fair value measurements in connection with management’s determination of the fair values of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business combination. During the measurement period, if new information is obtained about facts and circumstances that existed as of the acquisition date, changes in the estimated fair values of the net assets recorded may change the amount of the purchase price allocated to goodwill. During the measurement period, which expires one year from the acquisition date, changes to any purchase price allocations that are material to the Company’s consolidated financial results will be adjusted prospectively. Use of Estimates The preparation of the accompanying consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses. Significant items subject to such estimates include revenue recognition including determining the nature and timing of satisfaction of performance obligations, variable consideration, standalone selling price, and other revenue items requiring significant judgment; share-based compensation; the fair value of acquired intangibles; the capitalization of software development costs; the useful lives of property and equipment and long-lived intangible assets; impairment of goodwill and long-lived assets; and income taxes. In accordance with GAAP, management bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that management believes are reasonable under the circumstances. Management regularly evaluates its estimates and assumptions using historical experience and other factors; however, actual results could differ significantly from those estimates. Accounting policies and estimates that most significantly impact the presented amounts within these financial statements are further described below: Cash and Cash Equivalents The Company considers all highly liquid investments with an original maturity date of three months or less to be cash equivalents. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, cash consisted of checking deposit accounts and demand deposit accounts. As of December 31, 2021, cash equivalents included $60.0 million held in a money market fund. There were no cash equivalents held as of December 31, 2020. Restricted Cash Any cash that is legally or contractually restricted from immediate use is classified as restricted cash. The Company held no restricted cash as of December 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2020, restricted cash included cash held in escrow to pay-off TCI’s outstanding PPP Loan in the event the loan was not forgiven by the SBA, as a part of the acquisition of TCI (see Note 11). The Company received notice in June 2021 that the entirety of the loan was forgiven by the SBA, and the Company subsequently released the cash held in escrow to the sellers of TCI in August 2021. As of December 31, 2020, prior to receiving forgiveness from the SBA, the corresponding liability was included within long- and short-term debt on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. Fair Value of Financial Instruments The Company accounts for certain of its financial assets at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in an orderly transaction between market participants at the reporting date. The accounting guidance establishes a three-tiered hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in the valuation methodologies in measuring fair value as follows: • Level 1 – Quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets that are accessible at the measurement date for identical assets or liabilities. • Level 2 – Observable inputs other than quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in inactive markets, or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities. • Level 3 – Inputs that are generally unobservable and typically reflect management’s estimates of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. The carrying amounts of most of the Company’s financial instruments, including cash and cash equivalents approximate fair value due to their high liquidity in actively quoted trading markets and their short maturities. The Company’s accounts receivable, related party receivable due from sellers of MeridianLink, accounts payable, accrued liabilities, related party liability due to sellers of MeridianLink, and deferred revenue approximate fair value due to their short maturities. The carrying value of the Company’s long-term debt is considered to approximate the fair value of such debt as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, based upon the interest rates that the Company believes it can currently obtain for similar debt, which is considered a level 2 input to determine fair value. Certain trademark intangible assets were recorded at fair value as of December 31, 2020 in connection with the Company’s impairment testing. The inputs used to measure the fair value of these assets are primarily unobservable inputs and, as such, considered Level 3 fair value measurements. Concentration of Credit Risk Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentration of credit risk consist principally of cash and cash equivalents and accounts receivable. Cash and cash equivalents are invested in short-term and highly liquid investment-grade obligations, which are held in safekeeping by large and creditworthy financial institutions. Deposits in these financial institutions may exceed federally insured limits. As of December 31, 2021, the Company did not have any customers that accounted for greater than 10% of accounts receivable or 10% of net revenues. As of December 31, 2020, there was one customer, Credit Plus, Inc., that accounted for approximately 15% of accounts receivable and 10% of net revenues. Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts Accounts receivable includes billed and unbilled receivables, net of allowance for doubtful accounts. Trade accounts receivable are recorded at invoiced amounts and do not bear interest. The expectation of collectability is based on a review of credit profiles of customers, contractual terms and conditions, current economic trends, and historical payment experience. The Company regularly reviews the adequacy of the allowance for doubtful accounts by considering the age of each outstanding invoice and the collection history of each customer to determine the appropriate amount of allowance for doubtful accounts. Any increases or decreases to this allowance are charged or credited, respectively, as a bad debt expense to general and administrative expenses. Accounts receivable deemed uncollectible are charged against the allowance for doubtful accounts when identified. The following table presents changes in the Company’s allowance for doubtful accounts: Year Ended December 31, 2021 2020 Beginning Balance $ (641) $ (2,011) Provision for doubtful accounts — — Write offs, net 426 1,370 Ending Balance $ (215) $ (641) Property and Equipment The Company records property and equipment at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is computed on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives of the assets as follows: Asset Category Life (years) Computer equipment and software 3 – 5 years Office equipment and furniture 3 – 7 years Buildings 25 years Leasehold improvements Shorter of the lease term and the estimated useful lives of the assets Expenditures for maintenance and repairs are charged to expense as incurred, and major renewals and improvements are capitalized. Gains or losses on disposal of property and equipment are recognized in the period when the assets are sold or disposed of and the related cost and accumulated depreciation is removed from the accounts. Goodwill The Company evaluates and tests the recoverability of goodwill for impairment at least annually, on October 1, or more frequently if circumstances indicate that goodwill may not be recoverable. The Company performs the impairment testing by first assessing qualitative factors to determine whether the existence of events or circumstances leads to a determination that it is more likely than not that the fair value of its reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. The Company has one reporting unit. If, after assessing the totality of events or circumstances, the Company determines it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, the Company tests for impairment by comparing the estimated fair value of the reporting unit with its carrying amount. The Company estimates the fair value of the reporting unit using a “step one” analysis using a fair-value-based approach based on the Company’s market capitalization or a discounted cash flow analysis of projected future results to determine if it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. Any excess of the carrying amount of the reporting unit’s goodwill over its fair value is recognized as an impairment loss, and the carrying value of goodwill is written down. In assessing the qualitative factors, the Company considers the impact of certain key factors including macroeconomic conditions, industry and market considerations, management turnover, changes in regulation, litigation matters, changes in enterprise value, and overall financial performance. No goodwill impairment was recorded during the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019. Research and Development and Capitalized Software For development costs related to internal use software, such as the Company’s subscription offerings, the Company follows guidance of ASC 350-40, “Internal Use Software.” ASC 350-40 sets forth the guidance for costs incurred for computer software developed or obtained for internal use and requires companies to capitalize qualifying computer software development costs, which are incurred during the application development stage. Once the application development stage is reached, internal and external costs are capitalized until the software is substantially complete and ready for its intended use. These capitalized costs are to be amortized on a straight-line basis over the expected useful life of the software of three years. Costs related to preliminary project activities and post-implementation activities are expensed as incurred. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, the Company capitalized $5.0 million, $3.2 million, and $2.7 million respectively, related to internally developed software costs. Such capitalized costs related to developed technology are included within the intangible assets balance in the consolidated balance sheets. Deferred Offering Costs Costs directly related to the Company’s IPO were capitalized and recorded on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets until the IPO. These costs consisted of legal fees, accounting fees, and other applicable professional services incurred incrementally as a result of the IPO. After completion of the Company’s IPO, $5.2 million of deferred offering costs were reclassified to additional paid-in capital. As of December 31, 2020, $1.0 million of deferred offering costs were reported on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets within prepaid expenses and other current assets. Impairment of Long-Lived Assets Identifiable intangible assets with finite lives, such as developed technology, customers relationships, trademarks, and non-competition agreements, are amortized over their estimated useful lives on either a straight-line or accelerated basis, depending on the nature of the intangible asset. The Company evaluates the carrying value of long-lived assets, including intangible assets with finite lives and property and equipment, whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of the asset may not be recoverable. If circumstances require a long-lived asset be tested for possible impairment, the Company first compares undiscounted cash flows expected to be generated by an asset to the carrying value of the asset. If the carrying value of the long-lived asset is not recoverable on an undiscounted cash flow basis, impairment is recognized to the extent that the carrying value exceeds its fair value. The impairment to be recognized is measured as the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the fair value of the assets. No impairment of long-lived assets was recorded during the years ended December 31, 2021 or 2019. During 2020, the Company performed an impairment test of definite-lived trademarks which was triggered by the Company’s decision to rebrand certain products. Specifically, management made a decision to rebrand the LendingQB and LoansPQ products which were replaced by the “MeridianLink” branded product line. As a result of the rebranding decision in December 2020, which was determined to be a triggering event, the Company recorded an impairment equal to the majority of the value of the LendingQB and LoansPQ trademarks carrying values of $5.4 million, which is included in the impairment of trademarks line on the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. No other impairments of long-lived assets were recorded during the year ended December 31, 2020. Cumulative Preferred Return Prior to the Corporate Conversion, Class A preferred unitholders were entitled to a cumulative preferred return, as disclosed further in Note 6. At each reporting period-end, the Company evaluated whether the Class A Units were considered currently redeemable or probable of becoming redeemable in accordance with ASC 480-10, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity,” based on the facts and circumstances of the deemed liquidation events that would give rise to the redemption of the units. In accordance with the prescribed accounting literature, the Company would not record the cumulative preferred return in the consolidated financial statements until the Company determined that such units were probable of becoming redeemable. Upon the Corporate Conversion, the Company converted each of its outstanding Class A Units into a number of shares of common stock equal to the result of the accrued preferred return price per Class A Unit divided by the conversion price per share of common stock, as determined by the board of directors. Following the Corporate Conversion, there were no units of Class A Units outstanding. See Note 1 for further information on the Corporate Conversion. Revenue Recognition Revenue-generating activities are directly related to the sale, implementation, and support of the Company’s solutions. The Company derives the majority of its revenues from subscription fees for the use of its solutions hosted in either the Company’s data centers or cloud-based hosting services, volume-based fees, as well as revenues for customer support and professional implementation services related to the Company’s solutions. Under ASC 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers,” revenue is recognized upon the transfer of control of a promised service to a customer in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to receive in exchange for those services, net of sales taxes. The Company applies the following five-step revenue recognition model in accounting for its revenue arrangements: • Identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer; • Identification of the performance obligations in the contract; • Determination of the transaction price; • Allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and • Recognition of revenue when or as the Company satisfies the performance obligations. Subscription Fee Revenues The Company’s software solutions are generally available for use as hosted application arrangements under subscription fee agreements. The Company’s software solutions consist of an obligation for the Company to provide continuous access to a technology solution that it hosts and routine customer support, both of which the Company accounts for as a stand-ready performance obligation. Subscription fees from these applications are recognized over time on a ratable basis over the customer agreement term beginning on the date the Company’s solution is made available to the customer. Amounts that have been invoiced are recorded in accounts receivable and deferred revenues or revenues, depending on whether the revenue recognition criteria have been met. Additional fees for monthly usage above the levels included in the standard subscription fee are recognized as revenue in the month when the usage amounts are determined and reported. The Company has a limited number of legacy customers that host and manage its solutions on-premises under term license and maintenance agreements. This type of arrangement is no longer sold and represents an immaterial amount of the Company’s subscription fee revenues. However, there is no planned sunset or end of life for these on-premises solutions. Professional Services Revenues The Company offers implementation, consulting, and training services for the Company’s software solutions and SaaS offerings. Revenues from services are recognized in the period the services are performed, provided that collection of the related receivable is probable. Other Revenues The Company enters into referral and marketing agreements with various third parties, in which revenues for the Company are primarily generated from transactions initiated by the third parties’ customers. The Company may introduce its customers to a referral partner or offer additional services available from the referral partner via an integration with the Company’s software solutions. Revenues are recognized in the period the services are performed, provided that collection of the related receivable is probable. The following table disaggregates the Company’s net revenues by major source (in thousands): Year Ended December 31, 2021 2020 2019 Subscription fees $ 235,489 $ 177,039 $ 137,585 Professional services 22,707 16,301 11,477 Other 9,480 6,000 3,669 Total revenues $ 267,676 $ 199,340 $ 152,731 Significant Judgments A performance obligation is a promise in a contract to transfer a distinct good or service to the customer and is the unit of accounting in the new revenue standard. Determining whether products and services are considered distinct performance obligations that should be accounted for separately versus together may require significant judgment. Judgments include whether the series guidance under ASC 606 is applicable to the Company’s subscription services and whether implementation and training services represent distinct performance obligations. The Company has contracts with customers that often include multiple performance obligations, usually including multiple subscription and implementation services. For these contracts, the Company accounts for distinct individual performance obligations separately by allocating the contract’s total transaction price to each performance obligation in an amount based on the relative standalone selling price (“SSP”) of each distinct good or service in the contract. In determining whether SaaS services are distinct, we considered whether the series guidance applies to the Company’s subscription services. The Company considered various factors including that substantially all the Company’s SaaS arrangements involve the transfer of a service to the customer, which represents a performance obligation that is satisfied over time because the customer simultaneously receives and consumes the benefits of the services provided. Customer support services, forms maintenance, and subscription services are considered a series of distinct services that are accounted for as a single performance obligation, as the nature of the services are substantially the same and have the same pattern of transfer (i.e., distinct days of service). For these contracts, the Company allocates the ratable portion of the consideration to each period based on the services provided in such period. In determining whether implementation services are distinct from subscription services, the Company considered that there is not a significant level of integration between implementation and subscription services. Further, implementation services in our contracts provide benefits to the customer with other readily available resources, and the implementation services generally are not interdependent with the SaaS subscription services. Therefore, implementation services are generally accounted for as a separate performance obligation, as they represent distinct services that provide benefit to the customer apart from SaaS services. Consulting and training services are generally considered a separate performance obligation as they are considered distinct services that provide a benefit to the customer on their own. The determination of SSP for each distinct performance obligation requires judgment. Performance obligations are generally sold at standard prices and subscriptions are generally coterminous. Therefore, it is rare that any reallocation of transaction consideration is required. The Company‘s best evidence of SSP is the observable price at which products and services are sold separately to customers in similar circumstances or to similar customers in a single transaction, which is generally the stated contract price. The Company believes that it is the passage of time that corresponds to the satisfaction of its subscription, implementation, and professional services performance obligations, so the appropriate measurement of progress is a time-based input method based on estimated or projected hours to complete the professional services. The Company evaluates whether it is the principal (i.e., reports revenues on a gross basis) or agent (i.e., reports revenues on a net basis) with respect to the vendor reseller agreements pursuant to which the Company resells certain third-party solutions along with the Company’s solutions. Generally, the Company reports revenues from these types of contracts on a gross basis, meaning the amounts billed to customers are recorded as revenues and expenses incurred are recorded as cost of revenues. Where the Company is the principal, it first obtains control of the inputs to the specific service and directs their use to create the combined output. The Company’s control is evidenced by its involvement in the integration of the partners’ services with the Company’s solutions before the partners’ services are transferred to the Company’s customers and is further supported by the Company being primarily responsible to the customers and having a level of discretion in establishing pricing. In cases where the Company does not obtain control prior to the transfer of services, and acts as an agent, revenue is reported on a net basis, with costs being recorded as a reduction to revenues. The Company has concluded that its subscription fees related to monthly usage above the levels included in the standard subscription fee relates specifically to the transfer of the service to the customer in that month and is consistent with the allocation objective of ASC 606 when considering all the performance obligations and payment terms in the contract. Therefore, the Company recognizes additional usage revenues in the month when the usage amounts are determined and reported. This allocation reflects the amount the Company expects to receive for the services for the given period. Contract Balances The timing of customer billing and payment relative to the start of the service period varies from contract to contract; however, the Company bills many of its customers in advance of the provision of services under its contracts, resulting in contract liabilities consisting of deferred revenue. Deferred revenue represents billings under noncancellable contracts before the related product or service is transferred to the customer. The payment terms and conditions vary by contract; however, the Company’s terms generally require payment within 30 days from the invoice date. In instances where the timing of revenue recognition differs from the timing of payment, the Company elected to apply the practical expedient in accordance with ASC 606 to not adjust contract consideration for the effects of a significant financing component. The Company expects, at contract inception, that the period between when promised goods and services are transferred to the customer and when the customer pays for those goods and services will be one year or less. As such, the Company determined its contracts do not generally contain a significant financing component. Deferred Revenue The deferred revenue balance consists of subscription and implementation fees which have been invoiced upfront and are recognized as revenue only when the revenue recognition criteria are met. The Company’s subscription contracts are typically invoiced to its customers annually, and revenue is recognized ratably over the service term. Implementation and service-based fees are most commonly invoiced 50% upfront and 50% upon completion. The Company believes that it is the passage of time that corresponds to the satisfaction of its subscription implementation and professional services performance obligations, so the appropriate measurement of progress is a time-based input method based on estimated or projected hours to complete the professional services. Accordingly, the Company’s deferred revenue balance does not include revenues for future years of multi-year noncancellable contracts that have not yet been billed and is considered current since the deferred balance will all be recognized within 12 months. The changes in the Company’s deferred revenue as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 were as follows (in thousands): Year Ended December 31, 2021 2020 Deferred revenue, beginning balance $ 10,873 $ 7,841 Billing of transaction consideration 271,510 202,372 Revenue recognized (267,676) (199,340) Deferred revenue, ending balance $ 14,707 $ 10,873 Assets Recognized from Costs to Obtain a Contract with a Customer The Company capitalizes sales commissions related to its customer agreements because the commission charges are so closely related to the revenues from the noncancellable customer agreements that they should be recorded as an asset and charged to expense over the expected period of customer benefit. The Company capitalizes commissions and bonuses for those involved in the sale of our SaaS offerings, including direct employees and indirect supervisors, as these are incremental to the sale. The Company begins amortizing deferred costs for a particular customer agreement once the revenue recognition criteria are met and amortizes those deferred costs over the expected period of customer benefit, which the Company estimates to be three years. The Company determined the period of benefit by considering factors such as historically high renewal rates with similar customers and contracts, initial contract length, an expectation that there will still be a demand for the product at the end of its term, and the significant costs to switch to a competitor's product, all of which are governed by the estimated useful life of the technology. Current costs are included in prepaid expenses and other current assets, and non-current costs are included in other assets on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. There was no impairment of assets related to deferred commissions during the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019. The Company applies a practical expedient to expense costs to obtain a contract with a customer, as incurred, when the amortization period would have been one year or less. The following table represents the changes in contract cost assets (in thousands): Year Ended December 31, 2021 2020 Beginning balance $ 3,207 $ 1,635 Additions 4,136 2,268 Amortization (1,508) (696) Ending balance $ 5,835 $ 3,207 Contract cost assets, current 2,402 1,256 Contract cost assets, noncurrent 3,433 1,951 Total deferred contract cost assets $ 5,835 $ 3,207 Cost of Revenues Cost of revenues consists primarily of salaries and other personnel-related costs, including employee benefits, bonuses, and share-based compensation, for employees providing services to our customers. This includes the costs of our implementation, customer support, data center, and customer training personnel. Cost of revenues also includes the direct costs from third-party services included in our solutions, an allocation of general overhead costs, and the amortization of developed technology. We allocate general overhead expenses to all departments based on the number of employees in each department, which we consider to be a fair and representative means of allocation. Marketing Costs Marketing costs are expensed as incurred. Advertising and trade show expenses were $1.0 million, $0.4 million, and $0.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. Advertising and trade show expenses are included in sales and marketing expenses in the accompanying consolidated s |