TD Ameritrade 2018 Annual Report

31 Financial Statement Overview We provide securities brokerage and clearing services to our clients through our introducing and clearing broker- dealer subsidiaries. We also provide futures and foreign exchange trade execution services to our clients through our futures commission merchant ("FCM") and forex dealer member ("FDM") subsidiary. Substantially all of our net revenues are derived from our brokerage activities and clearing and execution services. Our primary focus is serving retail investors and traders, and independent registered investment advisors by providing services with straightforward, affordable pricing. Our largest sources of revenues are asset-based revenues and transaction-based revenues. The primary factors driving our asset-based revenues are average balances and average rates. Average balances consist primarily of average client bank deposit account balances, average client margin balances, average segregated cash balances, average client credit balances, average fee-based investment balances and average securities borrowing and lending balances. Average rates consist of the average interest rates and fees earned and paid on such balances. The primary factors driving our transaction-based revenues are total client trades and average commissions per trade. We also receive order routing revenue, which results from arrangements we have with many execution agents to receive cash payments in exchange for routing trade orders to these firms for execution. Order routing revenue is included in commissions and transaction fees on our consolidated financial statements. Our largest operating expense generally is employee compensation and benefits. Employee compensation and benefits expense includes salaries, bonuses, stock-based compensation, group insurance, contributions to benefit programs, recruitment, severance and other related employee costs. Clearing and execution costs include incremental third-party expenses that tend to fluctuate as a result of fluctuations in client accounts or trades. Examples of expenses included in this category are outsourced clearing services, statement and confirmation processing and postage costs and clearing expenses paid to the National Securities Clearing Corporation, option exchanges and other market centers. Communications expense includes telecommunications, other postage, news and quote costs. Occupancy and equipment costs include the costs of leasing and maintaining our office spaces, software licensing and maintenance costs and maintenance expenses on computer hardware and other equipment. Depreciation and amortization includes depreciation on property and equipment and amortization of leasehold improvements. Amortization of acquired intangible assets consists of amortization of amounts allocated to the value of intangible assets acquired in business acquisitions. Professional services expense includes costs paid to outside firms for assistance with legal, accounting, technology, regulatory, marketing and general management issues. Advertising costs include production and placement of advertisements in various media, including online, television, print and email, as well as client promotion and development costs. Advertising expenses may fluctuate significantly from period to period. Other operating expenses include provision for bad debt losses, fraud and error losses, gains or losses on disposal of property, insurance expenses, travel expenses and other miscellaneous expenses. During fiscal year 2018, other operating expenses also included costs incurred related to the integration of Scottrade. Interest on borrowings consists of interest expense on our long-term debt and other borrowings. Loss on sale of investments represents losses realized on corporate (non broker-dealer) investments. Acquisition of Scottrade On September 18, 2017, we completed our acquisition of the brokerage business of Scottrade. The transaction combined highly complementary franchises and added significant scale to our retail business with the addition of approximately 3.5 million funded client accounts, extended our leadership in trading, and expanded the size of our branch network. For additional information regarding this acquisition, see Note 2 — Business Acquisition under Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data — Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.