MIME 2017 Annual Report

63 MIMECAST LIMITED NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Years ended March 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 (in thousands, except share and per share data, unless otherwise noted) 1. Organization and Description of Business Mimecast Limited (Mimecast Jersey) is a public limited company organized under the laws of the Bailiwick of Jersey on July 28, 2015. On November 4, 2015, Mimecast Jersey changed its corporate structure whereby it became the holding company of Mimecast Limited (Mimecast UK), a private limited company incorporated in 2003 under the laws of England and Wales, and its wholly-owned subsidiaries by way of a share-for-share exchange in which the shareholders of Mimecast UK exchanged their shares in Mimecast UK for an identical number of shares of the same class in Mimecast Jersey. Upon the exchange, the historical consolidated financial statements of Mimecast UK became the historical consolidated financial statements of Mimecast Jersey. Mimecast Jersey and its subsidiaries (together the Group, the Company, Mimecast or we) is headquartered in London, England. The principal activity of the Group is the provision of email management services. Mimecast delivers a software-as-a-service (SaaS) enterprise email management service for archiving, continuity, and security. By unifying disparate and fragmented email environments into one holistic solution from the cloud, Mimecast minimizes risk and reduces cost and complexity while providing total end-to-end control of email. Mimecast’s proprietary software platform provides a single system to address key email management issues. Mimecast operates principally in Europe, North America, Africa and Australia. The Company is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties common to companies in similar industries and stages of development including, but not limited to, rapid technological changes, competition from substitute products and services from larger companies, customer concentration, management of international activities, protection of proprietary rights, patent litigation, and dependence on key individuals. 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies The accompanying consolidated financial statements reflect the application of certain significant accounting policies as described below and elsewhere in these notes to the consolidated financial statements. The Company believes that a significant accounting policy is one that is both important to the portrayal of the Company’s financial condition and results, and requires management’s most difficult, subjective, or complex judgments, often as the result of the need to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. Basis of Presentation The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP). Any reference in these notes to applicable guidance is meant to refer to the authoritative United States generally accepted accounting principles as found in the Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) and Accounting Standards Update (ASU) of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Principles of Consolidation The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its subsidiaries. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation. Use of Estimates The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Significant estimates relied upon in preparing these consolidated financial statements include revenue recognition, allowances for doubtful accounts, intangible asset valuations, amortization periods, expected future cash flows used to evaluate the recoverability of long-lived assets, contingent liabilities, construction financing lease obligations, restructuring liabilities, expensing and capitalization of research and development costs for internal-use software, the determination of the fair value of share-based awards issued, share-based compensation expense, and the recoverability of the Company’s net deferred tax assets and related valuation allowance.