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Fair Isaac Corporation
901 Marquette Avenue, Suite 3200
Minneapolis, MN 55402 USA
T 612 758 5200
F 612 758 5201
www.fico.com
make every decision count.TM |
October 12, 2010
BY EDGAR AND OVERNIGHT DELIVERY
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20549-3561
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Attention:
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Mr. H. Christopher Owings |
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Assistant Director |
Re: |
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Fair Isaac Corporation
Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2009
Filed November 24, 2009
File No. 1-11689 |
Ladies and Gentlemen:
On behalf of Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO or the Company), I am pleased to submit this
response to the comments of the Staff on the above-referenced filing, as set forth in Mr. Owings
letter dated September 29, 2010.
If appropriate, it is our understanding that we will need to consider these comments, and
incorporate appropriate disclosure, in our future reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K. For convenience,
the Staffs comment is set forth below, followed by Fair Isaacs response.
Fair Isaac hereby acknowledges that (i) it is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the
disclosure in the filing, (ii) Staff comments or changes to disclosure in response to Staff
comments in the filings reviewed by the Staff do not foreclose the Securities and Exchange
Commission from taking any action with respect to the filing and (iii) Fair Isaac may not assert
Staff comments as a defense in any proceeding initiated by the Securities and Exchange Commission
or any person under the federal securities laws of the United States.
To assist the staff in reviewing this letter, we will separately deliver to Mr. Owings and Mr.
Anderegg, by overnight mail, a copy of this letter.
Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2009
Overview, page 30
Comment:
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We note from your response to comment one in our letter dated August 11, 2010
that you intend to enhance your bookings disclosures to give users of your financial
statements an increased understanding of how you estimate your bookings calculations and
plan to focus your disclosures on transactions or usage bookings which you believe
contain the most subjectivity. We believe you should also provide information about how
you estimate hours expected to be worked under consulting services contracts in
calculating bookings for these contracts as it appears that these estimates also contain
subjectivity, and we believe additional information would assist users of your financial
statements in assessing these estimates. Please ensure that your disclosures: |
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Provide, in reasonable detail, the key factors and assumptions used in
preparing your bookings estimates, including information about the key factors
which contain subjectivity; |
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Highlight the susceptibility of these key factors and assumptions to
variability arising from differences between estimated variable fee components,
such as estimated hours to be incurred under consulting and service contracts
and estimated customer account and transaction activity for agreements with
transactional and/or volume based contracts, versus actual results which may be
achieved; |
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Explain that economic conditions drive changes between bookings estimates and
actual results; |
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Clearly disclose, if true, that after making initial bookings estimates, you
do not track your original estimates against actual revenues subsequently
achieved; |
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Disclose how much of the bookings yield in each quarter is attributable to
current quarter upfront license fees, service revenues and transactional and
maintenance revenues. |
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Lastly, please provide us with an example of what your revised disclosures will look
like. We may have further comment after reviewing your response. |
Response:
In
future filings we intend to include a disclosure similar to the following as it relates to
bookings:
Bookings
Management uses bookings as an indicator of our business performance. Bookings represent
contracts signed in the current reporting period that will generate future revenue streams. We
consider contract terms, knowledge of the marketplace and experience with our customers, among
other factors, when determining the estimated value of contract bookings.
Bookings calculations have varying degrees of certainty depending on the revenue type and
individual contract terms. Our revenue types are transactional and maintenance, professional
services and license. Our estimate of bookings is
as of the end of the period in which a contract is signed, and we do not update our initial booking
estimates in future periods for changes between estimated and actual results. Actual revenue and
the timing thereof could differ materially from our initial
estimates. The following paragraphs discuss the key assumptions used to calculate
bookings and the susceptibility of these assumptions to variability.
Transactional and Maintenance Bookings
We calculate transactional bookings as the total estimated volume of transactions or number of
accounts under contract, multiplied by a contractual rate. Transactional contracts generally span
multiple years and require us to make estimates about future transaction volumes or number of
active accounts. We develop estimates from discussions with our customers and examinations of
historical data from similar products and customer arrangements. Differences between estimated
bookings and actual results occur due to variability in the volume of transactions or number of
active accounts estimated. This variability is primarily caused by the following:
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The health of the economy and economic trends in our customers industries; |
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Individual performance of our customers relative to their competitors; and |
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Regulatory and other factors that affect the business environment in which our
customers operate. |
We calculate maintenance bookings directly from the terms stated in the contract.
Professional Services Bookings
We calculate professional services bookings as the estimated number of hours to complete a
project multiplied by the rate per hour. We estimate the number of hours based on our
understanding of the project scope, conversations with customer personnel and our experience in
estimating professional services projects. Estimated bookings may differ from actual results
primarily due to differences in the actual number of hours incurred. These
differences typically result from customer decisions to alter the mix of FICO and
internal services resources used to complete a project.
License Bookings
Licenses are sold on a perpetual or term basis and bookings generally equal the fixed amount
stated in the contract.
Bookings Trend Analysis
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Number of |
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Bookings |
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Weighted- |
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Bookings |
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over $1 |
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Average |
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Bookings |
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Yield* |
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Million |
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Term |
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(in millions) |
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(months) |
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Quarter ended June 30, 2010 |
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$ |
63.5 |
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29 |
% |
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12 |
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28 |
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Quarter ended June 30, 2009 |
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$ |
49.0 |
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22 |
% |
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7 |
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24 |
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Nine months ended June 30, 2010 |
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$ |
177.7 |
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35 |
% |
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35 |
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N/M |
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Nine months ended June 30, 2009 |
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148.2 |
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40 |
% |
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27 |
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N/M |
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Bookings yield represents the percentage of revenue recognized from bookings. |
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N/M |
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Measure is not meaningful |
Transactional and maintenance bookings were 43% and 45% of total bookings for the
quarters ended June 30, 2010 and 2009, respectively. Professional services bookings were 35% and
39% of total bookings for the quarters ended June 30, 2010 and 2009, respectively. License
bookings were 22% and 16% of total bookings for the quarters ended June 30, 2010 and 2009,
respectively.
Transactional and maintenance bookings were 49% and 41% of total bookings for the nine months
ended June 30, 2010 and 2009, respectively. Professional services bookings were 35% and 40% of
total bookings for the nine months ended June 30, 2010 and 2009, respectively.
License bookings were 16% and 19% of total bookings for the nine months ended June 30, 2010
and 2009, respectively.
The weighted-average term of bookings achieved measures the average term over which the
bookings are expected to be recognized as revenue. As the weighted-average term increases, the
average amount of revenues expected to be realized in a quarter decreases, however, the revenues
are expected to be recognized over a longer period of time. As the weighted-average
term
decreases, the average amount of revenues expected to be realized in a quarter increases, however,
the revenues are expected to be recognized over a shorter period of time.
Management regards the volume of bookings achieved, among other factors, as an important
indicator of future revenues, but they are not comparable to, nor should they be substituted for,
an analysis of our revenues, and they are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties concerning
timing and contingencies affecting product delivery and performance.
Although many of our contracts contain noncancelable terms, most of our bookings are
transactional or service related and are dependent upon estimates such as volume of transactions,
number of active accounts, or number of hours incurred. Since these estimates cannot be considered
fixed or firm, we do not believe it is appropriate to characterize bookings as backlog.
* * * * *
If we can facilitate the Staffs review of this letter, or if the Staff has any questions on any of
the information set forth herein, please telephone me at (612) 758-5221 or Michael Pung at (612)
758-5603. My fax number is (612) 758-5201.
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Sincerely,
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/s/ Thomas A. Bradley
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Thomas A. Bradley |
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Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer |
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cc:
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Dr. Mark N. Greene |
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Mark R. Scadina |
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W. Morgan Burns |