Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Fee Revenue

v3.19.2
Fee Revenue
12 Months Ended
Apr. 30, 2019
Revenue From Contract With Customer [Abstract]  
Fee Revenue

 

7. Fee Revenue

Substantially all fee revenue is derived from fees for professional services related to executive and professional recruitment performed on a retained basis, recruitment process outsourcing, talent and organizational advisory services and the sale of products, standalone or as part of a solution. The Company adopted ASC 606 in its fiscal year beginning May 1, 2018 using the modified retrospective transition method applied to those contracts still outstanding and not completed as of May 1, 2018. The impact of the adoption of ASC 606 to the balance sheet was immaterial.

Contract Balances

A contract asset (unbilled receivables) is recorded when the Company transfers control of products or services before there is an unconditional right to payment. A contract liability (deferred revenue) is recorded when cash is received in advance of performance of the obligation. Deferred revenue represents the future performance obligations to transfer control of products or services for which we have already received consideration. Deferred revenue is presented in other accrued liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet.

The following table outlines our contract asset and liability balances as of April 30, 2019 and May 1, 2018:

 

 

April 30, 2019

 

 

May 1, 2018

 

 

 

(in thousands)

 

Contract assets (unbilled receivables)

 

$

60,595

 

 

$

65,164

 

Contract liabilities (deferred revenue)

 

$

112,999

 

 

$

114,695

 

 

During the year ended April 30, 2019, we recognized revenue of $97.0 million that was included in the contract liabilities balance at the beginning of the period.

Performance Obligations

The Company has elected to apply the practical expedient to exclude the value of unsatisfied performance obligations for contracts with a duration of one year or less, which applies to all executive search and professional search fee revenue. As of April 30, 2019, the aggregate transaction price allocated to the performance obligations that are unsatisfied for contracts with an expected duration of greater than one year at inception was $539.5 million. Of the $539.5 million of remaining performance obligations, we expect to recognize approximately $307.7 million as fee revenue in fiscal 2020, $132.2 million in fiscal 2021, $77.4 million in fiscal 2022 and the remaining $22.2 million in fiscal 2023 and thereafter. However, this amount should not be considered an indication of the Company’s future revenue as contracts with an initial term of one year or less are not included. Further, our contract terms and conditions allow for clients to increase or decrease the scope of services and such changes do not increase or decrease a performance obligation until the Company has an enforceable right to payment.

Disaggregation of Revenue

The Company disaggregates its revenue by line of business and further by region for Executive Search. This information is presented in Note 11—Segments.

The following table provides further disaggregation of fee revenue by industry:

 

 

 

Year Ended April 30,

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

 

2017

 

 

 

Dollars

 

 

%

 

 

Dollars

 

 

%

 

 

Dollars

 

 

%

 

 

 

(dollars in thousands)

 

Industrial

 

$

561,029

 

 

 

29.1

%

 

$

530,547

 

 

 

30.0

%

 

$

459,732

 

 

 

29.4

%

Financial Services

 

 

349,968

 

 

 

18.2

 

 

 

305,047

 

 

 

17.3

 

 

 

257,671

 

 

 

16.4

 

Life Sciences/Healthcare

 

 

323,091

 

 

 

16.8

 

 

 

294,999

 

 

 

16.7

 

 

 

273,493

 

 

 

17.5

 

Consumer Goods

 

 

297,676

 

 

 

15.5

 

 

 

276,979

 

 

 

15.7

 

 

 

263,671

 

 

 

16.8

 

Technology

 

 

260,918

 

 

 

13.5

 

 

 

226,142

 

 

 

12.8

 

 

 

198,867

 

 

 

12.7

 

Education/Non-Profit

 

 

122,524

 

 

 

6.3

 

 

 

120,809

 

 

 

6.8

 

 

 

99,978

 

 

 

6.4

 

General

 

 

10,827

 

 

 

0.6

 

 

 

12,694

 

 

 

0.7

 

 

 

12,109

 

 

 

0.8

 

Fee Revenue

 

$

1,926,033

 

 

 

100.0

%

 

$

1,767,217

 

 

 

100.0

%

 

$

1,565,521

 

 

 

100.0

%