Company: BL
Filing Date: 2025-02-21
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001666134-25-000003
Chunk: 104

Company: BLACKLINE, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-02-21
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 7
Chunk 104
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 of customer renewals. Because revenue for any period is a function of revenue recognized from deferred revenue under contracts in existence at the beginning of the period, as well as contract renewals and new customer contracts during the period, backlog at the beginning of any period is not necessarily indicative of future revenue performance. We do not utilize backlog as a key management metric internally.

Critical Accounting Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of 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 disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the consolidated financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our estimates are based on historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Our actual results could differ from these estimates.

We believe that the following critical accounting policies and estimates involve a greater degree of judgment or complexity than our other accounting policies and estimates, and are essential to a full understanding and evaluation of our consolidated financial condition and results of operations. Refer to “Note 2 - Basis of Presentation, Significant Accounting Policies, and Recently-Issued Accounting Pronouncements” of the accompanying notes to our consolidated financial statements for additional information.

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Deferred Customer Acquisition Costs

We recognize an asset for the incremental and recoverable costs of obtaining a contract with a customer if we expect the benefit of those costs to be one year or longer. We have determined that certain sales incentive programs to our employees (“deferred customer contract acquisition costs”) and our partners (“partner referral fees”) meet the requirements to be capitalized. Deferred customer acquisition costs related to new revenue contracts and upsells are deferred and then amortized on a straight-line basis over the expected period of benefit that we have determined to be five years, based upon both the product turnover rate and estimated customer life, which involves some level of judgment in terms of the inherent assumptions used. Partner referral fees are deferred and then amortized on a straight-line basis over a period ranging from one year to five years. Deferred customer acquisition costs and partner referral fees are included within other assets on the consolidated balance sheets. There were no impairment losses in relation to the costs capitalized for the periods presented.

Capitalized Software Costs

We account for the costs of computer software obtained or developed for internal use in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification 350, Intang