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                                 UNITED STATES
                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
                            ------------------------
 
                                   FORM 10-K
 
(MARK ONE)
 
[X]   ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE
      ACT OF 1934
 
                  FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1997
 
                                       OR
 
[ ]   TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE
     SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
 
            FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM __________ TO __________.
 
                         COMMISSION FILE NUMBER 0-26146
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
             (EXACT NAME OF REGISTRANT AS SPECIFIED IN ITS CHARTER)
 
<TABLE>
<S>                                             <C>
                    DELAWARE                                       33-0248788
        (STATE OR OTHER JURISDICTION OF                         (I.R.S. EMPLOYER
         INCORPORATION OR ORGANIZATION)                       IDENTIFICATION NO.)
</TABLE>
 
                5930 CORNERSTONE COURT WEST, SAN DIEGO, CA 92121
                    (ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICES)
 
       REGISTRANT'S TELEPHONE NUMBER, INCLUDING AREA CODE: (619) 546-8877
 
          SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(B) OF THE ACT:
                                      NONE
 
          SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(G) OF THE ACT:
                         COMMON STOCK, $0.001 PAR VALUE
                                (TITLE OF CLASS)
 
     Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports
required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the
registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such
filing requirements for the past 90 days.
 
                                Yes [X]  No [ ]
 
     Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item
405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the
best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements
incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this
Form 10-K. [ ]
 
     The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of
the Registrant, based on the closing price as reported on the Nasdaq Stock
Market at January 30, 1998, was approximately $809 million. The number of shares
of the Registrant's Common Stock outstanding at January 30, 1998 was 24,570,578
shares.
 
                      DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
 
     Portions of the Proxy Statement for Registrant's 1998 Annual Meeting of
Stockholders to be filed with the Commission on or before April 30, 1998 are
incorporated by reference in Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. With
the exception of those portions that are specifically incorporated by reference
in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, such Proxy Statement shall not be deemed
filed as part of this Report or incorporated by reference herein.
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                               TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
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                                                                                        PAGE NO.
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<S>         <C>                                                                         <C>
PART I
Item 1.     Business..................................................................    3
Item 2.     Properties................................................................   24
Item 3.     Legal Proceedings.........................................................   24
Item 4.     Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders.......................   24
 
PART II
Item 5.     Market for the Registrant's Common Equity and Related Stockholder
            Matters...................................................................   25
Item 6.     Selected Financial Data...................................................   25
Item 7.     Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
            Operations................................................................   27
Item 7A.    Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk................   34
Item 8.     Financial Statements and Supplementary Data...............................   35
Item 9.     Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial
            Disclosure................................................................   56
 
PART III
Item 10.    Directors and Executive Officers of the Registrant........................   56
Item 11.    Executive Compensation....................................................   57
Item 12.    Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners And Management............   57
Item 13.    Certain Relationships and Related Transactions............................   57
 
PART IV
Item 14.    Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules and Reports On Form 8-K...........   57
</TABLE>
 
ProfitMax(R) is a registered trademark of the Company. CRLink(TM),
CompCompare(TM), ProviderCompare(TM), PMA Advisor(TM), VeriComp(TM), MIRA(TM),
Falcon(TM), Falcon Export(TM), Falcon Select(TM), Falcon Debit(TM), Falcon
Retail(TM), Falcon Sentry(TM), Eagle(TM), Capstone(TM), Capstone for Payment
Cards(TM), Capstone for Consumer Lending(TM), Capstone for Mortgage Lending(TM),
ProfitMax Bankruptcy(TM), AREAS(TM), Retek Merchandising System(TM), Retek Data
Warehouse(TM), Active Retail Intelligence(TM), Retek Demand Forecasting(TM),
Falcon Retail(TM), MatchPlus(TM), SelectCast(TM), SelectResponse(TM) and
SelectResource(TM) are trademarks of the Company. All other trademarks or trade
names referred to in this Report are the property of their respective owners.
 
The latest news and information about the Company can be found on the HNC
Software World Wide Web site: http://www.hncs.com and can also be accessed by
calling our Stockholder Information Line at 1-800-396-8052.
 
The Company was founded in 1986 under the laws of California and was
reincorporated in June 1995 under the laws of Delaware. The Company's principal
executive offices are located at 5930 Cornerstone Court West, San Diego,
California 92121-3728, and its telephone number is (619) 546-8877. In this
Prospectus, the terms "HNC" and the "Company" each refer to HNC Software Inc., a
Delaware corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries unless the context
otherwise requires.
 
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                                     PART I
 
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
 
     HNC develops, markets and supports predictive software solutions for
leading service industries. These predictive software solutions employ
proprietary neural-network predictive decision engines, profiles, traditional
statistical modeling, business models, expert rules and context vectors to
convert existing data and business experiences into meaningful recommendations
and actions. Just as manufacturing organizations have implemented manufacturing
resource planning ("MRP") software to automate routine transactions, leading
service industries such as the health-care/insurance, financial services and
retail industries are using predictive software solutions to improve
profitability, competitiveness and customer satisfaction.
 
INDUSTRY BACKGROUND
 
     Today's competitive business environment has forced many service companies
to increase business efficiency while improving their flexibility and
responsiveness to changing market conditions. Businesses continually seek new
ways to make better decisions by collecting and analyzing data. Consequently,
service companies have made, and continue to make, significant investments in
computer systems designed to gather and electronically store ever increasing
amounts of data. In most cases, these computerized systems automate manual tasks
and activities, resulting in the conversion of significant amounts of corporate
data from paper to electronic form. However, these systems generally do not
synthesize data in ways that help businesses make better real-time decisions.
 
     Historically, the development of predictive software solutions was
inhibited by the lack of computing standards and effective computational
intelligence techniques. The emergence of client-server standards, including
relational database management systems, the Windows operating system and network
communications protocols, has fostered the increased transmission and
dissemination of electronically stored data within and among businesses. MRP
software systems were developed to automate production, accounting, human
resources and distribution transactions for primarily manufacturing
organizations. These systems manage and store large amounts of diverse business
information, providing continuous and simultaneous availability of information
to geographically dispersed employees, customers and suppliers. However, MRP
systems generally do not provide businesses with the functionality and
flexibility needed to utilize this data to simulate operations and make
real-time decisions and recommendations in diverse and rapidly changing business
environments.
 
     Several service industries have a particular need to leverage large volumes
of real-time transactional and operational data in order to address systemic
issues that have historically affected profitability, competitiveness and
customer satisfaction. These industries and issues include:
 
     - HEALTHCARE/INSURANCE INDUSTRY. Workers' compensation fraud and abuse is
       currently receiving widespread attention in the healthcare/insurance
       industry. Conning & Co. recently estimated that 10%-25% of the dollar
       amount of filed workers' compensation claims in the United States are
       fraudulent. This translates to more than $5 billion lost each year to
       workers' compensation fraud.
 
     - FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY. Based on reports from Visa and Mastercard,
       Faulkner & Gray estimates that United States credit card credit losses
       and chargeoffs were $18 billion in 1996.
 
     - RETAIL INDUSTRY. Rapid changes in consumer buying patterns have caused
       merchants to place increased emphasis on predicting consumer demand and
       managing retail inventories. The change from mass to individual retail
       marketing has multiplied the number of promotional offers and
       stock-keeping units ("SKUs") required to address market opportunities.
       The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that the inventory carrying
       costs for retail inventories nationwide were $316 billion at the end of
       March 1997.
 
     Historically, many companies in the healthcare/insurance, financial
services and retail industries have developed specialized in-house applications
to address these issues. Such applications are generally designed to access
large volumes of operational and transactional data stored on mainframe
computers. However, such
 
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systems are expensive, costly to support and maintain, and do not offer flexible
and enterprise-wide access to data. Furthermore, most of these systems are not
designed to meet the need for real-time recommendations and actions. The
widespread adoption of distributed client-server computing has provided
organizations with a much greater ability to access and manipulate stored
information but also has created the need for third-party vendors of packaged
applications software solutions that provide the same degree of functionality
and reliability as traditional in-house applications. These vendors are able to
provide a higher degree of functionality and reliability than traditional
in-house applications by combining the domain knowledge from their customers and
partners with expertise in computational intelligence and client-server
technologies.
 
THE HNC SOLUTION
 
     HNC's predictive software solutions enable leading service industries, such
as the healthcare/insurance, financial services and retail industries, to
analyze and act upon operational and transactional data in real time. The
Company's products provide the following benefits:
 
     Core predictive software technology. The Company's software includes a
variety of computational intelligence technologies such as proprietary
neural-network predictive decision engines, profiles, expert rules, context
vectors, traditional statistical modeling and business models that can be
customized to specific business applications. Neural networks can be adapted to
changing environments and applications quickly and have proven to be accurate
and effective in real-time operating environments. The Company's decision engine
also includes a user-defined rule-based technology. The neural networks and
rulebases are delivered through software that allows the Company's products to
adapt to many customer-specific business needs without extensive custom
programming. Adaptable functions include workflow queuing management, policy and
procedure guidelines, input data modification, flexible graphical user interface
("GUI") display, decision criteria and report formats.
 
     Quick payback for customers. The Company's software solutions are designed
for quick customer payback. The Company typically installs its products in two
to six months, and customer payback periods for installation and first year
usage fees are typically less than one year. Payback is rapid because the
software products address applications that have a significant profit impact.
HNC personnel focus not only on the technical integration, but also on
delivering direct benefits to the customer throughout the service contract
period.
 
     Transaction-based, real-time decision capability. HNC's software can
operate in real time, providing an immediate, situation-specific response to
each customer transaction. For example, the Falcon system for credit/debit card
fraud can monitor millions of transactions each day, identify fraudulent
transactions in progress and permit the card issuing bank to withhold an
authorization before the perpetrator completes a purchase. The Falcon system
differs from traditional modeling implementations, which operate in a batch or
off-line mode on a collection of historical transactions.
 
     Flexible client-server solutions. HNC's solutions can be integrated into a
customer's existing environment or architecture. The Company's products are
available on industry-standard, client-server platforms, including Windows and
UNIX clients, NetWare, Windows NT, UNIX and CICS servers and IBM, Oracle, Sybase
and Informix databases. HNC's application products represent a complete software
solution, including decision models, deployment software, communications
interfaces and GUIs. The Company also supplies systems integration, ongoing
performance analysis, model rebuilding and application consulting services to
help ensure ongoing success for the customer. The Company believes that this
flexible combination of products, services and deployment platforms represents
an advance that enables successful predictive software system deployment in many
mission-critical applications.
 
     Turnkey, customized and user-developed model options. The choice of data
source is important to customers because data are the fundamental building
blocks used to create accurate predictive models. HNC provides various models
built on industry-specific or customer-specific data to meet individual
application requirements. Customers and data suppliers provide the Company with
historical transaction data for turnkey models, trend analyses and product
updates. This combination of proprietary turnkey (from data and
 
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individual consumer profiles), customized and user-developed models allows the
Company to offer products that solve a broad range of predictive application
problems.
 
HNC'S STRATEGY
 
     HNC's objective is to be the leading supplier of predictive software
solutions by leveraging its core computational intelligence technology across a
series of product families targeted at specific service industries. The
Company's strategy for achieving this objective contains the following key
elements:
 
     Maintain and strengthen HNC's position at the core of its customers'
applications infrastructure. Customers rely heavily on HNC's predictive software
solutions to anticipate and react to rapidly changing business conditions. The
Company's core computational intelligence technology serves as a platform upon
which services businesses can deploy and combine the Company's products to
manage and respond to operational and transactional data in real time.
Therefore, HNC attempts to establish a strong position within the applications
infrastructure of its customers. For example, the Company's first predictive
solution product, Falcon, is a credit/debit card fraud detection system for
monitoring individual credit card accounts. By adapting the core technology
developed for Falcon, the Company later introduced ProfitMax, a transaction-
based, real-time credit authorization system that manages the profitability of
credit card portfolios. The Company believes that the opportunity exists for
similar penetration within each of its core vertical markets, including
opportunities such as retail banking within the financial services industry. As
another example, the Company's context vectoring technology could profile
visitors to a financial institution's Web site and send proactive direct e-mails
regarding financial products.
 
     Leverage core predictive technologies to enter new market segments.
Historically, the Company has applied its core predictive technology to the
domain knowledge of companies it has acquired to introduce new products. For
example, in August 1996, HNC acquired Risk Data, a developer of decision systems
in the workers' compensation industry. By combining Risk Data's industry
expertise with HNC's fraud detection technology, HNC is developing a VeriComp
module that applies predictive technology to employer fraud in the workers'
compensation industry. In addition, the Company is evaluating opportunities in
other data-intensive industries, such as telecommunications, where predictive
software may have the ability to improve business performance and profitability.
 
     Earn recurring revenues through long-term contracts. The Company markets
most of its predictive software solutions as an ongoing service that includes
software licenses, decision model updates, application consulting and on-line or
on-site support and maintenance. Since many of the Company's applications are
enhanced by periodic model updates, customers derive significant value from the
Company's ongoing services. In addition, the mission-critical nature of many of
HNC's predictive software solutions creates customer demand for long-term
support commitments. Accordingly, the Company's customers typically pay for this
package of software and service with a monthly usage fee and a three to seven
year contract commitment.
 
     Use strategic relationships to support direct distribution. In each of its
primary markets, the Company uses strategic relationships with system
integrators and third-party service providers to support its direct distribution
efforts. These partners provide varying levels of distribution support, from
lead generation to resale of the Company's products. The Company maintains such
strategic relationships with Electronic Data Systems ("EDS"), Intracorp and
Marsh McLennan, Inc. in healthcare/insurance, First Data and EDS in financial
services, and Andersen Consulting and KPMG Peat Marwick LLP in retail.
 
     Growth Through Acquisitions. The Company acquired First Data, Retek and
CompReview in 1996 and 1997, thereby significantly expanding its product
offerings in its target markets. On January 30, 1998, the Company signed a
definitive agreement to acquire Practical Control Systems Technologies, Inc.
("PCS"), a distribution center management software vendor based in Cincinnati,
Ohio, subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions and the approval
of PCS' shareholders. The Company expects to continue to review acquisitions of
businesses, products and technologies as a means to expand its product offerings
for existing and new target markets.
 
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MARKETS AND PRODUCTS
 
     HNC has a broad family of predictive software products that provide
specific solutions for each of the healthcare/insurance, financial services and
retail markets. Revenues from each of the Company's three product lines
accounted for more than one-quarter of the Company's total revenues in 1997.
Revenues from three products, CRLink, Retek Merchandising System and Falcon,
accounted for 57.9% of the Company's total revenues in 1997. See "Risk
Factors -- Product Concentration."
 
  Healthcare/Insurance
 
     HNC offers and is developing products in the healthcare/insurance market.
These products are targeted to insurance carriers, insurance providers, managed
care organizations, state insurance funds, third-party administrators and large,
self-insured employers. HNC has developed predictive software solutions that
address the containment of the medical costs of workers' compensation and auto
accident insurance claims, workers' compensation loss reserving, workers'
compensation fraud, managed care effectiveness and provider effectiveness. These
solutions, CRLink, MIRA, CompCompare, ProviderCompare, PMAdvisor and VeriComp,
allow users the ability to reduce fraud losses and streamline operations.
 
                   HNC HEALTHCARE/INSURANCE INDUSTRY PRODUCTS
================================================================================
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
      PRODUCT                                    PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
<S>                 <C>                                                                              <C>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  CRLink            CRLink operates as the bill review engine that links all of the critical
                    components of an effective cost containment program to help clients control
                    the cost of workers' compensation, personal injury and other casualty risks.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  MIRA              MIRA uses statistical predictive methods to automatically determine workers'
                    compensation loss reserves based on historical data gathered from insurance
                    carriers, third-party administrators and state insurance funds throughout the
                    United States.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  CompCompare       CompCompare enables clients to compare claims costs or the effectiveness of
                    managed care programs by using benchmarking data from HNC's proprietary
                    workers' compensation database.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ProviderCompare   ProviderCompare is a physician profiling product that provides on-line access
                    to HNC's proprietary workers' compensation database. ProviderCompare enables
                    clients to generate a detailed comparative analysis, such as treatment costs,
                    among providers within the same specialty.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  PMAdvisor         PMAdvisor enables claim payors to verify that the number of visits and type of
                    treatment for claims involving physical medicine (primarily chiropractic and
                    physical therapy) are appropriate for the diagnosis and severity of the injury
                    and to identify chiropractic and physical therapy claims that exceed
                    appropriate treatment guidelines.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  VeriComp          VeriComp is a workers' compensation claimant system designed to assist in
                    identifying claimant behavior that is likely to indicate the presence of fraud
                    or abuse.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
</TABLE>
 
  Financial Services
 
     The increasing volume of electronic financial transactions requires
mission-critical decision-making in real time for applications such as credit
card charge authorization, that carry a substantial risk of consumer and
merchant fraud. HNC's Falcon and ProfitMax product lines are targeted at bank
and private label card issuers and payment processors. Falcon employs a
client/server architecture that consists of an interface into the customer's
legacy system, a decision engine, a cardholder profile database, a case
management database and a fraud workstation.
 
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     HNC estimates that loan underwriting costs in the United States currently
exceed $2.5 billion each year. Competitive pressures including cost reduction,
rapid loan approval and the growth of on-line banking have compelled lenders to
turn to software solutions that can automate loan origination in order to lower
costs, improve customer service and provide remote access to lending services.
HNC's predictive software solutions for the loan origination markets, Capstone
and AREAS, allow lenders such as banks and private label card issuers, home
equity lenders, auto lenders and mortgage lenders to automate the loan approval
decision process.
 
                    HNC FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY PRODUCTS
================================================================================
 
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<CAPTION>
         PRODUCT                                    PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
<S>                       <C>                                                                        <C>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Falcon Product Line
------------------------
  Falcon                  Falcon products are neural network-based solutions that examine
  Falcon Expert           transaction, cardholder and merchant data to detect a wide range of
  Falcon Select           credit and debit card fraud. Using predictive software techniques,
  Falcon Debit            Falcon captures relationships and patterns that often are missed by
  Falcon Retail           traditional methods of detecting suspicious transactions.
  Falcon Sentry
  Eagle
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Capstone Product Line
------------------------
  Capstone for Payment    Capstone is an intelligent, high-performance new account decision
    Cards                 processing solution. Based on expert rules, Capstone allows users to
  Capstone for            automate lending decisions and design, test, implement and track lending
    Consumer Lending      policies.
  Capstone for Mortgage
    Lending
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ProfitMax Product Line
------------------------
  ProfitMax               ProfitMax provides transaction-based, real-time authorization and action
  ProfitMax Bankruptcy    decisions from within a complete infrastructure for managing the
                          profitability of credit card portfolios. ProfitMax uses neural networks,
                          expert rules and HNC's cardholder behavior profiling technology to
                          analyze the expected profitability of each account in an issuer's
                          portfolio using the issuer's definition of financial profit. ProfitMax
                          Bankruptcy uses the basic ProfitMax structure to predict the likelihood
                          of cardholder bankruptcy even before the cardholder is delinquent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  AREAS                   AREAS automated property valuation software uses neural networks and
                          other computational intelligence to provide an objective prediction of
                          the current market value of residential property.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
</TABLE>
 
  Retail
 
     Although retailers have made significant investments in customer
information, point-of-sale and quick-response ordering systems, these
applications often do not include the forecasting ability required to maximize
profitability and respond to competition through timely "in-store"
replenishment, electronic networking and quick response initiatives. HNC has
developed a group of products that effectively addresses inventory control,
merchandise management and financial control management. These software
solutions allow retailers to build forecasting and marketing models to carry out
day-to-day buying and selling activities, thereby reducing carrying costs for
inventories and improving purchasing, promotion and logistics efficiencies. The
target
 
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markets for the Company's retail products are department stores, mass
merchandisers and specialty retail chains in multi-store and multi-warehouse
environments with gross sales in excess of $200 million.
 
                          HNC RETAIL INDUSTRY PRODUCTS
================================================================================
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
         PRODUCT                                    PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
<S>                       <C>                                                                        <C>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Retek Merchandising      The Retek Merchandising System provides inventory control, merchandise
   System                 management and financial control and addresses the definition and
                          management of merchandise at the SKU level and reporting and financial
                          control through stock ledgers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Retek Data Warehouse     Retek Data Warehouse provides the transaction infrastructure needed for
                          retailers to plan, buy, move, sell and pay for their merchandise.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Active Retail            Active Retail Intelligence identifies performance exceptions and
   Intelligence           recommends the appropriate corrective action.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Retek Demand             Retek Demand Forecasting provides forecasts to retailers' supply chain
   Forecasting            planning allocation and replenishment functions and uses predictive
                          causal techniques with automated forecasting and multi-dimensional
                          on-line analysis.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Falcon Retail            Falcon Retail provides proactive detection of private label card
                          application and transaction fraud.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
</TABLE>
 
EMERGING MARKET OPPORTUNITIES
 
     The Company's experience and technology capabilities in the
healthcare/insurance, financial services and retail markets often lead to new
product ideas and concepts. The Company also evaluates new market opportunities
that arise through its commercial and government contract work. As contracts are
completed, the end products are evaluated for commercialization. For example,
contracts for the Advanced Research Projects Agency, United States Army Research
Laboratory, United States Air Force, Office of Naval Research, DataTimes
Corporation and Tracor Applied Sciences, Inc. generated a context-based text
analysis technology called MatchPlus. This core text analysis technology has
been under development at HNC for the last four years for Department of Defense
applications. During 1996, the Company formed Aptex to commercialize HNC's
MatchPlus text analysis technology for emerging markets. Aptex has developed a
strategic partnership with InfoSeek Corporation, an Internet search and
navigation service, to deliver products using this text analysis technology to
the Internet market. To date, three new Internet products have been launched:
SelectCast, SelectResponse and SelectResource.
 
     Substantially all of the Company's revenues in recent years have been
attributable to sales of predictive software solutions and services, and these
products and services are currently expected to continue to account for a
substantial amount of the Company's future revenues. The market for predictive
software solutions is still emerging. The rate at which businesses have adopted
the Company's products has varied significantly by market and by product within
each market, and the Company expects to continue to experience such variations
with respect to its target markets and products in the future. The Company has
introduced products for the healthcare/insurance, financial services and retail
markets. The Company has recently announced several new products, including
PMAdvisor, VeriComp, SelectCast, SelectResponse and SelectResource. To date,
none of these products has achieved any significant degree of market acceptance,
and there can be no assurance that such products will ever be widely accepted.
Although businesses in the Company's target markets have recognized the
advantages of using predictive software solutions to automate the decision-
making process, many have developed decision automation systems internally
rather than licensing them from outside vendors. There can be no assurance that
the markets for the Company's products will continue to develop or that the
Company's products will be widely accepted, if at all. If the markets for the
Company's new or existing products fail to develop, or develop more slowly than
anticipated, the Company's sales would be negatively impacted, which would have
a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and
results of operations.
 
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CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUPPORT
 
     A high level of continuing maintenance, service and support is critical to
maintaining the performance of the Company's predictive software solutions.
Service and support are also essential to the Company's objective of developing
long-term relationships with, and obtaining recurring revenues from, customers.
The Company's service and support activities are related to system installation,
performance validation and ongoing consultation on the optimal use of HNC
products.
 
     Model and Rule Updates. Most HNC product license agreements include
periodic data, model and/or rule updates to maintain system performance. HNC
technical personnel generally assist the customer with installation of updates.
The Company makes commitments to update models and rules at varying intervals,
from fixed times (such as quarterly and annually) to unscheduled times, provided
the customer has met its commitments to provide data to HNC.
 
     Education. The Company offers comprehensive education and training programs
to its customers. The Company provides on-site training services associated with
many of its products. Fees for education and training services are generally
included in usage-priced products, but may be charged separately in other cases.
 
     Consulting. The Company's consultants are available to work with customers'
user application groups and information systems organizations. Customers that
buy consulting services are usually planning large implementations or want to
optimize performance of the Company's products in their operating environments.
Fees for consulting are generally included in usage-priced products, but may be
charged separately in other cases.
 
PRICING
 
     The Company generally establishes prices in one of two ways: usage-based
fees and fixed-fee licenses with maintenance. The Company generally employs
usage-based pricing for its healthcare/insurance products, Falcon, ProfitMax and
AREAS. Under the usage-based pricing structure, HNC generally provides a fixed-
term software license, software maintenance, model updates (in the case of
HNC-supplied models) and ongoing consulting services in exchange for recurring
revenue based on usage. Usage-based term contracts typically include annual
price index adjustments. In 1995, 1996 and 1997, recurring revenues from these
contracts represented 61.2%, 56.1% and 55.2% of the Company's total revenues,
respectively. The Company generally employs fixed-fee license pricing for
Capstone and all of the Company's retail products except Falcon Retail. Under
the fixed-fee license pricing structure, the Company generally licenses the
product for the customer's internal use on a perpetual basis. In most cases, the
user can separately contract for maintenance services on an annual basis. The
Company typically offers early adopter pricing for its usage-based products to
customers that agree to be part of pilot or other early product life cycle
installations. Early adopter pricing might include reduced-fee perpetual
licenses, reduced-fee services or both.
 
     The Company often contracts for installation services associated with its
predictive software solutions. The Company provides user-specific proposals
priced at either fixed-fee levels or on a time and materials basis. In nearly
all cases, travel expenses are billed separately at cost.
 
     The Company offers contract consulting services. Because of the complexity
associated with predictive software solutions, users often request that HNC help
them to develop models or analyze problems. Also, the Company from time to time
accepts engagements not associated with current product offerings in order to
become more familiar with a new application area and determine the potential for
new product development. Although consulting services are included with many of
the Company's usage-based products, customers may request additional consulting,
often associated with custom modeling.
 
SALES AND MARKETING
 
     The Company sells and markets its software and services in North America
and internationally through its direct sales organization, joint marketing and
distribution agreements. The Company's worldwide sales and marketing
organization consisted of 125 employees as of December 31, 1997. The domestic
sales staff is based at the Company's corporate headquarters in San Diego and in
United States field offices in California,
 
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Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and
Virginia. Internationally, the Company has field sales offices in Australia,
Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
To support its sales force, the Company conducts comprehensive marketing
programs, which include direct mail, public relations, advertising, seminars,
trade shows and ongoing customer communication programs. The sales staff is
generally product-based, and each representative is assigned a geographic
territory.
 
     The Company has licensed First Data and EDS to act as service bureaus to
provide an alternate channel of distribution for end-users to utilize the Falcon
product to process credit card receipts for banks and other credit card issuers.
The Company generally assists its service bureau partners in the sales effort,
often employing the Company's direct sales force in the process. Company sales
representatives earn a commission for service bureau sales in their territory.
These service bureaus pay the Company monthly usage fees based on the volume of
transactions processed for such credit card issuers. Product licenses to First
Data, the largest provider of credit card charge receipt processing services to
banks, accounted for 8.7%, 8.6% and 7.6% of the Company's total revenues in
1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively. The Company has licensed First Data to
provide its customers with access to the Company's ProfitMax product pursuant to
a license agreement entered into in January 1996. The Company's revenues under
the ProfitMax Contract represented approximately one-quarter of the Company's
revenues from First Data in 1997. In late January 1998, First Data asserted that
certain restrictive covenants under the ProfitMax Contract violated certain
intellectual property laws. First Data also asserted that the existence of such
restrictions made the ProfitMax Contract at least temporarily unenforceable and
that First Data is therefore not obligated to pay the Company license fees due
under the ProfitMax contract. The Company disputed First Data's claim, released
and waived the above-mentioned restrictive covenants in the ProfitMax Contract
and gave First Data written notice that the Company intended to terminate the
ProfitMax Contract pursuant to its terms unless First Data cured its failure to
pay the delinquent license fees in a timely manner. Currently, First Data and
the Company are working to resolve their dispute regarding the ProfitMax
Contract by negotiating a new agreement. First Data has resumed making license
fee payments on a delayed basis, and HNC has agreed to extend the date for First
Data to pay past due license fees until mid-April 1998. Although HNC expects to
reach a new agreement with First Data that will resolve the pending dispute,
there can be no assurance that such an agreement will be reached or that the
terms of such an agreement would be as favorable to HNC as its existing
contractual arrangements with First Data. If no such agreement can be reached
and First Data maintains its current position, it is possible that litigation or
arbitration could ensue, which would likely result in a loss of anticipated
revenue to the Company under the ProfitMax Agreement and possibly other
agreements between the Company and First Data, which could have a material
adverse affect on the Company's business, financial condition and results of
operation.
 
     The Company also uses representative agents for certain products in certain
territories outside of North America. The Company has agents covering Australia,
Austria, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Switzerland. In 1995,
1996 and 1997, international operations and export sales (includes sales in
Canada) represented 12.6%, 17.7% and 16.8% of the Company's total revenues,
respectively. International sales result primarily from Falcon product sales and
sales of retail products. The Company intends to continue to expand its
operations outside the United States and to enter additional international
markets, including by adding sales and support offices in Europe and Japan,
which will require significant management attention and financial resources. The
Company has committed and continues to commit significant time and development
resources to customizing certain of its products for selected international
markets and to developing international sales and support channels. There can be
no assurance that the Company's efforts to develop products, databases and
models for targeted international markets or to develop additional international
sales and support channels will be successful. The failure of such efforts,
which can entail considerable expense, could have a material adverse effect on
the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations. See "Risk
Factors -- Risks Associated with International Sales."
 
     International sales are subject to additional inherent risks, including
longer payment cycles, unexpected changes in regulatory requirements, import and
export restrictions and tariffs, difficulties in staffing and managing foreign
operations, the burdens of complying with a variety of foreign laws, greater
difficulty or delay
 
                                       10
<PAGE>   11
 
in accounts receivable collection, potentially adverse tax consequences and
political and economic instability. The Company's international sales are
currently denominated predominantly in United States dollars and a small portion
are denominated in British pounds sterling. An increase in the value of the
United States dollar relative to foreign currencies could make the Company's
products more expensive, and therefore potentially less competitive, in foreign
markets. In the future, to the extent the Company's international sales are
denominated in local currencies, foreign currency translations may contribute to
significant fluctuations in the Company's business, financial condition and
results of operations. If for any reason exchange or price controls or other
restrictions on foreign currencies are imposed, the Company's business,
financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely
affected.
 
     Due in part to the mission-critical nature of certain of the Company's
applications, potential customers perceive high risk in connection with adoption
of the Company's products. As a result, customers have been cautious in making
decisions to acquire the Company's products. In addition, because the purchase
of the Company's products typically involves a significant commitment of capital
and may involve shifts by the customer to a new software and/or hardware
platform, delays in completing sales can arise while customers complete their
internal procedures to approve large capital expenditures and test and accept
new technologies that affect key operations. For these and other reasons, the
sales cycle associated with the purchase of the Company's products is typically
lengthy, unpredictable and subject to a number of significant risks over which
the Company has little or no control, including customers' budgetary constraints
and internal acceptance reviews. The sales cycle associated with the licensing
of the Company's products can typically range from 60 days to 18 months. As a
result of the length of the sales cycle and the typical size of customers'
orders, the Company's ability to forecast the timing and amount of specific
sales is limited. A lost or delayed sale could have a material adverse effect on
the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
TECHNOLOGY
 
     The Company seeks to develop innovative products by combining industry and
application knowledge with its core neural-network technology to address
specific market needs. The Company's systems also employ rule-based technology
to implement customer strategy, policy and procedures. These technologies are
incorporated in computer software and hardware architectures, including
client-server hardware, relational databases and object-oriented programming.
The Company intends to continue to develop state-of-the-art technologies to
enhance its current products and broaden development opportunities.
 
     Neural-Network Technology. Neural networks have predictive power that can
be improved with experience as the historical database increases in size. The
term "neural network" refers to a family of nonlinear, statistical modeling
techniques, sometimes called "computational intelligence." These techniques
distinguish themselves through a process of automated "learning" or "training"
that replaces the time-consuming manual techniques of traditional nonlinear,
statistical modeling. The neural-network architecture itself consists of groups
of "processing elements," or equations with several inputs and a single output.
The output of each element becomes either the input to another element or part
of the dependent output. Each input receives a "weight" or value, in the
equation, which is adjusted during the training process. The actual result from
each training record is compared with the answer from the neural network, and
the weights are adjusted to reduce the error between the two. This process can
become computationally intensive, as millions of training data records must be
processed hundreds or thousands of times. HNC has developed proprietary
high-speed and parallel-processor boards to accelerate training and execution of
its neural-network software. The Company believes that the rapid model
development afforded by its technology provides a competitive advantage in the
development of predictive software solutions.
 
     Rule-Based Technology. The Company's systems also employ rule-based
technology to implement customer strategy, policy and procedures. The rules are
implemented as part of predictive processes. The Company believes that its
combination of neural networks and rule bases in a single decision engine
represents a significant competitive advantage over more traditional approaches
to decision automation.
 
     Context Vector Technology. Context vector technology that originated at HNC
and is being commercialized at Aptex is a way to explore, analyze and model
unstructured textual data. Context vector technology
 
                                       11
<PAGE>   12
 
automatically discovers the underlying structure of free form symbolic data.
This structure enables modeling from data elements previously considered
impossible to include in predictive software applications. Context vector
technology also models behavior. Just as relationships are discovered in
unstructured data, observing electronic transaction behavior identifies
patterns. Compatibility predictions can be made between information, behavior,
people and products. When combined with other HNC technologies, such as neural
networks and rule-based systems, the Company believes that context vectors can
improve the performance of existing applications while opening new market
opportunities. Context vector technology has been demonstrated to increase
banner advertising click rates on the Internet, automate e-mail responses and
discover unknown relationships in credit card transaction data.
 
     The Company's success depends upon its ability to enter new markets by
successfully developing new products for such markets on a timely and
cost-effective basis. The Company's products often require customer data for
decision model development and system installation. As a result, completion of
new products (particularly new products for markets not previously served by the
Company) may be delayed while the Company extracts sufficient amounts of
statistically relevant data and develops the models. During this development
process, the Company relies on its potential customers in the new market to
provide data and to help train Company personnel in the use and meaning of the
data in the specific industry. These relationships also assist the Company in
establishing a market presence and credibility in the new market. These
potential customers, most of which have significantly greater financial and
marketing resources than the Company, may compete with the Company in the future
or otherwise discontinue their relationships with or support of the Company,
either during development of the Company's products or thereafter. The failure
by the Company to obtain adequate third-party support for new product
development would have a material adverse effect on the Company's ability to
enter new markets and, consequently, on the Company's business, financial
condition and results of operations. See "Risk Factors -- Risks Associated with
Technological Change and Delays in Developing New Products."
 
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
 
     The Company believes that its future success depends in part on its ability
to maintain and improve its core technologies, enhance its existing products and
develop new products that meet an expanding range of markets and customer
requirements. The Company intends to expand its existing product offerings and
to introduce new predictive software solutions. In the development of new
products and enhancements to existing products, the Company uses its own tools
extensively. Until 1996, the Company relied primarily on internal development of
its products. Based on timing and cost considerations, however, the Company has
acquired, and in the future may consider acquiring, technology or products from
third parties. For example, the Company acquired technology and products in
connection with its acquisitions of Risk Data and Retek in 1996 and CompReview
in 1997.
 
     The Company performs all quality assurance and develops documentation
internally. The Company intends to continue to support industry standard
operating environments, client-server architectures and network protocols. The
Company's specialists in neural network model development, software engineering,
user interface design, product documentation and quality improvement are
responsible for maintaining and enhancing the performance, quality and usability
of all HNC predictive software solutions. The marketing services organization is
responsible for authoring and updating all user documentation and other
publications. See "Risk Factors -- Risks Associated with Technological Change
and Delays in Developing New Products."
 
     The Company strategically targets its long-term research projects. In
addition to funds allocated by the Company for research, HNC receives research
contracts from a range of commercial sources and the United States Government.
Government and commercial contract customers have included the Advanced Research
Projects Agency, United States Air Force, Office of Naval Research and Tracor
Applied Sciences, Inc. The Company believes that these contracts augment its
ability to maintain existing technologies and investigate new technologies that
may or may not become part of its products. The United States Government
typically retains certain intellectual property rights and licenses in the
technologies the Company develops under research contracts directly or
indirectly sponsored by the government, and in some cases can terminate the
Company's rights in such technologies if the Company fails to commercialize them
on a timely basis.
 
                                       12
<PAGE>   13
 
Historically, these contracts have not resulted in development of products
contributing to the Company's revenues in the fiscal year in which the research
contract is performed, or in the subsequent fiscal year.
 
     The market for the Company's predictive software solutions for service
industries is characterized by rapidly changing technology and improvements in
computer hardware, network operating systems, programming tools, programming
languages, operating systems and database technology. The Company's success will
depend upon its ability to continue to develop and maintain competitive
technologies, enhance its current products and develop, in a timely and
cost-effective manner, new products that meet changing market conditions,
including evolving customer needs, new competitive product offerings, emerging
industry standards and changing technology. For example, the rapid growth of the
Internet environment creates new opportunities, risks and uncertainties for
businesses, such as the Company, which develop software solutions that now may
have to be designed to operate in Internet, intranet and other on-line
environments. The Company may not be able to develop and market, on a timely
basis, or at all, product enhancements or new products that respond to changing
technologies. The Company has previously experienced significant delays in the
development and introduction of new products and product enhancements, primarily
due to difficulties with model development, which has in the past required
multiple iterations, as well as difficulties with acquiring data and adapting to
particular operating environments. The length of these delays has varied
depending upon the size and scope of the project and the nature of the problems
encountered. Any significant delay in the completion of new products, or the
failure of such products, if and when installed, to achieve any significant
degree of market acceptance, would have a material adverse effect on the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations. Any failure
by the Company to anticipate or to respond adequately to changing technologies,
or any significant delays in product development or introduction, could cause
customers to delay or decide against purchases of the Company's products and
would have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial
condition and results of operations.
 
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND OTHER PROPRIETARY RIGHTS
 
     The Company relies on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark and
trade secret laws and confidentiality procedures to protect its proprietary
rights. The Company currently owns seven issued United States patents and has
four United States patent applications pending. The Company has applied for
additional patents for its Falcon technology in Canada, Europe and Japan and for
its MIRA product in Australia, Canada and Europe. There can be no assurance that
patents will be issued with respect to pending or future patent applications or
that the Company's patents will be upheld as valid or will prevent the
development of competitive products. The Company seeks to protect its software,
documentation and other written materials under trade secret and copyright laws,
which afford only limited protection. As part of its confidentiality procedures,
the Company generally enters into invention assignment and proprietary
information agreements with its employees and independent contractors and
nondisclosure agreements with its distributors, corporate partners and
licensees, and limits access to and distribution of its software, documentation
and other proprietary information. Despite these precautions, it may be possible
for a third party to copy or otherwise to obtain and use the Company's products
or technology without authorization, or to develop similar technology
independently. In addition, to ensure that customers will not be adversely
affected by an interruption in the Company's business, the Company places source
code for certain of its products into escrow, which may increase the likelihood
of misappropriation or other misuse of the Company's intellectual property.
Moreover, effective protection of intellectual property rights may be
unavailable or limited in certain foreign countries in which the Company has
done and may do business. Also, the Company has developed technologies under
research projects conducted under agreements with various United States
Government agencies or subcontractors to such agencies. Although the Company has
acquired certain commercial rights to such technologies, the United States
Government typically retains ownership of certain intellectual property rights
and licenses in the technologies developed by the Company under such contracts,
and in some cases can terminate the Company's rights in such technologies if the
Company fails to commercialize them on a timely basis. In addition, under
certain United States Government contracts, the results of the Company's
research may be made public by the government, which could limit the Company's
competitive advantage with respect to future products based on such research.
 
                                       13
<PAGE>   14
 
     In the past, the Company has received communications from third parties
asserting that Company trademarks infringe such other parties' trademarks, none
of which has resulted in litigation or losses to the Company. Given the
Company's ongoing efforts to develop and market new technologies and products,
the Company may receive communications from third parties asserting that the
Company's products infringe, or may infringe, their intellectual property
rights. If as a result of any such claims the Company were precluded from using
certain technologies or intellectual property rights, licenses to such disputed
third-party technology or intellectual property rights might not be available on
reasonable commercial terms, if at all. Furthermore, the Company may initiate
claims or litigation against third parties for infringement of the Company's
proprietary rights or to establish the validity of the Company's proprietary
rights. Litigation, either as plaintiff or defendant, could result in
significant expense to the Company and divert the efforts of the Company's
technical and management personnel from productive tasks, whether or not such
litigation is resolved in favor of the Company. In the event of an adverse
ruling in any such litigation, the Company might be required to pay substantial
damages, discontinue the use and sale of infringing products, expend significant
resources to develop non-infringing technology or obtain licenses to infringing
technology, and the court might invalidate the Company's patents, trademarks or
other proprietary rights. In the event of a successful claim against the Company
and the failure of the Company to develop or license a substitute technology,
the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations would be
materially and adversely affected.
 
     As the number of software products increases and the functionality of these
products further overlaps, the Company believes that software developers may
become increasingly subject to infringement claims. Any such claims, with or
without merit, can be time consuming and expensive to defend and could
materially and adversely affect the Company's business, financial condition and
results of operations.
 
COMPETITION
 
     The market for predictive software solutions for service industries is
intensely competitive and subject to rapid change. Competitors, many of which
have substantially greater financial resources than the Company, vary in size
and in the scope of the products and services they offer. The Company encounters
competition from a number of sources, including (i) other application software
companies, (ii) management information systems departments of customers and
potential customers, including banks, insurance companies and retailers, (iii)
third party professional services organizations, including without limitation,
consulting divisions of public accounting firms, (iv) hardware suppliers that
bundle or develop complementary software, (v) network and service providers that
seek to enhance their value-added services, (vi) neural-network tool suppliers,
and (vii) managed care organizations. In the healthcare/insurance market, the
Company has experienced competition primarily from NCCI, Corporate Systems and
CSC Incorporated. In the workers' compensation and medical cost administration
market, the Company has experienced competition from MediCode, Medata, Inc. and
Embassy Software with regard to software licensing, and Intracorp and Corvel
Corporation in the service bureau operations market. Additionally, the Company
has faced competition from ADP in the automobile accident medical claims market.
In the financial services market, the Company has experienced competition from
Fair, Isaac & Co., Inc., Cogensys (a subsidiary of Policy Management Systems
Corporation), Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, IBM, Nestor, Inc., NeuralTech Inc.,
Neuralware Inc., PMI Mortgage Services Co., VISA International and others. In
the retail market, the Company has experienced competition from JDA Software
Group, Inc., SAP AG, PeopleSoft, Inc., IBM, Manugistics Group, Inc. and others.
The Company expects to experience additional competition from other established
and emerging companies, as well as other technologies. For example, the
Company's Falcon product competes against other methods of preventing credit
card fraud, such as card activation programs, credit cards that contain the
cardholder's photograph, smart cards and other card authorization techniques.
Increased competition, whether from other products or new technologies, could
result in price reductions, fewer customer orders, reduced gross margins and
loss of market share, any of which could materially adversely affect the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
     The Company believes that most of its products are currently priced at a
premium when compared to its competitors' products. The market for the Company's
products is highly competitive, and the Company expects that it will face
increasing pricing pressures from its current competitors and new market
entrants. In
 
                                       14
<PAGE>   15
 
particular, increased competition could reduce or eliminate such premiums and
cause further price reductions. In addition, such competition could adversely
affect the Company's ability to obtain new long-term contracts and renewals of
existing long-term contracts on terms favorable to the Company. Any reduction in
the price of the Company's products could materially adversely affect the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
     The Company believes that the principal competitive factors affecting its
market include technical performance (for example, accuracy in detecting credit
card fraud or evaluating workers' compensation claims), access to unique
proprietary databases and product attributes such as adaptability, scalability,
ability to integrate with products produced by other vendors, functionality,
ease-of-use, product reputation, quality, performance, price, customer service
and support, the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts and Company
reputation. Although the Company believes that its products currently compete
favorably with respect to such factors, there can be no assurance that the
Company can maintain its competitive position against current and potential
competitors, especially those with significantly greater financial, marketing,
service, support, technical and other resources.
 
     Some of the Company's current, and many of the Company's potential,
competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, marketing and other
resources than the Company. As a result, they may be able to respond more
quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements or
to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their
products than the Company. In addition, current and potential competitors have
established or may establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with
third parties to increase the ability of their products to address the needs of
the Company's prospective customers. Accordingly, it is possible that new
competitors or alliances among competitors may emerge and rapidly gain
significant market share. Also, the Company relies upon its customers to provide
data, expertise and other support for the ongoing updating of the Company's
models. The Company's customers, most of which have significantly greater
financial and marketing resources than the Company, may compete with the Company
in the future or otherwise discontinue their relationships with or support of
the Company. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to compete
successfully against current and future competitors or that competitive
pressures faced by the Company will not materially adversely affect its
business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
EMPLOYEES
 
     As of December 31, 1997, the Company had 706 employees, including 316 in
product development and support, 87 in customer service, 125 in sales and
marketing and 178 in finance, administration and MIS. Most of these employees
are located in the United States. None of the Company's employees are
represented by a labor union. The Company has experienced no work stoppages and
believes that its employee relationships are generally good.
 
     The Company's success depends to a significant degree upon the continued
service of members of the Company's senior management and other key research,
development, sales and marketing personnel. Accordingly, the loss of any of the
Company's senior management or key research, development, sales or marketing
personnel could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business,
financial condition and results of operations. Only a small number of employees
have employment agreements with the Company, and there can be no assurance that
such agreements will result in the retention of these employees for any
significant period of time. In addition, the untimely loss of a member of the
management team or a key employee of a business acquired by the Company could
have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition
and results of operations, particularly if such loss occurred before the Company
has had adequate time to familiarize itself with the operating details of that
business. In the past, the Company has experienced difficulty in recruiting a
sufficient number of qualified sales and technical employees. In addition,
competitors may attempt to recruit the Company's key employees. There can be no
assurance that the Company will be successful in attracting, assimilating and
retaining such personnel. The failure to attract, assimilate and retain key
personnel could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business,
financial condition and results of operations. See "Risk Factors -- Risks
Associated with Managing Growth."
 
                                       15
<PAGE>   16
 
                                  RISK FACTORS
 
     This Report (including without limitation the following Risk Factors)
contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act) regarding the Company and
its business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Words
such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks,"
"estimates" and similar expressions or variations of such words are intended to
identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of
identifying forward-looking statements in this Report. Additionally, statements
concerning future matters such as the development of new products, enhancements
or technologies, possible changes in legislation and other statements regarding
matters that are not historical are forward-looking statements.
 
     Although forward-looking statements in this Report reflect the good faith
judgment of the Company's management, such statements can only be based on facts
and factors currently known by the Company. Consequently, forward-looking
statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results
and outcomes may differ materially from the results and outcomes discussed in
the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such
differences in results and outcomes include without limitation those discussed
below as well as those discussed elsewhere in this Report. Readers are urged not
to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as
of the date of this Report. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or
update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event or
circumstance that may arise after the date of this Report. Readers are urged to
carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by the Company in
this Report, which attempts to advise interested parties of the risks and
factors that may affect the Company's business, financial condition and results
of operations and prospects.
 
     POTENTIAL FLUCTUATIONS IN OPERATING RESULTS. The Company's revenues and
operating results have varied significantly in the past and may do so in the
future. Because the Company's expense levels are based in part on its
expectations regarding future revenues and in the short term are fixed to a
large extent, the Company may be unable to adjust its spending in time to
compensate for any unexpected revenue shortfall. Factors affecting operating
results include market acceptance of the Company's products; the relatively
large size and small number of customer orders that may be received during a
given period; customer cancellation of long-term contracts yielding recurring
revenues or customers' ceasing their use of Company products for which the
Company's fees are usage based; the length of the Company's sales cycle; the
Company's ability to develop, introduce and market new products and product
enhancements; the timing of new product announcements and introductions by the
Company and its competitors; changes in the mix of distribution channels;
changes in the level of operating expenses; the Company's ability to achieve
progress on percentage-of-completion contracts; the Company's success in
completing certain pilot installations for contracted fees; competitive
conditions in the industry; domestic and international economic conditions; and
market conditions in the Company's targeted markets. Furthermore, the Company's
operating results may be affected by factors unique to certain of its product
lines. For example, the Company derives a substantial and increasing portion of
its revenues from its retail products, which are generally priced as "perpetual"
license transactions in which the Company receives a one-time license fee. The
Company recognizes these fees as revenue upon delivery of the software and
acceptance by the customer. Thus, failure to complete a perpetual license
transaction during a fiscal quarter would have a disproportionate adverse impact
on the Company's operating results for that quarter.
 
     The Company expects fluctuations in its operating results to continue for
the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the Company believes that period-to-period
comparisons of its financial results should not be relied upon as an indication
of future performance. The Company may not be able to maintain profitability on
a quarterly or annual basis in the future. Due to all of the foregoing factors,
it is possible that in some future quarter the Company's operating results will
be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors. In that
event, the price of the Company's Common Stock and, in turn, the market price of
the Notes, would likely be materially adversely affected. See "Management's
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."
 
                                       16
<PAGE>   17
 
     LENGTHY AND UNPREDICTABLE SALES CYCLE. Due in part to the mission-critical
nature of certain of the Company's applications, potential customers perceive
high risk in connection with adoption of the Company's products. As a result,
customers have been cautious in making decisions to acquire the Company's
products. In addition, because the purchase of the Company's products typically
involves a significant commitment of capital and may involve shifts by the
customer to a new software and/or hardware platform, delays in completing sales
can arise while customers complete their internal procedures to approve large
capital expenditures and test and accept new technologies that affect key
operations. For these and other reasons, the sales cycle associated with the
purchase of the Company's products is typically lengthy, unpredictable and
subject to a number of significant risks over which the Company has little or no
control, including customers' budgetary constraints and internal acceptance
reviews. The sales cycle associated with the licensing of the Company's products
can typically range from 60 days to 18 months. As a result of the length of the
sales cycle and the typical size of customers' orders, the Company's ability to
forecast the timing and amount of specific sales is limited. A lost or delayed
sale could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial
condition and results of operations. See "Management's Discussion and Analysis
of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Business -- Sales and
Marketing."
 
     ACQUISITIONS. Between August 1996 and November 1997, the Company acquired
three businesses. In August 1996, the Company acquired Risk Data, a company that
develops, markets and supports proprietary software decision products for use in
the insurance industry. In November 1996, the Company acquired Retek, a company
that develops, markets and supports management decision software products for
retailers and their vendors. In November 1997, the Company acquired CompReview,
a company that develops, markets and supports a software product and related
services designed to assist in the management and containment of the medical
costs of workers' compensation and automobile accident medical claims. The
Company believes that its future growth depends, in part, upon the success of
these and possible future acquisitions. There can be no assurance that the
Company will successfully identify, acquire on favorable terms or integrate such
businesses, products, services or technologies. The Company may in the future
face increased competition for acquisition opportunities, which may inhibit the
Company's ability to consummate suitable acquisitions and increase the costs of
completing such acquisitions. The acquisitions of Risk Data, Retek and
CompReview, as well as other potential future acquisitions, will require the
Company to successfully manage and integrate such acquired businesses, which may
be located in diverse geographic locations. Acquiring other businesses also
requires the Company to successfully develop and market products to new
industries and markets with which the Company may not be familiar. It also
requires the Company to coordinate (and possibly change) the diverse operating
structures, policies and practices of the acquired companies and to integrate
the employees of the acquired companies into the Company's organization and
culture. Failure of the Company to successfully integrate and manage acquired
businesses, to retain their employees, and to successfully address new
industries and markets associated with such acquired businesses, would have a
material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and
results of operations. In addition, although the acquisitions of Risk Data,
Retek and CompReview have been accounted for as poolings of interests, future
acquisitions may be accounted for as purchases, resulting in potential charges
that may adversely affect the Company's earnings. Additional acquisitions may
also involve the issuance of shares of the Company's stock to owners of acquired
businesses, resulting in dilution in the percentage of the Company's stock owned
by other stockholders. See "Business -- HNC's Strategy."
 
     RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH MANAGING GROWTH. In recent years, the Company has
experienced changes in its operations that have placed significant demands on
the Company's administrative, operational and financial resources. The growth in
the Company's customer base and expansion of its product functionality, together
with its acquisition of other businesses and their employees, have challenged
and are expected to continue to challenge the Company's management and
operations, including its sales, marketing, customer support, research and
development and finance and administrative operations. The Company's future
performance will depend in part on its ability to successfully manage change,
both in its domestic and international operations, and to adapt its operational
and financial control systems, if necessary, to respond to changes in its
business and to facilitate the integration of acquired businesses with the
Company's operations. The failure of the Company's management to effectively
respond to and manage growth could have a material adverse effect on the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
                                       17
<PAGE>   18
 
     DEPENDENCE ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND MARKETS. The market for predictive
software solutions is still emerging. The rate at which businesses have adopted
the Company's products has varied significantly by market and by product within
each market, and the Company expects to continue to experience such variations
with respect to its target markets and products in the future. The Company has
introduced products for the healthcare/insurance, financial services and retail
markets. The Company has recently announced several new products, including
PMAdvisor, VeriComp, SelectCast, SelectResponse and SelectResource. To date,
none of these products has achieved any significant degree of market acceptance,
and there can be no assurance that such products will ever be widely accepted.
Although businesses in the Company's target markets have recognized the
advantages of using predictive software solutions to automate the decision-
making process, many have developed decision automation systems internally
rather than licensing them from outside vendors. There can be no assurance that
the markets for the Company's products will continue to develop or that the
Company's products will be widely accepted, if at all. If the markets for the
Company's new or existing products fail to develop, or develop more slowly than
anticipated, the Company's sales would be negatively impacted, which would have
a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and
results of operations. See "Business -- Emerging Market Opportunities."
 
     RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND DELAYS IN DEVELOPING NEW
PRODUCTS. The market for the Company's predictive software solutions for service
industries is characterized by rapidly changing technology and improvements in
computer hardware, network operating systems, programming tools, programming
languages, operating systems and database technology. The Company's success will
depend upon its ability to continue to develop and maintain competitive
technologies, enhance its current products and develop, in a timely and
cost-effective manner, new products that meet changing market conditions,
including evolving customer needs, new competitive product offerings, emerging
industry standards and changing technology. For example, the rapid growth of the
Internet environment creates new opportunities, risks and uncertainties for
businesses, such as the Company, which develop software solutions that now may
have to be designed to operate in Internet, intranet and other on-line
environments. The Company may not be able to develop and market, on a timely
basis, or at all, product enhancements or new products that respond to changing
technologies. The Company has previously experienced significant delays in the
development and introduction of new products and product enhancements, primarily
due to difficulties with model development, which has in the past required
multiple iterations, as well as difficulties with acquiring data and adapting to
particular operating environments. The length of these delays has varied
depending upon the size and scope of the project and the nature of the problems
encountered. Any significant delay in the completion of new products, or the
failure of such products, if and when installed, to achieve any significant
degree of market acceptance, would have a material adverse effect on the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations. Any failure
by the Company to anticipate or to respond adequately to changing technologies,
or any significant delays in product development or introduction, could cause
customers to delay or decide against purchases of the Company's products and
would have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial
condition and results of operations. See "Business -- Technology" and
"-- Research and Development."
 
     PRODUCT CONCENTRATION. The Company currently has one product or product
line in each of its three target markets that accounts for a majority of the
Company's total revenues from that market. These products in the aggregate
accounted for 60.0%, 59.1% and 57.9% of the Company's total revenues in 1995,
1996 and 1997, respectively. In the healthcare/insurance market, the Company's
revenues from its CRLink product accounted for 29.8%, 24.6% and 23.0% of the
Company's total revenues in 1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively, and are expected
to account for a substantial portion of the Company's total revenues for the
foreseeable future. Continued market acceptance of CRLink will be affected by
future product enhancements and competition. Decline in demand for, or use of,
CRLink, whether as a result of competition, simplification of state workers'
compensation fee schedules, changes in the overall payment system or regulatory
structure for workers' compensation claims, technological change, an inability
to obtain or use state fee schedule or claims data, saturation of market demand,
industry consolidation or otherwise, could result in decreased revenues from
CRLink, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business,
financial condition and results of operations. Further, revenues from the Retek
Merchandising System ("RMS"), a retail management product, accounted for 2.2%,
13.6% and 18.9% of the Company's total revenues in 1995, 1996 and 1997,
 
                                       18
<PAGE>   19
 
respectively, and are expected to continue to account for a substantial portion
of the Company's revenues in the foreseeable future. Continued market acceptance
of RMS will be affected by the quality and timely introduction of future product
enhancements and competition. Decline in demand for, or use of, RMS as a result
of continued entry into the retail inventory management market by vendors that
may have significantly greater resources and a broader customer base than the
Company could result in decreased revenues from RMS, which could have a material
adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and results of
operations. In addition, decline in demand for RMS, as a result of technological
change, saturation of market demand, industry consolidation or otherwise would
have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition
and results of operations. Revenues from the Company's Falcon product line for
credit card fraud detection for financial institutions accounted for 28.0%,
20.9% and 16.0% of the Company's total revenues in 1995, 1996 and 1997,
respectively, and are expected to continue to account for a substantial portion
of the Company's total revenues in the foreseeable future. Continued market
acceptance of the Falcon product line will be affected by the quality and timely
introduction of future product enhancements and competition. In addition, it is
possible that patterns of credit card fraud may change in a manner that the
Falcon product line would not detect and that other methods of credit card fraud
prevention may reduce customers' needs for the Falcon product line. As a result
of increasing saturation of market demand for the Falcon product line, the
Company may also need to rely increasingly on international sales to maintain or
increase Falcon revenue levels. Furthermore, Falcon customers are banks and
related financial institutions. Accordingly, the Company's future success
depends upon the capital expenditure budgets of such customers and the continued
demand by such customers for Falcon products. The financial services industry
tends to be cyclical in nature, which may result in variations in demand for the
Company's products. In addition, there has been and continues to be
consolidation in the financial services industry, which in some cases has
lengthened the sales cycle and may lead to reduced demand for the Company's
products. Decline in demand for, or use of, Falcon, whether as a result of
competition, technological change, change in fraud patterns, the cyclical nature
of the financial services industry, saturation of market demand, fluctuations in
interest rates, industry consolidation, reduction in capital spending or
otherwise, could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business,
financial condition and results of operations. See "Business -- Markets and
Products."
 
     DEPENDENCE ON DATA. The development, installation and support of the
Company's credit card fraud control and profitability management, loan
underwriting, home valuation and certain healthcare/insurance products require
periodic model updates. The Company must develop or obtain a reliable source of
sufficient amounts of current and statistically relevant data to analyze
transactions and update its models. For example, in the electronic payments
market, the data required by the Company are collected privately and maintained
in proprietary databases. As a result, the Company and its Falcon and ProfitMax
customers enter into agreements pursuant to and build new fraud detection and
profitability models. For its AREAS home valuation product, the Company obtains
data from commercial databases on available terms and conditions. Many of the
Company's healthcare/insurance products use historical workers' compensation
claims data obtained from customers. CRLink also uses data from state workers'
compensation fee schedules adopted by state regulatory agencies, and certain
third parties have asserted copyright interests in such data. In most cases,
such data must be periodically updated and refreshed to enable the Company's
predictive software products to continue to work effectively. In addition, the
development of new and enhanced products also depends to a significant extent on
the availability of sufficient amounts of statistically relevant data to enable
the Company to develop models. For example, to expand the geographic coverage of
its AREAS product, the Company would be required to develop or obtain data on
home sales in each county for which AREAS is marketed. There can be no assurance
that the Company will be able to continue to obtain adequate amounts of
statistically relevant data on a timely basis, in the required formats or on
reasonable terms and conditions, whether from customers or commercial suppliers.
Any such failure by the Company to obtain required data when it is needed, for a
reasonable price and on reasonable terms, could have a significant negative
impact on existing product performance, new product development and product
pricing which could in turn have a material adverse effect on the Company's
business, financial condition and results of operations. See
"Business -- Customer Service and Support."
 
     COMPETITION. The market for predictive software solutions for service
industries is intensely competitive and subject to rapid change. Competitors,
many of which have substantially greater financial resources than
 
                                       19
<PAGE>   20
 
the Company, vary in size and in the scope of the products and services they
offer. The Company encounters competition from a number of sources, including
(i) other application software companies, (ii) management information systems
departments of customers and potential customers, including banks, insurance
companies and retailers, (iii) third-party professional services organizations,
including without limitation, consulting divisions of public accounting firms,
(iv) hardware suppliers that bundle or develop complementary software, (v)
network and service providers that seek to enhance their value-added services,
(vi) neural-network tool suppliers and (vii) managed care organizations. In the
healthcare/insurance market, the Company has experienced competition primarily
from National Council on Compensation Insurance ("NCCI"), Corporate Systems and
CSC Incorporated. In the workers' compensation and medical cost administration
market, the Company has experienced competition from MediCode, Inc.
("MediCode"), Medata, Inc. and Embassy Software with regard to software
licensing, and Intracorp and Corvel Corporation in the service bureau operations
market. Additionally, the Company has faced competition from Automatic Data
Processing, Inc. ("ADP") in the automobile accident medical claims market. In
the financial services market, the Company has experienced competition from
Fair, Isaac & Co., Inc., Cogensys (a subsidiary of Policy Management Systems
Corporation), Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"), Federal Home
Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac"), International Business Machines
Corporation ("IBM"), Nestor, Inc., NeuralTech Inc., Neuralware Inc., PMI
Mortgage Services Co., VISA International and others. In the retail market, the
Company has experienced competition from JDA Software Group, Inc., SAP AG,
PeopleSoft, Inc., IBM, Manugistics Group, Inc. and others. The Company expects
to experience additional competition from other established and emerging
companies, as well as other technologies. For example, the Company's Falcon
product competes against other methods of preventing credit card fraud, such as
card activation programs, credit cards that contain the cardholder's photograph,
smart cards and other card authorization techniques. Increased competition,
whether from other products or new technologies, could result in price
reductions, fewer customer orders, reduced gross margins and loss of market
share, any of which could materially adversely affect the Company's business,
financial condition and results of operations.
 
     The Company believes that most of its products are currently priced at a
premium when compared to its competitors' products. The market for the Company's
products is highly competitive, and the Company expects that it will face
increasing pricing pressures from its current competitors and new market
entrants. In particular, increased competition could reduce or eliminate such
premiums and cause further price reductions. In addition, such competition could
adversely affect the Company's ability to obtain new long-term contracts and
renewals of existing long-term contracts on terms favorable to the Company. Any
reduction in the price of the Company's products could materially adversely
affect the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
     Some of the Company's current, and many of the Company's potential,
competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, marketing and other
resources than the Company. As a result, they may be able to respond more
quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements or
to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their
products than the Company. In addition, current and potential competitors have
established or may establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with
third parties to increase the ability of their products to address the needs of
the Company's prospective customers. Accordingly, it is possible that new
competitors or alliances among competitors may emerge and rapidly gain
significant market share. Also, the Company relies upon its customers to provide
data, expertise and other support for the ongoing updating of the Company's
models. The Company's customers, most of which have significantly greater
financial and marketing resources than the Company, may compete with the Company
in the future or otherwise discontinue their relationships with or support of
the Company. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to compete
successfully against current and future competitors or that competitive
pressures faced by the Company will not materially adversely affect its
business, financial condition and results of operations. See
"Business -- Competition."
 
     RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH RECRUITING AND RETAINING QUALIFIED PERSONNEL. The
Company's success depends to a significant degree upon the continued service of
members of the Company's senior management and other key research, development,
sales and marketing personnel. Accordingly, the loss of any such personnel could
have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition
and results of operations. Only a
 
                                       20
<PAGE>   21
 
small number of employees have employment agreements with the Company, and there
can be no assurance that such agreements will result in the retention of these
employees for any significant period of time. In addition, the untimely loss of
a member of the management team or a key employee of a business acquired by the
Company could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business,
financial condition and results of operations, particularly if such loss
occurred before the Company has had adequate time to familiarize itself with the
operating details of that business. In the past, the Company has experienced
difficulty in recruiting a sufficient number of qualified sales and technical
employees. In addition, competitors may attempt to recruit the Company's key
employees. There can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in
attracting, assimilating and retaining such personnel. The failure to attract,
assimilate and retain key personnel could have a material adverse effect on the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations. See
"Business -- Employees" and "Management."
 
     CUSTOMER CONCENTRATION. Product licenses to First Data Resources, Inc.
("First Data"), the largest provider of credit card charge receipt processing
services to banks, accounted for 8.7%, 8.6% and 7.6% of the Company's total
revenues in 1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively. The Company has licensed First
Data to provide its customers with access to the Company's ProfitMax product
pursuant to a license agreement entered into in January 1996 (the "ProfitMax
Contract"). The Company's revenues under the ProfitMax Contract represented
approximately one-quarter of the Company's revenues from First Data in 1997. In
late January 1998, First Data asserted that certain restrictive covenants under
the ProfitMax Contract violated certain intellectual property laws. First Data
also asserted that the existence of such restrictions made the ProfitMax
Contract at least temporarily unenforceable and that First Data is therefore not
obligated to pay the Company license fees due under the ProfitMax Contract. The
Company disputed First Data's claim, released and waived the above-mentioned
restrictive covenants in the ProfitMax Contract and gave First Data written
notice that the Company intended to terminate the ProfitMax Contract pursuant to
its terms unless First Data cured its failure to pay the delinquent license fees
in a timely manner. Currently, First Data and the Company are working to resolve
their dispute regarding the ProfitMax Contract by negotiating a new agreement;
however, there can be no assurance that such an agreement will be reached or
that the terms of such an agreement would be as favorable to HNC as its existing
contractual arrangements with First Data. If no such agreement can be reached
and First Data maintains its current position, it is possible that litigation or
arbitration could ensue, which would likely result in a loss of anticipated
revenue to the Company under the ProfitMax Agreement and possibly other
agreements between the Company and First Data, which could have a material
adverse affect on the Company's business, financial condition and results of
operation. See "Business -- Sales and Marketing."
 
     RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH INTERNATIONAL SALES. In 1995, 1996 and 1997,
international operations and export sales (including sales in Canada)
represented 12.6%, 17.7% and 16.8% of the Company's total revenues,
respectively. The Company intends to continue to expand its operations outside
the United States and to enter additional international markets, including by
adding sales and support offices in Europe and Japan, which will require
significant management attention and financial resources. For certain more
mature products, such as Falcon, the Company may need to increase international
sales in order to continue to expand the product's customer base. The Company
has committed and continues to commit significant time and development resources
to customizing certain of its products for selected international markets and to
developing international sales and support channels. There can be no assurance
that the Company's efforts to develop products, databases and models for
targeted international markets or to develop additional international sales and
support channels will be successful. The failure of such efforts, which can
entail considerable expense, could have a material adverse effect on the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
     International sales are subject to additional inherent risks, including
longer payment cycles, unexpected changes in regulatory requirements, import and
export restrictions and tariffs, difficulties in staffing and managing foreign
operations, the burdens of complying with a variety of foreign laws, greater
difficulty or delay in accounts receivable collection, potentially adverse tax
consequences and political and economic instability. The Company's international
sales are currently denominated predominantly in United States dollars and a
small portion are denominated in British pounds sterling. An increase in the
value of the United States dollar relative to foreign currencies could make the
Company's products more expensive, and therefore potentially
 
                                       21
<PAGE>   22
 
less competitive, in foreign markets. In the future, to the extent the Company's
international sales are denominated in local currencies, foreign currency
translations may contribute to significant fluctuations in the Company's
business, financial condition and results of operations. If for any reason
exchange or price controls or other restrictions on foreign currencies are
imposed, the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations
could be materially adversely affected. See "Business -- Sales and Marketing."
 
     RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGING REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT. The Company's
customers are subject to a number of government regulations and certain other
industry standards with which the Company's products must comply. For example,
the Company's financial services products are affected by Regulation B
promulgated under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, by regulations governing the
extension of credit to consumers and by Regulation E promulgated under the
Electronic Fund Transfers Act governing the transfer of funds from and to
consumer deposit accounts, as well as VISA and MasterCard electronic payment
standards. In the mortgage services market, the Company's products are affected
by regulations such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac regulations for conforming
loans, Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice and appraisal
standards for federally insured institutions under the Financial Institutions
Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act. In addition, recent regulatory initiatives
have restricted the availability of bank and credit bureau data, reflecting a
consumer privacy trend that could limit the Company's ability to obtain or use
certain credit-related information. It is also possible that insurance-related
regulations may in the future apply to the Company's healthcare/insurance
products. In many states, including California, there have been periodic
legislative efforts to reform workers' compensation laws in order to reduce the
cost of workers' compensation insurance and to curb abuses of the workers'
compensation system, and such changes, if adopted, might adversely affect the
Company's healthcare/insurance business. In addition, if state-mandated workers'
compensation laws or regulations or state workers' compensation fee schedules
are simplified, such changes would diminish the need for, and the benefit
provided by, the CRLink product. Changes in workers' compensation laws or
regulations could also adversely affect the Company's healthcare/ insurance
products by making them obsolete, or by requiring extensive changes in these
products to reflect new workers' compensation rules. To the extent that the
Company sells new products targeted to markets that include regulated industries
and businesses, the Company's products will need to comply with these additional
regulations. Any failure of the Company's products to comply with existing or
new regulations and standards could result in legal action against the Company
or its customers by regulatory authorities or by third parties, including
actions seeking civil or criminal penalties, injunctions against the Company's
use of data or civil damages, any of which could have a material adverse effect
on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations. The
Company may also be liable to its customers for failure of its products to
comply with such regulatory requirements. Furthermore, changes to these
regulations and standards or the adoption of new regulations or standards that
affect the Company's products could affect the performance of such products and
have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition
and results of operations.
 
     PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. The Company relies on a combination of
patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws and confidentiality
procedures to protect its proprietary rights. The Company currently owns seven
issued United States patents and has four United States patent applications
pending. The Company has applied for additional patents for its Falcon
technology in Canada, Europe and Japan and its MIRA product in Australia, Canada
and Europe. There can be no assurance that patents will be issued with respect
to pending or future patent applications or that the Company's patents will be
upheld as valid or will prevent the development of competitive products. The
Company seeks to protect its software, documentation and other written materials
under trade secret and copyright laws, which afford only limited protection. As
part of its confidentiality procedures, the Company generally enters into
invention assignment and proprietary information agreements with its employees
and independent contractors and nondisclosure agreements with its distributors,
corporate partners and licensees, and limits access to and distribution of its
software, documentation and other proprietary information. Despite these
precautions, it may be possible for a third party to copy or otherwise to obtain
and use the Company's products or technology without authorization, or to
develop similar technology independently. In addition, to ensure that customers
will not be adversely affected by an interruption in the Company's business, the
Company places source code for certain of its products into escrow, which may
increase the likelihood of misappropriation or other misuse of the Company's
intellectual
 
                                       22
<PAGE>   23
 
property. Moreover, effective protection of intellectual property rights may be
unavailable or limited in certain foreign countries in which the Company has
done and may do business. Also, the Company has developed technologies under
research projects conducted under agreements with various United States
Government agencies or subcontractors to such agencies. Although the Company has
acquired certain commercial rights to such technologies, the United States
Government typically retains ownership of certain intellectual property rights
and licenses in the technologies developed by the Company under such contracts,
and in some cases can terminate the Company's rights in such technologies if the
Company fails to commercialize them on a timely basis. In addition, under
certain United States Government contracts, the results of the Company's
research may be made public by the government, which could limit the Company's
competitive advantage with respect to future products based on such research.
See "Business -- Intellectual Property and Other Proprietary Rights."
 
     INFRINGEMENT OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTS. In the past, the Company has received
communications from third parties asserting that Company trademarks infringed
such other parties' trademarks, none of which have resulted in litigation or
losses to the Company. Given the Company's ongoing efforts to develop and market
new technologies and products, the Company may receive communications from third
parties asserting that the Company's products infringe, or may infringe, their
intellectual property rights. If as a result of any such claims the Company were
precluded from using certain technologies or intellectual property rights,
licenses to such disputed third-party technology or intellectual property rights
might not be available on reasonable commercial terms, if at all. Furthermore,
the Company may initiate claims or litigation against third parties for
infringement of the Company's proprietary rights or to establish the validity of
the Company's proprietary rights. Litigation, either as plaintiff or defendant,
could result in significant expense to the Company and divert the efforts of the
Company's technical and management personnel from productive tasks, whether or
not such litigation is resolved in favor of the Company. In the event of an
adverse ruling in any such litigation, the Company might be required to pay
substantial damages, discontinue the use and sale of infringing products, expend
significant resources to develop non-infringing technology or obtain licenses to
infringing technology, and the court might invalidate the Company's patents,
trademarks or other proprietary rights. In the event of a successful claim
against the Company and the failure of the Company to develop or license a
substitute technology, the Company's business, financial condition and results
of operations would be materially and adversely affected. As the number of
software products increases and the functionality of these products further
overlaps, the Company believes that software developers may become increasingly
subject to infringement claims. Any such claims, with or without merit, can be
time consuming and expensive to defend and could materially and adversely affect
the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations. See
"Business -- Intellectual Property and Other Proprietary Rights."
 
     RISK OF PRODUCT DEFECTS AND PRODUCT LIABILITY. Software products as complex
as those offered by the Company often contain undetected errors or failures when
first introduced or as new versions are released. In addition, to the extent
that the Company may have to develop new products that operate in new
environments, such as the Internet, the possibility for program errors and
failures may increase due to factors such as the use of new technologies or the
need for more rapid product development that is characteristic of the Internet
market. Despite pre-release testing by the Company and by current and potential
customers, there still may be errors in new products, even after commencement of
commercial shipments. The occurrence of such errors could result in delay in, or
failure to achieve, market acceptance of the Company's products, which could
have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition
and results of operations.
 
     Although the Company's license agreements with its customers typically
contain provisions designed to limit the Company's exposure to potential product
liability claims, it is possible that such limitation of liability provisions
may not be effective as a result of existing or future laws or unfavorable
judicial decisions. Because the Company's products are used in business-critical
applications, any errors or failures in such products may give rise to
substantial product liability claims, which could have a material adverse effect
on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
     YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE. Many currently installed computer systems and
software products are coded to accept only two digit entries in the date code
field. These date code fields will need to accept four digit entries to
distinguish 21st century dates from 20th century dates. As a result, in less
than two years, computer systems
 
                                       23
<PAGE>   24
 
and/or software used by many companies may need to be upgraded to comply with
such "Year 2000" requirements. Significant uncertainty exists in the software
industry concerning the potential effects associated with such compliance. The
Company anticipates that it will need to devote resources in the next two years
to modify its CRLink product to properly process dates beyond December 31, 1999.
The Company expects that the cost of making these modifications and distributing
the modified product to existing customers will be approximately $500,000. These
modifications and the resources that the Company expects to devote to such
modifications may divert management and engineering attention from, or delay the
development and introduction of, new products and enhancements to existing
products. The inability of the Company to complete such modifications
successfully and on a timely basis, or the inability of the Company to devote
sufficient resources to continuing updates and enhancements to the CRLink
product, could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business,
financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the Company believes
that the purchasing patterns of customers and potential customers may be
affected by Year 2000 issues as companies expend significant resources to
correct or patch their current software systems for Year 2000 compliance. These
expenditures may result in reduced funds available to purchase software products
such as those offered by the Company, which could result in a material adverse
effect on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
     FACTORS INHIBITING TAKEOVER. The Board of Directors is authorized to issue
up to 4,000,000 shares of Preferred Stock and to determine the price, rights,
preferences, privileges and restrictions, including voting rights, of those
shares without any further vote or action by the stockholders. The rights of the
holders of Common Stock will be subject to, and may be adversely affected by,
the rights of the holders of any Preferred Stock that may be issued in the
future. The issuance of Preferred Stock, while providing desirable flexibility
in connection with possible acquisitions and other corporate purposes, could
have the effect of making it more difficult for a third party to acquire a
majority of the outstanding voting stock of the Company. The Company has no
current plans to issue shares of Preferred Stock. In addition, Section 203 of
the Delaware General Corporation Law restricts certain business combinations
with any "interested stockholder" as defined by such statute. The statute may
have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of the
Company.
 
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
 
     The Company's principal administrative, sales, marketing, support, research
and development facilities are located in approximately 85,000 square feet of
space in San Diego, California. The Company and its subsidiaries also lease an
aggregate of approximately 95,000 square feet of additional office space
elsewhere in San Diego and in Atlanta, Georgia; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Costa
Mesa, California; and Irvine, California. The Company and its subsidiaries also
maintain numerous field offices in the United States and in foreign countries.
The Company believes that its current facilities are adequate to meet its needs
for the foreseeable future. The Company believes that suitable additional or
alternative space will be available in the future on commercially reasonable
terms as needed.
 
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
 
     The Company is not a party to any litigation other than ordinary routine
litigation incidental to the business.
 
ITEM 4. SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS
 
     A Special Meeting of Stockholders was held on November 25, 1997 to approve
two proposals: (1) a proposal to approve the issuance by the Company of shares
of HNC Common Stock and options to purchase HNC Common Stock to the stockholders
and optionholders, respectively, of CompReview, Inc; and (2) a proposal to
approve an amendment to the Company's 1995 Equity Incentive Plan increasing the
number of
 
                                       24
<PAGE>   25
 
shares of the Company's Common Stock reserved for issuance thereunder by 750,000
shares. The proposals passed by the following vote:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                                  ABSTENTIONS
                                                                                  AND BROKER
                                             VOTES FOR        VOTES AGAINST        NON-VOTES
                                             ----------       -------------       -----------
        <S>                                  <C>              <C>                 <C>
        Proposal(1).......................   15,748,682            80,072           791,746
        Proposal(2).......................   15,578,243         1,026,607            15,650
</TABLE>
 
                                    PART II
 
ITEM  5. MARKET FOR THE REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER
         MATTERS
 
     The Company's Common Stock has been traded on the Nasdaq National Market
since June 1995 under the symbol "HNCS." The following table sets forth for the
periods indicated the high and low sales prices of the Common Stock. Prior to
June 1995, there was no established public trading market for the Common Stock.
All prices have been adjusted to give effect to a two-for-one stock split
effected in the form of a stock dividend paid in April 1996.
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                 HIGH       LOW
                                                                 ----       ----
            <S>                                                  <C>        <C>
            1996:
              First Quarter....................................  $38 3/4    $18 1/4
              Second Quarter...................................   51         31 1/4
              Third Quarter....................................   47 1/2     20 3/4
              Fourth Quarter...................................   45 1/4     26 1/4
 
            1997:
              First Quarter....................................  $36 3/4    $23 1/4
              Second Quarter...................................   42 3/8     18 1/4
              Third Quarter....................................   43 5/8     33 3/4
              Fourth Quarter...................................   43 1/2     30
</TABLE>
 
     On February 13, 1998, the last reported sale price of the Common Stock on
the Nasdaq National Market was $36.00 per share. As of February 13, 1998, there
were approximately 186 holders of record of the Common Stock.
 
     The Company has never declared or paid any cash dividends on its capital
stock. The Company currently anticipates that it will retain all future earnings
for use in its business and does not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the
foreseeable future. The Company's bank credit agreement prohibits the Company
from declaring or paying any cash dividends without the bank's consent.
 
ITEM  6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
 
     The selected consolidated financial data as of December 31, 1996 and 1997
and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 1997 have
been derived from HNC's Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in
this Report, which have been audited by Price Waterhouse LLP, independent
accountants, as indicated in their report thereon appearing elsewhere herein.
The selected consolidated financial data as of December 31, 1994 and 1995 and
for the year ended December 31, 1994 have been derived from separate audited
financial statements for HNC and CompReview not included herein. The selected
consolidated financial data as of and for the year ended December 31, 1993 have
been derived from separate financial data for HNC and CompReview not included
herein. The data set forth below are qualified in their entirety by reference
to, and should be read in conjunction with, "Management's Discussion and
 
                                       25
<PAGE>   26
 
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and the Consolidated
Financial Statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this
Report.
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                             YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,
                                                                         --------------------------------
                                                                           1995        1996        1997
                                                                         --------     -------     -------
                                                                              (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT
                                                                                 PER SHARE DATA)
<S>                                                                      <C>          <C>         <C>
STATEMENT OF INCOME DATA(1):
Revenues:
  License and maintenance..............................................  $ 24,561     $48,890     $89,643
  Installation and implementation......................................     4,648       6,691      10,702
  Contracts and other..................................................     9,146      11,128       7,772
  Service bureau.......................................................     5,349       4,730       5,618
                                                                         --------     -------     -------
         Total revenues................................................    43,704      71,439     113,735
                                                                         --------     -------     -------
Operating expenses:
  License and maintenance..............................................     7,903      13,725      19,937
  Installation and implementation......................................     1,425       2,714       5,174
  Contracts and other..................................................     6,894       7,694       5,438
  Service bureau.......................................................     3,025       3,365       4,320
  Research and development.............................................     6,998      13,808      21,151
  Sales and marketing..................................................     7,276      11,923      22,049
  General and administrative...........................................     5,101       8,551      12,626
                                                                         --------     -------     -------
         Total operating expenses......................................    38,622      61,780      90,695
                                                                         --------     -------     -------
Operating income.......................................................     5,082       9,659      23,040
Interest and other income..............................................       912       2,178       2,003
Interest expense.......................................................      (428)       (478)        (81)
Minority interest in income of consolidated subsidiary.................        --          --         (43)
                                                                         --------     -------     -------
         Income before income tax (benefit) provision..................     5,566      11,359      24,919
Income tax (benefit) provision.........................................      (511)       (534)      7,354
                                                                         --------     -------     -------
         Net income....................................................  $  6,077     $11,893     $17,565
                                                                         ========     =======     =======
Earnings per share:
  Basic net income per common share(2).................................  $   0.38     $  0.50     $  0.72
                                                                         ========     =======     =======
  Diluted net income per common share(2)...............................  $   0.28     $  0.47     $  0.68
                                                                         ========     =======     =======
Unaudited pro forma data(3):
  Income before income tax provision...................................  $  5,566     $11,359     $24,919
  Income tax provision.................................................     1,032       1,628       9,502
                                                                         --------     -------     -------
         Net income....................................................  $  4,534     $ 9,731     $15,417
                                                                         ========     =======     =======
  Basic pro forma net income per common share(3).......................                           $  0.64
                                                                                                  =======
  Diluted pro forma net income per common share(3).....................                           $  0.60
                                                                                                  =======
Shares used in computing basic net income per common share and
  unaudited basic pro forma net income per common share................    15,195      23,552      24,275
                                                                         ========     =======     =======
Shares used in computing diluted net income per common share and
  unaudited diluted pro forma net income per common share..............    21,510      25,363      25,681
                                                                         ========     =======     =======
</TABLE>
 
                                       26
<PAGE>   27
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                        YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,
                                                            ------------------------------------------------
                                                             1993      1994      1995      1996       1997
                                                            -------   -------   -------   -------   --------
                                                            (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT RATIO AND PER SHARE DATA)
<S>                                                         <C>       <C>       <C>       <C>       <C>
ADDITIONAL STATEMENT OF INCOME DATA:(1)
    Total revenues........................................  $16,167   $29,838   $43,704   $71,439   $113,735
    Operating income......................................    1,034     2,881     5,082     9,659     23,040
    Net income............................................      875     3,142     6,077    11,893     17,565
    Basic net income per common share(2)..................     0.02      0.28      0.38      0.50       0.72
    Diluted net income per common share(2)................     0.02      0.17      0.28      0.47       0.68
    Pro forma net income(3)...............................      641     2,137     4,534     9,731     15,417
    Basic pro forma net income per common share(3)........                                              0.64
    Diluted pro forma net income per common share(3)......                                              0.60
    Shares used in computing unaudited basic net income
      per common share and basic pro forma net income per
      common share........................................    8,591     8,642    15,195    23,552     24,275
    Shares used in computing unaudited diluted net income
      per common share and diluted pro forma net income
      per common share....................................    9,289    18,142    21,510    25,363     25,681
</TABLE>
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                              DECEMBER 31,
                                                            ------------------------------------------------
                                                             1993      1994      1995      1996       1997
                                                            -------   -------   -------   -------   --------
                                                            (IN THOUSANDS)
<S>                                                         <C>       <C>       <C>       <C>       <C>
BALANCE SHEET DATA:
    Cash, cash equivalents and investments available for
      sale................................................  $ 4,679   $ 7,827   $44,975   $34,849   $ 42,946
    Total assets..........................................   10,944    20,663    63,113    98,293    119,877
    Long-term obligations, less current portion...........      367       931     1,373       264         63
    Mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock....   12,452    13,169        --        --         --
</TABLE>
 
---------------
 
(1) The selected consolidated financial data gives retroactive effect to the
    acquisitions of Risk Data, Retek and CompReview for all periods presented,
    accounted for as poolings of interests.
 
(2) The computations of basic net income per common share for 1993, 1994 and
    1995 include reductions of consolidated net income in the amounts of
    $717,000, $717,000 and $348,000, respectively, related to the accretion of
    dividends on mandatorily redeemable convertible Preferred Stock, which
    converted into Common Stock upon the closing of the Company's initial public
    offering on June 26, 1995. The computation of diluted net income per common
    share for 1993 does not include the assumed conversion of all outstanding
    shares of mandatorily redeemable convertible Preferred Stock into 7,675,000
    shares of Common Stock or an increase to net income per common share related
    to the elimination of dividend accretion on such Preferred Stock as the
    impact would be antidilutive.
 
(3) Pro forma net income and net income per common share reflect a provision for
    taxes on the income of CompReview, which was a subchapter S corporation
    prior to its acquisition by HNC, as if CompReview had been subject to
    corporate income taxes as a C corporation for all periods presented.
 
ITEM  7.MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS
        OF OPERATIONS
 
     This Report (including without limitation the following section regarding
Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations) contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section
27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act) regarding the
Company and its business, financial condition, results of operations and
prospects. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans,"
"believes," "seeks," "estimates" and similar expressions or variations of such
words are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the
exclusive means of identifying forward-looking statements in this Report.
Additionally, statements concerning future matters such as the development of
new products, enhancements or technologies, possible changes in legislation and
other statements regarding matters that are not historical are forward-looking
statements.
 
     Although forward-looking statements in this Report reflect the good faith
judgment of the Company's management, such statements can only be based on facts
and factors currently known by the Company. Consequently, forward-looking
statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results
 
                                       27
<PAGE>   28
 
and outcomes may differ materially from the results and outcomes discussed in
the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such
differences in results and outcomes include without limitation those discussed
in "Risk Factors" as well as those discussed elsewhere in this Report. Readers
are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date of this Report. The Company undertakes no obligation
to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event
or circumstance that may arise after the date of this Report. Readers are urged
to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by the Company in
this Report, which attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors
that may affect the Company's business, financial condition, results of
operations and prospects.
 
OVERVIEW
 
     HNC develops, markets and supports predictive software solutions for
leading service industries. These predictive software solutions employ
proprietary neural-network predictive decision engines, profiles, traditional
statistical modeling, business models, expert rules and context vectors to
convert existing data and business experiences into meaningful recommendations
and actions. HNC was founded in 1986 to provide software tools and contracted
technology services using neural-network technology.
 
     In August 1996, HNC completed its acquisition of Risk Data in a transaction
accounted for as a pooling of interests. Risk Data is based in Irvine,
California and develops, markets and supports proprietary software decision
products for use in the insurance industry. In 1996, HNC formed Aptex Software
Inc. ("Aptex"), a majority-owned subsidiary located in San Diego, California
that develops, markets and supports electronic text analysis technology in
products designed for the Internet and other environments. In November 1996, HNC
completed its acquisition of Retek in a transaction accounted for as a pooling
of interests. Retek is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and develops, markets and
supports software products that provide merchandise management and other
management tools to retailers and their vendors. In November 1997, the Company
completed its acquisition of CompReview, in a transaction accounted for as a
pooling of interests. CompReview is located in Costa Mesa, California and
develops, markets and supports a software product and related services designed
to assist in the management and containment of the medical costs of workers'
compensation and automobile accident medical claims. CompReview provides its
product and services primarily to insurance companies, managed care
organizations, third party administrators and large self-insured employers. The
Company anticipates that from time to time it will consider acquisitions of
other businesses in order to expand the markets served by the Company and to
acquire complementary technologies, products and personnel. See
"Business -- Risk Factors -- Acquisitions" and "Business -- HNC's Strategy."
 
     After giving retroactive effect to the Company's acquisitions of Risk Data,
Retek and CompReview, HNC experienced compound annual growth in total revenues
of 63% from 1993 through 1997. See "Business -- Risk Factors -- Risks Associated
with Managing Growth." This revenue growth resulted primarily from increased
license fees for the Retek Merchandising System, CRLink, Falcon, MIRA and
ProfitMax products and, to a lesser extent, from increased license fees for the
Active Retail Intelligence, Retek Data Warehouse, PMAdvisor, CompCompare,
Capstone and AREAS products. Because of the long sales and development cycle
associated with the Company's products, the Company has not received significant
revenues to date from the SelectCast, SelectResponse, SelectResource, VeriComp
or PMAdvisor products. See "Business -- Risk Factors -- Lengthy and
Unpredictable Sales Cycle."
 
     The Company markets most of its predictive software solutions as an ongoing
service that includes software licenses, decision model updates, application
consulting and on-line or on-site support and maintenance. The Company's pricing
for the CRLink, the Falcon products, MIRA, ProfitMax, AREAS, PMAdvisor,
CompCompare and ProviderCompare products typically includes an annual or monthly
usage fee and a one to seven year contract commitment. In 1995, 1996 and 1997,
annual license and maintenance revenues from these contracts represented 61.2%,
56.1% and 55.2% of the Company's total revenues, respectively.
 
     The Company's revenues and operating results have varied significantly in
the past and may do so in the future. Because the Company's expense levels are
based in part on its expectations regarding future revenues
 
                                       28
<PAGE>   29
 
and in the short term are fixed to a large extent, the Company may be unable to
adjust its spending in time to compensate for any unexpected revenue shortfall.
Factors affecting operating results include market acceptance of the Company's
products; the relatively large size and small number of customer orders that may
be received during a given period; customer cancellation of long-term contracts
yielding recurring revenues or customers' ceasing their use of Company products
for which the Company's fees are usage based; the length of the Company's sales
cycle; the Company's ability to develop, introduce and market new products and
product enhancements; the timing of new product announcements and introductions
by the Company and its competitors; changes in the mix of distribution channels;
changes in the level of operating expenses; the Company's ability to achieve
progress on percentage-of-completion contracts; the Company's success in
completing certain pilot installations for contracted fees; competitive
conditions in the industry; domestic and international economic conditions; and
market conditions in the Company's targeted markets. Furthermore, the Company's
operating results may be affected by factors unique to certain of its product
lines. For example, the Company derives a substantial and increasing portion of
its revenues from its retail products, which are generally priced as "perpetual"
license transactions in which the Company receives a one-time license fee. The
Company recognizes these fees as revenue upon delivery of the software and
acceptance by the customer. Thus, failure to complete a perpetual license
transaction during a fiscal quarter could have a disproportionate adverse impact
on the Company's operating results for that quarter.
 
     The Company expects fluctuations in its operating results to continue for
the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the Company believes that period-to-period
comparisons of its financial results should not be relied upon as an indication
of future performance. The Company may not be able to maintain profitability on
a quarterly or annual basis in the future. Due to all of the foregoing factors,
it is possible that in some future quarter the Company's operating results will
be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors. In that
event, the price of the Company's Common Stock and, in turn, the market price of
the Notes, would likely be materially adversely affected.
 
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
 
     The Company's statements of income for all periods presented give
retroactive effect to the acquisitions of Risk Data, Retek and CompReview in
August 1996, November 1996 and November 1997, respectively, each of which was
accounted for as a pooling of interests.
 
  Total Revenues
 
     The Company's revenues are comprised of license and maintenance revenues,
installation and implementation revenues, contracts and other revenues and
service bureau revenues. Total revenues increased by 63.5% to $71.4 million in
1996 and by 59.2% to $113.7 million in 1997. International operations and export
sales represented 12.6%, 17.7% and 18.5% of total revenues in 1995, 1996 and
1997, respectively. The retail product line currently has more sales in
international markets than the healthcare/insurance and financial services
product lines combined. The Company believes that international sales represent
a significant opportunity for revenue growth and expects international sales to
increase as a percent of total revenue.
 
          License and Maintenance Revenues. The Company's license and
     maintenance revenues are derived from annual license fees, monthly license
     fees, perpetual license fees and annual maintenance fees. The Company
     typically licenses many of its products for an annual or monthly usage fee
     under long-term contracts that include software licenses, decision model
     updates, application consulting, and on-line or on-site support and
     maintenance. The Company's revenue from periodic software license and
     maintenance agreements is generally recognized ratably over the respective
     license or agreement periods. Revenue from certain short-term periodic
     software license and maintenance agreements with guaranteed minimum license
     fees is recognized as related services are performed. Transactional fees
     are recognized as revenue based on system usage or when fees based on
     system usage exceed the monthly minimum license fees. Revenue from
     perpetual licenses of the Company's software for which there are no
     significant continuing obligations and collection of the related
     receivables is probable is recognized on delivery of the software and
     acceptance by the customer.
 
                                       29
<PAGE>   30
 
          License and maintenance revenues increased by 99.1% to $48.9 million
     in 1996 and by 83.4% to $89.6 million in 1997. The increase from 1995 to
     1996 was due primarily to the growth of license fees in all markets,
     particularly from the Retek Merchandising System, CRLink and Falcon, and,
     to a lesser extent, MIRA and CompCompare. The increase from 1996 to 1997
     was due primarily to the growth of license fee revenues from the Retek
     Merchandising System and CRLink. Also contributing to the increase were
     increased license fees from other retail products, such as ARI and Retek
     Data Warehouse, financial services products such as Falcon, ProfitMax and
     Capstone, and other healthcare/insurance products, such as PMAdvisor and
     MIRA.
 
          Installation and Implementation Revenues. Revenues from software
     installations and implementations are generally recognized as the services
     are performed using the percentage of completion method based on costs
     incurred to date compared to total estimated costs at completion. Amounts
     received in advance of performance under the contracts are recorded as
     deferred revenue and are generally recognized within one year from receipt.
 
          Installation and implementation revenues increased by 44.0% to $6.7
     million in 1996 and by 59.9% to $10.7 million in 1997. Substantially all of
     the increase from 1995 to 1996 was due primarily to growth in the
     installations of Retek Data Forecasting as this product moved from
     development into production. The increase from 1996 to 1997 was due
     primarily to growth in the installations of Capstone and ProfitMax.
 
          Contracts and Other Revenues. Contracts and other revenues are derived
     primarily from new product development contracts with commercial customers
     and research contracts with the United States Government. The Company
     typically contracts with one or two commercial partners for pilot
     development and installation of its new products and with the United States
     Government for additional research funds. Revenues from contract services
     are generally recognized as the services are performed using the percentage
     of completion method based on costs incurred to date compared to total
     estimated costs at completion. Revenue from hardware product sales, which
     is included in contracts and other revenue, is recognized upon shipment to
     the customer.
 
          Contracts and other revenues increased by 21.7% to $11.1 million in
     1996 and decreased by 30.2% to $7.8 million in 1997. The increase in 1996
     was primarily the result of greater revenues from commercial new product
     pilot installation contracts with customers in support of the Company's
     development of ProfitMax, SelectCast, Falcon Sentry and Capstone. The
     decrease in 1997 was primarily the result of products such as ProfitMax,
     Retek Data Forecasting and Capstone moving from development into
     production.
 
          During 1997, the Company had fewer new product development projects
     and new product pilot installations than during 1996. There can be no
     assurance that any of these product development projects or pilot
     installations will be successful or be completed within anticipated time
     schedules or that the customers who serve as pilot installation sites will
     be satisfied with these products or agree to license them. If the Company's
     new product development efforts are unsuccessful, are not completed on a
     timely basis or are not well received by pilot customers, the Company may
     be compelled to delay or discontinue the release of production versions of
     these products or bear increased expense to bring these pilot products to
     market, either of which would have a material adverse effect on the
     Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
          Service Bureau Revenues. Service bureau revenues are derived from the
     Company's service bureau operations, which provide CRLink's functionality
     to customers that do not wish to obtain a license, that use this service
     until they can implement their own internal CRLink operation or that use
     this service when their volumes peak to high levels. Service bureau
     customers typically subscribe for services under month-to-month agreements.
     Service bureau fees are recognized as revenue when the processing services
     are performed.
 
          Service bureau revenues decreased by 11.6% to $4.7 million in 1996 and
     increased by 18.8% to $5.6 million in 1997. The decrease in 1996 was
     primarily a result of the significant increase in license revenues as the
     Company's sales efforts were focused on licensing CRLink to customers
     rather than marketing
 
                                       30
<PAGE>   31
 
     service bureau services. The increase in 1997 was primarily due to an
     increase in the number of customers utilizing service bureau operations.
 
  Gross Margin
 
     The following table sets forth the gross margin for each of the Company's
revenue categories for each of the comparison periods.
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                               YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31,
                                                               ------------------------
                                                               1995      1996      1997
                                                               ----      ----      ----
        <S>                                                    <C>       <C>       <C>
        License and maintenance..............................  67.8%     71.9%     77.8%
        Installation and implementation......................  69.3      59.4      51.7
        Contracts and other..................................  24.6      30.9      30.0
        Service bureau.......................................  43.4      28.9      23.1
</TABLE>
 
          License and Maintenance Gross Margin. License and maintenance costs
     primarily represent the Company's expenses for personnel engaged in
     customer support, travel to customer sites and documentation materials. The
     Company's gross margin on licenses and maintenance revenues was 67.8%,
     71.9% and 77.8% in 1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively. In 1996, the
     improvement in gross margin was the result of the Company's ability to move
     from price discounts for early adopters of its products to full pricing for
     products sold to subsequent customers as well as a higher volume of
     international licenses, which generate relatively higher margins than
     domestic operations due, in part, to lower overhead expenses as a result of
     less corporate infrastructure. Gross margin improved in 1997 due primarily
     to license fees increasing at a higher rate than the costs associated with
     providing these licenses. This increase was primarily attributable to
     increased pricing producing higher margins in the retail and
     healthcare/insurance markets.
 
          Installation and Implementation Gross Margin. Installation and
     implementation costs consist primarily of personnel-related costs, travel
     and equipment. The Company's gross margin on installation and
     implementation revenues was 69.3%, 59.4% and 51.7% in 1995, 1996 and 1997,
     respectively. In 1996, the improved margin was due primarily to new
     installations of Retek Data Forecasting, which have substantially lower
     margins than installations of Falcon products, which represented a majority
     of installations in 1995. Gross margin improved in 1997 due primarily to an
     increase in Capstone implementations, which have substantially lower
     margins than implementations of Falcon products.
 
          Contracts and Other Gross Margin. Contracts and other costs consist
     primarily of personnel-related costs. The Company's gross margin on
     contracts and other revenues was 24.6%, 30.9% and 30.0% in 1995, 1996 and
     1997, respectively. The improvement in gross margin during 1996 was due
     primarily to the Company's increased ability to better price its new pilot
     projects. The slight decrease in gross margin for 1997 was due to the
     decrease in new product development contracts, while government projects
     with substantially lower margins remained relatively constant in absolute
     dollars.
 
          Service Bureau Gross Margin. Service bureau costs consist primarily of
     the personnel and facilities costs of operating the service bureaus. The
     Company's gross margin on service bureau revenues was 43.4%, 28.9% and
     23.1% in 1995, 1996 and 1997. The decrease in 1996 was a result of the loss
     of a customer in early 1996 for which the Company was able to recognize
     higher than usual margins during 1995. The decrease in 1997 was
     attributable to an increase in fixed costs and in labor costs required to
     support the service bureau business that outpaced the increase in revenue.
     This was the result of a more static customer base and higher fixed costs
     associated with the infrastructure necessary to run the service bureau
     operation.
 
       Other Operating Expenses
 
          Research and Development Expenses. Research and development expenses
     consist primarily of salaries and other personnel-related expenses,
     subcontracted development services, depreciation for development equipment
     and supplies. Research and development expenses increased from $7.0 million
     in
 
                                       31
<PAGE>   32
 
     1995 to $13.8 million in 1996 and to $21.2 million in 1997, representing
     16.0%, 19.3% and 18.6% of total revenues in 1995, 1996 and 1997,
     respectively. Research and development expenses increased in absolute
     dollars due to the development costs associated with new releases of
     several products in the retail and financial services product lines. The
     increased research and development expenses in absolute dollars and as a
     percentage of revenues in 1996 was primarily the result of greater staffing
     to support more new product development programs, primarily for ProfitMax,
     Capstone, CompCompare, ProviderCompare and the Retek Merchandising System.
     The 1996 costs also included the initial product development costs of the
     Company's Aptex business unit, which did not have a significant impact on
     revenues. Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 86, "Accounting
     for the Costs of Computer Software to be Sold, Leased or Otherwise
     Marketed," requires capitalization of certain software development costs
     subsequent to the establishment of technological feasibility. Based on the
     Company's product development process, technological feasibility is not
     established until completion of a working model. Costs incurred by the
     Company between completion of the working model and the point at which a
     product is ready for general release have been insignificant. As a result,
     no significant software development costs were capitalized through December
     31, 1997. The Company anticipates that research and development expenses
     will increase in dollar amount and could increase as a percentage of total
     revenues for the foreseeable future.
 
          Sales and Marketing Expenses. Sales and marketing expenses consist
     primarily of salaries and benefits, commissions, travel, entertainment and
     promotional expenses. Sales and marketing expenses increased from $7.3
     million in 1995 to $11.9 million in 1996 and to $22.0 million in 1997,
     representing 16.6%, 16.7% and 19.4% of total revenues in 1995, 1996 and
     1997, respectively. The increases were primarily a result of increased
     staffing as the Company built its direct sales and marketing staff, opened
     sales offices in Japan and in several locations in Europe, and increased
     expenses for trade shows, advertising and other marketing programs. The
     Company expects sales and marketing expenses to continue to increase for
     the foreseeable future. Such expenses could also increase as a percentage
     of total revenues as the Company continues to develop a direct sales force
     in Europe and other international markets, expand its domestic sales and
     marketing organization and increase the breadth of its product lines.
 
          General and Administrative Expenses. General and administrative
     expenses consist primarily of personnel costs for finance, contract
     administration, human resources and general management, as well as
     acquisition, insurance and professional services expenses. General and
     administrative expenses increased from $5.1 million in 1995 to $8.6 million
     in 1996 and $12.6 million in 1997, representing 11.7%, 10.3% and 9.8% of
     total revenues, respectively. General and administrative expenses included
     $1.2 million of acquisition expenses related to the acquisitions of Risk
     Data and Retek in 1996 and $1.4 million of acquisition expenses primarily
     related to the acquisition of CompReview in 1997. Excluding acquisition
     expenses, general and administrative expenses were $5.1 million, $7.4
     million and $11.2 million in 1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively. The primary
     reason for these increases in absolute dollars was increased staffing to
     support the Company's growth and additional expenses associated with being
     a public company.
 
  Operating Income
 
     The above factors resulted in operating income of $5.1 million,
constituting 11.6% of total revenues in 1995, $9.7 million, constituting 13.5%
of total revenues in 1996, and $23.0 million, constituting 20.3% of total
revenues in 1997. The Company does not expect that operating income will
continue to increase significantly as a percentage of total revenues.
 
  Other Income (Expense) Net
 
     Interest and other income, net of interest expense, increased from $484,000
in 1995 to $1.7 million in 1996 and to $1.9 million in 1997. The increase in
1996 was primarily attributable to increased interest income in 1996 from higher
cash and investment balances, which consisted primarily of the proceeds from the
Company's initial public offering in June 1995 and secondary public offering in
December 1995. The increase in 1997 was primarily due to a decrease in interest
expense of approximately $397,000 primarily related to the
 
                                       32
<PAGE>   33
 
repayment of Risk Data's bank notes payable during the third quarter of 1996,
offset by a decrease in interest income of approximately $165,000.
 
  Income Tax (Benefit) Provision
 
     The income tax benefit of $511,000 in 1995 was primarily attributable to
the recognition of a $2.2 million deferred tax asset based on anticipated future
utilization of all of the Company's remaining net operating loss carryforwards
and research and development credit carryforwards. The income tax benefit of
$534,000 in 1996 was primarily attributable to the recognition of a $2.7 million
deferred tax asset based on anticipated future utilization of all of the
remaining net operating loss carryforwards and research and development credit
carryforwards relating to Risk Data and Retek. That deferred tax asset had
previously been offset by a valuation allowance. The Company released the
valuation allowance during the fourth quarter of 1996, based upon management's
assessment that it was more likely than not that the Company would realize the
asset in future periods.
 
     The 1997 income tax provision of $7.4 million, or 29.5% of pre-tax income,
was lower than 1997 taxes at statutory rates primarily as a result of
CompReview's subchapter S corporation status prior to the acquisition, which
resulted in most of CompReview's tax liability being borne by its former
shareholders. As of the date of the acquisition, CompReview's tax status was
changed to C corporation. In the future, the Company expects that the effective
tax rate will be reflective of the tax rate of other California-based companies.
 
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
 
     The $21.0 million of net cash provided by operating activities in 1997
represented net income before depreciation and amortization of approximately
$22.4 million, further increased by a decrease in deferred income taxes of $6.9
million and offset by an increase in accounts receivable of $11.1 million. Net
cash used in investing activities was $7.7 million in 1997 primarily due to $9.6
million expended for property and equipment during 1997, including $6.0 million
for computer equipment to support the increased staffing across the Company, and
$1.9 million for furniture and fixtures primarily related to the relocation of
the Company's Minneapolis facility, offset by approximately $1.9 million of net
proceeds from the sale and maturity of investments. Net cash used in financing
activities was $3.2 million in 1997 primarily due to $6.8 million in
distributions to the former CompReview stockholders offset by $4.0 million in
net proceeds from issuances of common stock.
 
     As of December 31, 1997, the Company had $42.9 million in cash, cash
equivalents and investments. The Company believes that its current cash, cash
equivalents and investments available for sale balances, borrowings under its
credit facility and net cash provided by operating activities, will be
sufficient to meet its working capital and capital expenditure requirements for
at least the next 12 months. A portion of the Company's cash could be used to
repurchase shares of the Company's Common Stock from time to time in the open
market. Management intends to invest the Company's cash in excess of current
operating requirements in short-term, interest-bearing, investment-grade
securities. A portion of the Company's cash could also be used to acquire or
invest in complementary businesses or products or otherwise to obtain the right
to use complementary technologies or data. From time to time, in the ordinary
course of business, the Company evaluates potential acquisitions of such
businesses, products, technologies or data. The Company has no present
understandings, commitments or agreements with respect to any material
acquisitions of other businesses, products or technologies.
 
YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE
 
     The Company anticipates that it will need to devote resources in the next
two years to modify its CRLink product to properly process dates beyond December
31, 1999. The Company expects that the cost of making these modifications and
distributing the modified product to existing customers will be approximately
$500,000. These modifications and the resources that the Company expects to
devote to such modifications may divert management and engineering attention
from, or delay the development and introduction of, new products and
enhancements to existing products. The inability of the Company to complete such
modifications
 
                                       33
<PAGE>   34
 
successfully and on a timely basis, or the inability of the Company to devote
sufficient resources to continuing updates and enhancements to the CRLink
product, could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business,
financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the Company believes
that the purchasing patterns of customers and potential customers may be
affected by Year 2000 issues as companies expend significant resources to
correct or patch their current software systems for Year 2000 compliance. These
expenditures may result in reduced funds available to purchase software products
such as those offered by the Company, which could result in a material adverse
effect on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
NEW ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS
 
     In June 1997, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued
Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 130 ("FAS 130"), "Reporting
Comprehensive Income," which the Company is required to adopt for 1998. This
statement will require the Company to report in the financial statements, in
addition to net income, comprehensive income and its components including
foreign currency items and unrealized gains and losses on certain investments in
debt and equity securities. Upon adoption of FAS 130, the Company is also
required to reclassify financial statements for earlier periods provided for
comparative purposes. The adoption of FAS 130 will not have a significant impact
on the Company's consolidated financial statement disclosures.
 
     In June 1997, the FASB issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards
No. 131 ("FAS 131"), "Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related
Information," which the Company is required to adopt for its 1998 annual
financial statements. This statement establishes standards for reporting
information about operating segments in annual financial statements and requires
selected information about operating segments in interim financial reports
issued to stockholders. It also establishes standards for related disclosures
about products and services, geographic areas and major customers. Under FAS
131, operating segments are to be determined consistent with the way that
management organizes and evaluates financial information internally for making
operating decisions and assessing performance. The Company has not determined
the impact of the adoption of this new accounting standard on its consolidated
financial statement disclosures.
 
     In November 1997, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
issued Statement of Position No. 97-2 ("SOP 97-2"), "Software Revenue
Recognition," which the Company is required to adopt for agreements entered into
with customers beginning in 1998. This statement provides guidance for
recognizing revenue related to sales by software vendors. The adoption of SOP
97-2 will not have a significant impact on the timing of the Company's revenue
recognition.
 
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
 
     Not applicable.
 
                                       34
<PAGE>   35
 
ITEM  8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
 
     The following documents are filed as part of this report:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                    DESCRIPTION                                 PAGE
        -------------------------------------------------------------------    -------
        <S>                                                                    <C>
        Report of Independent Accountants..................................         36
        Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 1996 and 1997........         37
        Consolidated Statement of Income for the years ended December 31,           38
             1995, 1996 and 1997...........................................
        Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the years ended                    39
             December 31, 1995, 1996 and 1997..............................
        Consolidated Statement of Changes in Stockholders' Equity for the           40
             years ended December 31, 1995, 1996 and 1997..................
        Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.........................         41
        Selected Consolidated Quarterly Operating Results (unaudited)......         56
</TABLE>
 
                                       35
<PAGE>   36
 
                       REPORT OF INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTANTS
 
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders
of HNC Software Inc.
 
In our opinion, the accompanying consolidated balance sheet and the related
consolidated statements of income, of cash flows and of changes in stockholders'
equity present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of HNC
Software Inc. and its subsidiaries at December 31, 1996 and 1997, and the
results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in
the period ended December 31, 1997, in conformity with generally accepted
accounting principles. These financial statements are the responsibility of the
Company's management; our responsibility is to express an opinion on these
financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits of these
statements in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards which
require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about
whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit
includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and
disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles
used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall
financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a
reasonable basis for the opinion expressed above.
 
PRICE WATERHOUSE LLP
 
San Diego, California
January 29, 1998,
except as to Note 11
which is as of February 13, 1998
 
                                       36
<PAGE>   37
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
                           CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
                     (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE DATA)
 
                                     ASSETS
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                              DECEMBER 31,
                                                                          --------------------
                                                                           1996         1997
                                                                          -------     --------
<S>                                                                       <C>         <C>
Current assets:
  Cash and cash equivalents.............................................  $ 8,121     $ 18,068
  Investments available for sale........................................   26,728       24,878
  Accounts receivable, net..............................................   21,856       32,980
  Current portion of deferred income taxes..............................    6,383       11,310
  Other current assets..................................................    2,553        2,802
                                                                          -------     --------
          Total current assets..........................................   65,641       90,038
Deferred income taxes, less current portion.............................   22,966       15,322
Property and equipment, net.............................................    6,339       12,102
Other assets............................................................    3,330        2,415
                                                                          -------     --------
                                                                          $98,276     $119,877
                                                                          =======     ========
 
                             LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
 
Current liabilities:
  Accounts payable......................................................  $ 4,368     $  5,728
  Accrued liabilities...................................................    4,433        5,933
  Deferred revenue......................................................    3,377        3,883
  Other current liabilities.............................................      445          191
                                                                          -------     --------
          Total current liabilities.....................................   12,623       15,735
Non-current liabilities.................................................      683          239
 
Minority interest in consolidated subsidiary............................       --           43
 
Commitments and contingencies (Notes 5 and 10)
 
Stockholders' equity:
  Preferred stock, $0.001 par value -- 4,000 shares authorized:
     no shares issued or outstanding....................................       --           --
  Common stock, $0.001 par value -- 50,000 shares authorized:
     24,012 and 24,538 shares issued and outstanding, respectively......       24           25
  Paid-in capital.......................................................   83,991       95,919
  Unrealized loss on investments available for sale.....................      (59)          (2)
  Foreign currency translation adjustment...............................       54         (111)
  Retained earnings.....................................................      960        8,029
                                                                          -------     --------
          Total stockholders' equity....................................   84,970      103,860
                                                                          -------     --------
                                                                          $98,276     $119,877
                                                                          =======     ========
</TABLE>
 
          See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements
 
                                       37
<PAGE>   38
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
                        CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF INCOME
                     (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE DATA)
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                   YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,
                                                               --------------------------------
                                                                 1995        1996        1997
                                                               --------     -------     -------
<S>                                                            <C>          <C>         <C>
Revenues:
  License and maintenance....................................  $ 24,561     $48,890     $89,643
  Installation and implementation............................     4,648       6,691      10,702
  Contracts and other........................................     9,146      11,128       7,772
  Service bureau.............................................     5,349       4,730       5,618
                                                               --------     -------     -------
          Total revenues.....................................    43,704      71,439     113,735
                                                               --------     -------     -------
Operating expenses:
  License and maintenance....................................     7,903      13,725      19,937
  Installation and implementation............................     1,425       2,714       5,174
  Contracts and other........................................     6,894       7,694       5,438
  Service bureau.............................................     3,025       3,365       4,320
  Research and development...................................     6,998      13,808      21,151
  Sales and marketing........................................     7,276      11,923      22,049
  General and administrative.................................     5,101       8,551      12,626
                                                               --------     -------     -------
          Total operating expenses...........................    38,622      61,780      90,695
                                                               --------     -------     -------
Operating income.............................................     5,082       9,659      23,040
Interest and other income....................................       912       2,178       2,003
Interest expense.............................................      (428)       (478)        (81)
Minority interest in income of consolidated subsidiary.......        --          --         (43)
                                                               --------     -------     -------
          Income before income tax (benefit) provision.......     5,566      11,359      24,919
Income tax (benefit) provision...............................      (511)       (534)      7,354
                                                               --------     -------     -------
          Net income.........................................  $  6,077     $11,893     $17,565
                                                               ========     =======     =======
Earnings per share:
  Basic net income per common share..........................  $   0.38     $  0.50     $  0.72
                                                               ========     =======     =======
  Diluted net income per common share........................  $   0.28     $  0.47     $  0.68
                                                               ========     =======     =======
Unaudited pro forma data (Note 1):
  Income before income tax provision.........................  $  5,566     $11,359     $24,919
  Income tax provision.......................................     1,032       1,628       9,502
                                                               --------     -------     -------
          Net income.........................................  $  4,534     $ 9,731     $15,417
                                                               ========     =======     =======
  Basic pro forma net income per common share................                           $  0.64
                                                                                        =======
  Diluted pro forma net income per common share..............                           $  0.60
                                                                                        =======
Shares used in computing basic net income per common share
  and unaudited basic pro forma net income per common share
  (Notes 1 and 8)............................................    15,195      23,552      24,275
                                                               ========     =======     =======
Shares used in computing diluted net income per common share
  and unaudited diluted pro forma net income per common share
  (Notes 1 and 8)............................................    21,510      25,363      25,681
                                                               ========     =======     =======
</TABLE>
 
          See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.
 
                                       38
<PAGE>   39
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
                      CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
                                 (IN THOUSANDS)
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                              YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,
                                                                           ------------------------------
                                                                             1995       1996       1997
                                                                           --------   --------   --------
<S>                                                                        <C>        <C>        <C>
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES:
  Net income.............................................................  $  6,077   $ 11,893   $ 17,565
  Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating
    activities:
    Depreciation and amortization........................................     1,874      3,605      4,833
    Tax benefit from stock option transactions...........................       800        896      3,848
    Changes in assets and liabilities:
      Accounts receivable, net...........................................    (1,658)   (10,978)   (11,124)
      Other assets.......................................................      (674)    (1,207)      (295)
      Deferred income taxes..............................................    (1,551)    (1,324)     6,909
      Accounts payable...................................................     1,172      2,167      1,360
      Accrued liabilities................................................     1,756        625     (2,348)
      Deferred revenue...................................................     1,337      1,472        375
      Other liabilities..................................................        22       (441)      (116)
                                                                           --------   --------   --------
         Net cash provided by operating activities.......................     9,155      6,708     21,007
                                                                           --------   --------   --------
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
  Purchase of investments available for sale.............................   (28,666)   (26,113)   (26,517)
  Maturities of investments available for sale...........................     4,182     18,125     24,666
  Proceeds from sales of investments available for sale..................     2,467      3,707      3,716
  Acquisitions of property and equipment.................................    (2,246)    (3,978)    (9,593)
                                                                           --------   --------   --------
         Net cash used in investing activities...........................   (24,263)    (8,259)    (7,728)
                                                                           --------   --------   --------
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
  Net proceeds from issuances of common stock............................    33,726      1,935      4,039
  Proceeds from issuances of notes payable to stockholders...............     1,000         --         --
  Repayments of notes payable to stockholders............................        --     (1,000)        --
  Proceeds from bank line of credit......................................     1,085        309         --
  Repayments of bank line of credit......................................      (265)    (2,504)        --
  Repayments of debt from asset purchases................................        --     (4,710)        --
  Capital lease payments.................................................      (502)      (553)      (408)
  Proceeds from issuances of bank notes payable..........................        --      1,999         --
  Repayments of bank notes payable.......................................      (687)    (1,999)        --
  Distributions to CompReview stockholders...............................    (3,845)    (5,908)    (6,798)
                                                                           --------   --------   --------
         Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities.............    30,512    (12,431)    (3,167)
                                                                           --------   --------   --------
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash..................................        --         54       (165)
                                                                           --------   --------   --------
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents.....................    15,404    (13,928)     9,947
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period.........................     6,645     22,049      8,121
                                                                           --------   --------   --------
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period...............................  $ 22,049   $  8,121   $ 18,068
                                                                           ========   ========   ========
SIGNIFICANT NON-CASH INVESTING AND FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
  Assets purchased through issuance of debt..............................  $     --   $  4,710   $     --
                                                                           ========   ========   ========
  Acquisitions of property and equipment under capital leases............  $    411   $    344   $     --
                                                                           ========   ========   ========
  Conversion of preferred stock..........................................  $ 13,518   $     --   $     --
                                                                           ========   ========   ========
  Accretion of dividends on mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred
    stock................................................................  $    348   $     --   $     --
                                                                           ========   ========   ========
SUPPLEMENTAL CASH FLOW DISCLOSURE:
  Interest paid..........................................................  $    390   $    448   $    101
                                                                           ========   ========   ========
  Income taxes paid......................................................  $    190   $    165   $    547
                                                                           ========   ========   ========
</TABLE>
 
          See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements
 
                                       39
<PAGE>   40
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
           CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
                                 (IN THOUSANDS)
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                   CONVERTIBLE PREFERRED STOCK
                                                ---------------------------------                                 UNREALIZED
                                                                                                                GAIN (LOSS) ON
                                                   SERIES A          SERIES E        COMMON STOCK                INVESTMENTS
                                                ---------------   ---------------   ---------------   PAID-IN     AVAILABLE
                                                SHARES   AMOUNT   SHARES   AMOUNT   SHARES   AMOUNT   CAPITAL      FOR SALE
                                                ------   ------   ------   ------   ------   ------   -------   --------------
<S>                                             <C>      <C>      <C>      <C>      <C>      <C>      <C>       <C>
BALANCE AT DECEMBER 31, 1994...................   380    $  --     1,282    $  1    8,656     $  9    $10,980       $   --
Common stock options exercised.................                                       207                  85
Accretion of dividends.........................                                                          (348)
Issuance of common stock in initial public
 offering, net of issuance costs...............                                     2,376        2     14,329
Conversion of convertible preferred stock into
 common stock..................................  (380)      --    (1,282)     (1)   8,956        9     10,618
Issuance of common stock in follow-on public
 offering, net of issuance costs...............                                     1,116        2     19,184
Issuance of common stock at inception of Retek
 (Note 1)......................................                                     1,367        1         (1)
Tax benefit from stock option transactions.....                                                           800
Unrealized gain on investments.................                                                                         92
Stock warrant exercised........................                                       100                 124
Distributions to CompReview stockholders.......
Net income.....................................
                                                 ----    -----    ------     ---    ------     ---    -------        -----
BALANCE AT DECEMBER 31, 1995...................    --       --       --       --   22,778       23     55,771           92
Common stock options exercised.................                                     1,140        1      1,095
Common stock issued under Employee Stock
 Purchase Plan.................................                                        94                 839
Tax benefit from stock option transactions.....                                                         7,889
Tax benefit from Retek taxable pooling (Note
 7)............................................                                                        18,397
Unrealized loss on investments.................                                                                       (151)
Foreign currency translation adjustment........
Distributions to CompReview stockholders.......
Net income.....................................
                                                 ----    -----    ------     ---    ------     ---    -------        -----
BALANCE AT DECEMBER 31, 1996...................    --       --       --       --    24,012      24     83,991          (59)
Common stock options exercised.................                                       475        1      2,845
Common stock issued under Employee Stock
 Purchase Plan.................................                                        51               1,193
Tax benefit from stock option transactions.....                                                         4,192
Unrealized gain on investments.................                                                                         57
Foreign currency translation adjustment........
Distributions to CompReview stockholders.......
CompReview contribution to capital.............                                                         3,698
Net income.....................................
                                                 ----    -----    ------     ---    ------     ---    -------        -----
BALANCE AT DECEMBER 31, 1997...................    --    $  --       --     $ --    24,538    $ 25    $95,919       $   (2)
                                                 ====    =====    ======     ===    ======     ===    =======        =====
 
<CAPTION>
 
                                                   FOREIGN     (ACCUMULATED
                                                  CURRENCY       DEFICIT)         TOTAL
                                                 TRANSLATION     RETAINED     STOCKHOLDERS'
                                                 ADJUSTMENT      EARNINGS        EQUITY
                                                 -----------   ------------   -------------
<S>                                             <C>           <C>            <C>
BALANCE AT DECEMBER 31, 1994...................     $  --        $(10,149)      $     841
Common stock options exercised.................                                        85
Accretion of dividends.........................                                      (348)
Issuance of common stock in initial public
 offering, net of issuance costs...............                                    14,331
Conversion of convertible preferred stock into
 common stock..................................                     2,892          13,518
Issuance of common stock in follow-on public
 offering, net of issuance costs...............                                    19,186
Issuance of common stock at inception of Retek
 (Note 1)......................................                                        --
Tax benefit from stock option transactions.....                                       800
Unrealized gain on investments.................                                        92
Stock warrant exercised........................                                       124
Distributions to CompReview stockholders.......                    (3,845)         (3,845)
Net income.....................................                     6,077           6,077
                                                    -----        --------        --------
BALANCE AT DECEMBER 31, 1995...................        --          (5,025)         50,861
Common stock options exercised.................                                     1,096
Common stock issued under Employee Stock
 Purchase Plan.................................                                       839
Tax benefit from stock option transactions.....                                     7,889
Tax benefit from Retek taxable pooling (Note
 7)............................................                                    18,397
Unrealized loss on investments.................                                      (151)
Foreign currency translation adjustment........        54                              54
Distributions to CompReview stockholders.......                    (5,908)         (5,908)
Net income.....................................                    11,893          11,893
                                                    -----        --------        --------
BALANCE AT DECEMBER 31, 1996...................        54             960          84,970
Common stock options exercised.................                                     2,846
Common stock issued under Employee Stock
 Purchase Plan.................................                                     1,193
Tax benefit from stock option transactions.....                                     4,192
Unrealized gain on investments.................                                        57
Foreign currency translation adjustment........      (165)                           (165)
Distributions to CompReview stockholders.......                    (6,798)         (6,798)
CompReview contribution to capital.............                    (3,698)             --
Net income.....................................                    17,565          17,565
                                                    -----        --------        --------
BALANCE AT DECEMBER 31, 1997...................     $(111)       $  8,029       $ 103,860
                                                    =====        ========        ========
</TABLE>
 
          See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements
 
                                       40
<PAGE>   41
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
                   NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
NOTE 1 -- THE COMPANY AND ITS SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
 
  The Company
 
     Headquartered in San Diego, California, HNC Software Inc. (the "Company" or
"HNC") develops, markets and supports predictive software solutions in
client/server environments. HNC provides innovative predictive software systems
in the healthcare/insurance, financial services and retail markets.
 
  Acquisitions
 
     On August 30, 1996, the Company completed an acquisition of all of the
outstanding shares of Risk Data Corporation ("Risk Data"). Risk Data is an
insurance information technology services firm that develops, markets and
supports analytical benchmarking and risk management software products primarily
for insurance carriers, state insurance funds and third party administrators
primarily in the workers' compensation insurance field. Under the terms of the
acquisition, accounted for as a pooling of interests, the Company exchanged
1,891 shares of common stock for all of the then outstanding shares of Risk Data
preferred and common stock.
 
     On November 29, 1996, the Company completed an acquisition of all of the
outstanding shares of Retek Distribution Corporation ("Retek"). Retek develops,
markets and supports inventory management system software primarily for
customers in the retail industry. Under the terms of the acquisition, accounted
for as a pooling of interests, the Company exchanged 1,367 shares of common
stock for all of the then outstanding shares of Retek common stock.
 
     On November 28, 1997, the Company completed an acquisition of all of the
outstanding shares of CompReview, Inc. ("CompReview"). CompReview develops,
markets and supports cost containment software for workers' compensation
insurance carriers and for insurers that handle automobile accident personal
injury claims. Under the terms of the acquisition, accounted for as a pooling of
interests, the Company exchanged 4,886 shares of common stock for all of the
then outstanding shares of CompReview common stock.
 
     The consolidated financial statements and related notes give retroactive
effect to all three acquisitions for all of the periods presented. The
consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 1996 and 1997 includes the
accounts of Risk Data, Retek and CompReview as of December 31, 1996 and 1997.
The consolidated statements of income, of cash flows and of changes in
stockholders' equity for each of the three years in the period ended December
31, 1997 include the results of Risk Data, Retek and CompReview for each of the
years then ended. The term "Company" as used in these consolidated financial
statements refers to HNC and its subsidiaries, including Risk Data, Retek and
CompReview.
 
                                       41
<PAGE>   42
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
     No adjustments to conform the accounting methods of the acquired companies
to the accounting methods of HNC were required. Certain amounts have been
reclassified with regard to presentation of the financial information of the
acquired companies. Revenues and net income (loss) for each of the previously
separate companies for the periods prior to their respective acquisition dates
are as follows:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>

                                                                                   NINE MONTHS
                                                                   SIX MONTHS         ENDED
                                      YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,        ENDED        SEPTEMBER 30,
                                    ----------------------------    JUNE 30,    -----------------
                                     1995      1996       1997        1996       1996      1997
                                    -------   -------   --------   ----------   -------   -------
                                                                   (UNAUDITED)     (UNAUDITED)
                                                                                   
    <S>                             <C>       <C>       <C>        <C>          <C>       <C>
    Revenues:
      HNC.........................  $25,174   $53,833   $113,735    $ 16,478    $31,423   $62,683
      Risk Data...................    4,577        --         --       2,600         --        --
      Retek.......................      921        --         --       3,377      5,635        --
      CompReview..................   13,032    17,606         --       8,119     12,631    18,971
                                    -------   -------   --------     -------    -------   -------
                                    $43,704   $71,439   $113,735    $ 30,574    $49,689   $81,654
                                    =======   =======   ========     =======    =======   =======
    Net income (loss):
      HNC.........................  $ 4,457   $ 6,376   $ 17,565    $  1,780    $   975   $ 7,597
      Risk Data...................   (1,952)       --         --      (2,184)        --        --
      Retek.......................     (382)       --         --          43         93        --
      CompReview..................    3,954     5,517         --       2,123      3,679     6,702
                                    -------   -------   --------     -------    -------   -------
                                    $ 6,077   $11,893   $ 17,565    $  1,762    $ 4,747   $14,299
                                    =======   =======   ========     =======    =======   =======
</TABLE>
 
     Transaction costs of $563, $515 and $1,440 were incurred to complete the
acquisitions of Risk Data, Retek and CompReview, respectively. Transaction costs
were deferred and charged to income when the related transactions were
consummated. Transaction costs consisted primarily of investment banker, legal
and accounting fees, and printing, mailing and registration expenses.
 
  Principles of Consolidation
 
     The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company
and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany transactions and
balances have been eliminated.
 
     During 1996, the Company established Aptex Software Inc. ("Aptex"), a
majority owned subsidiary, in order to develop, market and support certain text
analysis technology that is being used to develop products for the Internet
market. The minority stockholders' interest in Aptex's financial position and
results of operations is presented as a minority interest in the Company's
consolidated financial statements.
 
  Financial Statement Preparation
 
     The preparation of financial statements, in conformity with generally
accepted accounting principles, requires management to make estimates and
assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and
disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the financial
statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the
reporting periods. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
 
  Cash Equivalents
 
     Cash equivalents are highly liquid investments and consist of investments
in money market accounts and commercial paper purchased with maturities of three
months or less.
 
                                       42
<PAGE>   43
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
  Investments
 
     Management determines the appropriate classification of its investments in
marketable debt and equity securities at the time of purchase and re-evaluates
such designation as of each balance sheet date. The Company classifies all
securities as "available for sale" and carries them at fair value with
unrealized gains or losses related to these securities included in stockholders'
equity in the Company's consolidated balance sheet.
 
  Property and Equipment
 
     Property and equipment are recorded at cost. The Company computes
depreciation and amortization using either the straight-line method over the
estimated useful lives of the assets of three to seven years or an accelerated
method over the estimated useful lives of the assets of five to seven years. The
Company amortizes leasehold improvements over the shorter of their estimated
useful lives or the remaining term of the related lease. Repair and maintenance
costs are charged to expense as incurred.
 
  Software Costs
 
     Software costs are recorded at cost and amortized over their estimated
useful lives of 36 to 42 months. Software costs are comprised of purchased
software and other rights that are stated at the lower of cost or net realizable
value. At December 31, 1996 and 1997, software costs of $2,561 and $2,581,
respectively, were included in other assets in the consolidated balance sheet
net of accumulated amortization of $642 and $1,451, respectively.
 
     Development costs for software to be licensed or sold that are incurred
from the time technological feasibility is established until the product is
available for general release to customers are capitalized and reported at the
lower of cost or net realizable value. Through December 31, 1997, no significant
amounts were expended subsequent to reaching technological feasibility.
 
  Long-Lived Assets
 
     The Company investigates potential impairments of long-lived assets,
certain identifiable intangibles and associated goodwill when events or changes
in circumstances have made recovery of an asset's carrying value unlikely. An
impairment loss would be recognized if the sum of the expected future net cash
flows were less than the carrying amount of the asset. No such impairments of
long-lived assets existed through December 31, 1997.
 
  Stock-Based Compensation
 
     The Company measures compensation expense for its stock-based employee
compensation plans using the intrinsic value method and provides pro forma
disclosures of net income and earnings per share as if the fair value-based
method had been applied in measuring compensation expense.
 
  Revenue Recognition
 
     The Company's revenue from periodic software license and maintenance
agreements is generally recognized ratably over the respective license periods.
Revenue from certain short-term periodic software license and maintenance
agreements with guaranteed minimum license fees is recognized as related
services are performed. Transactional fees are recognized as revenue based on
system usage or when fees based on system usage exceed the monthly minimum
license fees. Revenue from perpetual licenses of the Company's software for
which there are no significant continuing obligations and collection of the
related receivables is probable is recognized on delivery of the software and
acceptance by the customer. Revenue from hardware product sales, which is
included in contracts and other revenue, is recognized upon shipment to the
customer.
 
                                       43
<PAGE>   44
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
     The Company's revenue from software installation and implementation and
from contract services is generally recognized as the services are performed
using the percentage of completion method based on costs incurred to date
compared to total estimated costs at completion. Amounts received under
contracts in advance of performance are recorded as deferred revenue and are
generally recognized within one year from receipt. Contract losses are recorded
as a charge to income in the period such losses are first identified. Unbilled
accounts receivable are stated at estimated realizable value.
 
     Service bureau fees are from review and repricing of customers' medical
bills and are assessed to customers on the basis of volume of bills processed
and are recognized as revenue when the processing services are performed.
 
  Income Taxes
 
     The Company's current income tax expense is the amount of income taxes
expected to be payable for the current year. A deferred income tax asset or
liability is computed for the expected future impact of differences between the
financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities as well as the
expected future tax benefit to be derived from tax loss and tax credit
carryforwards. Valuation allowances are established, when necessary, to reduce
deferred tax assets to the amount "more likely than not" to be realized in
future tax returns. Tax rate changes are reflected in income during the period
such changes are enacted.
 
  Net Income Per Common Share
 
     The Company adopted Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 128
("FAS 128"), "Earnings per Share," for fiscal 1997 and retroactively restated
all prior periods to conform with FAS 128 as required. Basic net income per
common share is computed as net income less accretion of dividends on
mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock divided by the weighted
average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted net
income per common share is computed as net income divided by the weighted
average number of common shares and potential common shares, using the treasury
stock method, outstanding during the period and assumes conversion into common
stock at the beginning of each period of all outstanding shares of convertible
preferred stock (Note 8).
 
  Unaudited Pro Forma Data
 
     Prior to the acquisition of CompReview by HNC on November 28, 1997,
CompReview had elected subchapter S corporation status for income tax purposes;
therefore, its income was included in the tax returns of its stockholders, and
no income tax provision was recorded for CompReview other than certain minimum
state taxes on subchapter S corporations. As a result of the acquisition,
beginning November 29, 1997, CompReview became subject to corporate income taxes
on its taxable income. For comparative purposes, the consolidated statement of
income includes unaudited pro forma adjusted data with respect to the merged
companies' income tax provision as if CompReview had been subject to corporate
income taxes on its taxable income for all periods presented.
 
  Foreign Currency Translation
 
     The financial statements of the Company's international operations are
translated into U.S. dollars using period-end exchange rates for assets and
liabilities and average exchange rates during the period for revenues and
expenses. Cumulative translation gains and losses are excluded from results of
operations and recorded as a separate component of stockholders' equity. Gains
and losses resulting from foreign currency transactions (transactions
denominated in a currency other than the entity's local currency) are included
in the consolidated statement of income and are not material.
 
                                       44
<PAGE>   45
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
  Diversification of Credit Risk
 
     The Company's financial instruments that are subject to concentrations of
credit risk consist primarily of cash equivalents, investments available for
sale and accounts receivable, which are generally not collateralized. The
Company's policy is to place its cash, cash equivalents and investments
available for sale with high credit quality financial institutions and
commercial companies and government agencies in order to limit the amount of its
credit exposure. The Company's software license and installation agreements and
commercial development contracts are primarily with large customers in the
healthcare/insurance, financial services and retail industries. The Company
maintains reserves for potential credit losses.
 
     The Company has one major product or product line in each of its three
target markets. In the healthcare/insurance market, revenues from one product
accounted for 29.8%, 24.6% and 23.0% of the Company's total revenues for 1995,
1996 and 1997, respectively. During those same periods, one product in the
retail market accounted for 2.2%, 13.6% and 18.9%, respectively, of the
Company's total revenues, and one product line in the financial services market
accounted for 28.0%, 20.9% and 16.0%, respectively, of the Company's total
revenues. Revenues from international operations and export sales, primarily to
Western Europe and Canada, represented approximately 12.6%, 17.7% and 16.8% of
total revenues in 1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively. Export sales were $4,595,
$7,310 and $7,896 in 1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively.
 
  Disclosures About Fair Value of Financial Instruments
 
     The carrying amounts of cash and cash equivalents and accrued liabilities
approximate fair value because of the short-term maturities of these financial
instruments. The carrying amounts of capital lease obligations approximate their
fair values based on interest rates currently available to the Company for
borrowings with similar terms and maturities.
 
  Reincorporation and Stock Split
 
     In May 1995, the Company's stockholders approved an Agreement and Plan of
Merger whereby the Company merged with and into a newly incorporated Delaware
corporation ("HNC Delaware"), which is the surviving corporation. In conjunction
with the merger, each share of the Company's common stock, preferred stock and
options and warrants to purchase the Company's common stock was exchanged for
one-half share of HNC Delaware's common stock, preferred stock and options and
warrants to purchase HNC Delaware's common stock, at twice the exercise price
for options and warrants. In April 1996, the Company consummated a two-for-one
stock split effected in the form of a common stock dividend. All references to
share and per share amounts of common and preferred stock and other data in
these financial statements have been retroactively restated to reflect the
reincorporation and stock split.
 
  New Accounting Pronouncements
 
     In June 1997, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued
Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 130 ("FAS 130"), "Reporting
Comprehensive Income," which the Company is required to adopt for 1998. This
statement will require the Company to report in the financial statements, in
addition to net income, comprehensive income and its components including
foreign currency items and unrealized gains and losses on certain investments in
debt and equity securities. Upon adoption of FAS 130, the Company is also
required to reclassify financial statements for earlier periods provided for
comparative purposes. The adoption of FAS 130 will not have a significant impact
on the Company's consolidated financial statement disclosures.
 
     In June 1997, the FASB issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards
No. 131 ("FAS 131"), "Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related
Information," which the Company is required to
 
                                       45
<PAGE>   46
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
adopt for its 1998 annual financial statements. This statement establishes
standards for reporting information about operating segments in annual financial
statements and requires selected information about operating segments in interim
financial reports issued to stockholders. It also establishes standards for
related disclosures about products and services, geographic areas and major
customers. Under FAS 131, operating segments are to be determined consistent
with the way that management organizes and evaluates financial information
internally for making operating decisions and assessing performance. The Company
has not determined the impact of the adoption of this new accounting standard on
its consolidated financial statement disclosures.
 
     In November 1997, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
issued Statement of Position No. 97-2 ("SOP 97-2"), "Software Revenue
Recognition," which the Company is required to adopt for agreements entered into
with customers beginning in 1998. This statement provides guidance for
recognizing revenue related to sales by software vendors. The adoption of SOP
97-2 will not have a significant impact on the timing of the Company's revenue
recognition.
 
  Reclassifications
 
     Certain prior year balances have been reclassified to conform to the
current year presentation.
 
NOTE 2 -- COMPOSITION OF CERTAIN FINANCIAL STATEMENT CAPTIONS
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                      DECEMBER 31,
                                                                   -------------------
                                                                    1996        1997
                                                                   -------     -------
        <S>                                                        <C>         <C>
        Accounts receivable, net:
          Billed.................................................  $13,266     $27,812
          Unbilled...............................................    9,299       8,368
                                                                   -------     -------
                                                                    22,565      36,180
        Less allowance for doubtful accounts.....................     (709)     (3,200)
                                                                   -------     -------
                                                                   $21,856     $32,980
                                                                   =======     =======
</TABLE>
 
     Unbilled accounts receivable represent revenue recorded in excess of
amounts billable pursuant to contract provisions and generally become billable
at contractually specified dates or upon the attainment of milestones. Unbilled
amounts are expected to be realized within one year.
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                      DECEMBER 31,
                                                                   -------------------
                                                                    1996        1997
                                                                   -------     -------
        <S>                                                        <C>         <C>
        Property and equipment, net:
          Computer equipment.....................................  $ 9,302     $15,611
          Furniture and fixtures.................................    2,210       4,632
          Leasehold improvements.................................      273       1,012
                                                                   -------     -------
                                                                    11,785      21,255
        Less accumulated depreciation and amortization...........   (5,446)     (9,153)
                                                                   -------     -------
                                                                   $ 6,339     $12,102
                                                                   =======     =======
</TABLE>
 
                                       46
<PAGE>   47
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                      DECEMBER 31,
                                                                   -------------------
                                                                    1996        1997
                                                                   -------     -------
        <S>                                                        <C>         <C>
        Accrued liabilities:
          Payroll and related benefits...........................  $ 1,645     $ 3,456
          Vacation...............................................      860         927
          Other..................................................    1,928       1,550
                                                                   -------     -------
                                                                   $ 4,433     $ 5,933
                                                                   =======     =======
</TABLE>
 
NOTE 3 -- INVESTMENTS
 
     At December 31, 1996 and 1997, the amortized cost and estimated fair value
of investments available for sale were as follows:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                               DECEMBER 31, 1996
                                                 ---------------------------------------------
                                                 AMORTIZED   UNREALIZED   UNREALIZED    FAIR
                                                   COST        GAINS        LOSSES      VALUE
                                                 ---------   ----------   ----------   -------
        <S>                                      <C>         <C>          <C>          <C>
        U.S. government and federal agencies...   $18,212     $     --     $    (38)   $18,174
        Foreign government debt................     1,006           --           (2)     1,004
        U.S. corporate debt....................     4,851           --          (14)     4,837
        Foreign corporate debt.................     2,718           --           (5)     2,713
                                                  -------      -------      -------    -------
                                                  $26,787     $     --     $    (59)   $26,728
                                                  =======      =======      =======    =======
</TABLE>
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                               DECEMBER 31, 1997
                                                 ---------------------------------------------
                                                 AMORTIZED   UNREALIZED   UNREALIZED    FAIR
                                                   COST        GAINS        LOSSES      VALUE
                                                 ---------   ----------   ----------   -------
        <S>                                      <C>         <C>          <C>          <C>
        U.S. government and federal agencies...   $20,682     $     --     $     (1)   $20,681
        U.S. corporate debt....................     1,894           --           (1)     1,893
        Foreign corporate debt.................     2,304           --           --      2,304
                                                  -------      -------      -------    -------
                                                  $24,880     $     --     $     (2)   $24,878
                                                  =======      =======      =======    =======
</TABLE>
 
     No significant gains or losses were realized during the years ended
December 31, 1996 and 1997. The cost of securities sold is determined by the
specific identification method.
 
NOTE 4 -- NOTES PAYABLE
 
     The Company has a Credit Agreement with a bank which provides for a $15,000
revolving line of credit through July 11, 1999. The agreement requires that the
Company maintain certain financial ratios and levels of working capital,
tangible net worth and profitability, and also restricts the Company's ability
to pay cash dividends and make loans, advances or investments without the bank's
consent. At December 31, 1997, the Company had no amounts outstanding under the
revolving line of credit. Interest is payable monthly at the bank's prime rate
or LIBOR rate plus 1.5%. The applicable interest rate was 7.22% at December 31,
1997.
 
     The Risk Data credit facilities were comprised of a revolving line of
credit secured by eligible accounts receivable, as well as a bridge loan that
was secured by the guarantees of certain stockholders. The revolving line of
credit matured on January 5, 1997. The bridge loan matured on September 5, 1996.
All outstanding amounts were repaid during 1996, and neither credit facility was
renewed.
 
                                       47
<PAGE>   48
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
     During 1995, the preferred stockholders of Risk Data loaned the Company
$1,000 under subordinated note agreements (secured by the assets of Risk Data
but subordinated to borrowings under the Risk Data line of credit) bearing
interest at 9%. All outstanding amounts were repaid during 1996.
 
NOTE 5 -- LEASES
 
     At December 31, 1997, the Company was obligated through 2004 under
noncancelable operating leases for its facilities and certain equipment as
follows:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                                  NET FUTURE
                                                FUTURE MINIMUM   LESS SUBLEASE   MINIMUM LEASE
                                                LEASE PAYMENTS      INCOME         PAYMENTS
                                                --------------   -------------   -------------
        <S>                                     <C>              <C>             <C>
        1998..................................      $2,984           $ 127          $ 2,857
        1999..................................       3,047              --            3,047
        2000..................................       3,043              --            3,043
        2001..................................       2,994              --            2,994
        2002..................................       2,884              --            2,884
        thereafter............................       1,535              --            1,535
</TABLE>
 
     The lease for the Company's corporate headquarters provides for scheduled
rent increases and an option to extend the lease for five years with certain
changes to the terms of the lease agreement and a refurbishment allowance. Rent
expense under operating leases for the years ended December 31, 1995, 1996 and
1997 was approximately $1,503, $1,623 and $2,687, respectively, net of sublease
income of $83, $125 and $477, respectively.
 
     Risk Data maintains a lease line of credit with a leasing company for the
acquisition of equipment under capital lease arrangements. Future minimum
payments are $222 for 1998 and $66 for 1999 with a total of $34 of such amounts
representing interest.
 
     The gross value of assets under capital leases at December 31, 1996 and
1997 was $1,481 and $714, and accumulated amortization was $599 and $556,
respectively. Amortization expense for assets acquired under capital leases is
included in depreciation expense.
 
NOTE 6 -- CAPITAL STOCK
 
     During June 1995, the Company completed its initial public offering of
5,176 shares of common stock (of which 2,376 shares were sold by the Company and
2,800 shares were sold by certain selling stockholders) at a price to the public
of $7.00 per share, which resulted in net proceeds to the Company of $15,461
after the payment of underwriters' commissions but before the deduction of
offering expenses. Upon the closing of the Company's initial public offering,
all outstanding shares of Series A, B, C, D and E convertible preferred stock
were automatically converted into shares of common stock at their then effective
conversion prices. Upon conversion, the preferred stockholders were no longer
entitled to any undeclared cumulative dividends and all class voting rights
terminated.
 
     During December 1995, the Company completed a follow-on public offering of
3,000 shares of common stock (of which 1,116 shares were sold by the Company and
1,884 shares were sold by certain selling stockholders) at a price to the public
of $18.50 per share, which resulted in net proceeds to the Company of $19,606
after the payment of underwriters' commissions but before the deduction of
offering expenses.
 
     The Company's Board of Directors is authorized to issue up to 4,000 shares
of preferred stock and to determine the price, rights, preferences, privileges
and restrictions, including voting rights, of those shares
 
                                       48
<PAGE>   49
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
without any further vote or action by the stockholders. The rights of the
holders of common stock will be subject to the rights of the holders of any
preferred stock that may be issued in the future.
 
NOTE 7 -- INCOME TAXES
 
     Income (loss) before income tax (benefit) provision was taxed under the
following jurisdictions:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                            YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,
                                                         ------------------------------
                                                          1995       1996        1997
                                                         ------     -------     -------
        <S>                                              <C>        <C>         <C>
        Domestic.......................................  $5,764     $ 8,599     $23,907
        Foreign........................................    (198)      2,760       1,012
                                                         ------     -------     -------
                                                         $5,566     $11,359     $24,919
                                                         ======     =======     =======
</TABLE>
 
     The income tax (benefit) provision is summarized as follows:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                            YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,
                                                         ------------------------------
                                                          1995       1996        1997
                                                         ------     -------     -------
        <S>                                              <C>        <C>         <C>
        CURRENT:
          Federal......................................  $   97     $ 1,132     $ 2,257
          State........................................     143         204         537
          Foreign......................................      --          51         233
 
        DEFERRED:
          Federal......................................    (521)     (1,569)      3,197
          State........................................    (186)        (56)        985
          Foreign......................................     (44)       (296)        145
                                                         ------     -------       -----
                                                         $ (511)    $  (534)    $ 7,354
                                                         ======     =======       =====
</TABLE>
 
     Deferred tax assets are summarized as follows:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                       YEAR ENDED
                                                                      DECEMBER 31,
                                                                   -------------------
                                                                    1996        1997
                                                                   -------     -------
        <S>                                                        <C>         <C>
        Taxable pooling basis difference.........................  $18,397     $16,955
        Net operating loss carryforwards.........................    8,587       7,404
        Tax credit carryforwards.................................    1,878       2,059
        Other....................................................      487         214
                                                                   -------     -------
        Gross deferred tax assets................................   29,349      26,632
        Deferred tax asset valuation allowance...................       --          --
                                                                   -------     -------
                  Net deferred tax asset.........................  $29,349     $26,632
                                                                   =======     =======
</TABLE>
 
     During 1995, the Company released the valuation allowance related to its
deferred tax assets based on management's assessment that it was more likely
than not that the Company would realize a portion of those assets in future
periods due to improvements in the Company's operating results. During 1996, the
Company released the valuation allowances related to Risk Data's and Retek's
deferred tax assets based on management's assessment that it was more likely
than not that the Company would realize those assets in future periods due to
improvements in the operating results of those subsidiaries.
 
                                       49
<PAGE>   50
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
     During 1995, 1996 and 1997, the Company realized certain tax benefits
related to stock option transactions in the amount of $800, $7,889 and $4,192,
respectively. The benefit from the stock option tax deduction is credited
directly to paid-in capital.
 
     During 1996, in connection with the acquisition of Retek, the Company made
an Internal Revenue Code Section 338 election for federal and state tax
purposes, resulting in the treatment of the acquisition as a taxable
transaction, whereby the tax bases of the acquired assets and liabilities were
adjusted to their fair values as of the date of the acquisition. As the purchase
price exceeded the carrying value of the net assets acquired by approximately
$46,000, the Company recorded a deferred tax asset in the amount of $18,397.
 
     A reconciliation of the income tax (benefit) provision to the amount
computed by applying the statutory federal income tax rate to income before
income tax provision is summarized as follows:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                            YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,
                                                        -------------------------------
                                                         1995        1996        1997
                                                        -------     -------     -------
        <S>                                             <C>         <C>         <C>
        Amounts computed at statutory federal rate....  $ 1,892     $ 3,862     $ 8,472
             State income taxes.......................      465         554       1,407
             Subchapter S corporation earnings........   (1,366)     (1,901)     (2,888)
             Change in tax status of S corporation....       --          --         869
             Tax credit carryforwards generated.......      (68)       (334)       (284)
             Release of valuation allowance...........   (2,223)     (2,717)         --
             Foreign income taxes.....................      (44)       (296)         27
             Losses without tax benefit...............      794          --          --
             Other....................................       39         298        (249)
                                                        -------     -------     -------
        Income tax (benefit) provision................  $  (511)    $  (534)    $ 7,354
                                                        =======     =======     =======
</TABLE>
 
     Prior to the acquisition of CompReview by the Company on November 28, 1997,
CompReview had elected subchapter S corporation status and the cash basis of
accounting for income tax purposes; therefore, its cash basis income was
included in the tax returns of its stockholders, and no income tax provision was
recorded for CompReview other than certain minimum state taxes on subchapter S
corporations. As of the date of CompReview's acquisition, its tax status was
changed to C corporation status with the accrual basis of accounting. As a
result of this change in tax status, the Company recorded a deferred tax
liability in the amount of $869 based on the cumulative income recognition
differences as of the date of acquisition between CompReview's former and
prospective tax accounting methods.
 
     At December 31, 1997, the Company had federal, state and foreign net
operating loss carryforwards of approximately $19,992, $7,785 and $352,
respectively. The net operating loss carryforwards expire as follows:
 
<TABLE>
                    <S>                                          <C>
                    2001.......................................  $ 6,982
                    2003.......................................       84
                    2005.......................................      123
                    2006.......................................    1,670
                    2007.......................................       17
                    2008.......................................    1,692
                    2009.......................................    1,370
                    2010.......................................    1,840
                    2011.......................................   14,086
</TABLE>
 
     The Company also has approximately $1,295 of federal research and
development credit carryforwards, which expire from 2000 to 2012, $711 of state
research and development credit carryforwards, which have no
 
                                       50
<PAGE>   51
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
expiration date, and $53 of foreign tax credit carryforwards, which expire from
1999 to 2002. Certain of these net operating loss and research and development
credit carryforwards generated by Risk Data, Retek and CompReview prior to their
acquisitions by HNC are subject to annual limitations on their utilization and
also are limited to utilization solely by the company that generated them.
Should a substantial change in HNC's ownership occur, as defined by the Tax
Reform Act of 1986, there will be an annual limitation on its utilization of net
operating loss and research and development credit carryforwards.
 
NOTE 8 -- RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME AND SHARES USED IN PER SHARE COMPUTATIONS
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                              YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,
                                                                          -------------------------------
                                                                           1995        1996        1997
                                                                          -------     -------     -------
<S>                                                                       <C>         <C>         <C>
NET INCOME USED:
Net income used in computing basic net income per common share..........  $ 5,729     $11,893     $17,565
Add back accretion of dividends on mandatorily redeemable convertible
  preferred stock.......................................................      348          --          --
                                                                          -------     -------     -------
Net income used in computing diluted net income per common share........  $ 6,077     $11,893     $17,565
                                                                          =======     =======     =======
SHARES USED:
Weighted average common shares outstanding used in computing basic net
  income per common share...............................................   15,195      23,552      24,275
  Weighted average options and warrants to purchase common stock as
    determined by application of the treasury stock method..............    1,995       1,796       1,383
  Incremental shares for assumed conversion of convertible preferred
    stock...............................................................    4,265          --          --
  Purchase Plan common stock equivalents................................       55          15          23
                                                                          -------     -------     -------
Shares used in computing diluted net income per common share............   21,510      25,363      25,681
                                                                          =======     =======     =======
</TABLE>
 
     All outstanding shares of the Company's preferred stock automatically
converted into shares of common stock upon the closing of the Company's initial
public offering on June 26, 1995. Shares used in computing diluted net income
per common share for 1995 assume conversion of all outstanding shares of
convertible preferred stock were converted at the beginning of that year.
 
NOTE 9 -- EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS
 
     During 1987, the Company adopted the 1987 Stock Option Plan and reserved
2,500 shares of the Company's common stock for issuance pursuant to nonqualified
and incentive stock options to its officers, directors, key employees and
consultants. The plan, as amended, is administered by the Board of Directors or
its designees and provides generally that, for incentive stock options and
nonqualified stock options, the exercise price must not be less than the fair
market value of the shares as determined by the Board of Directors at the date
of grant. The options expire no later than ten years from the date of grant and
may be exercised in installments based upon stipulated timetables (not in excess
of seven years). At December 31, 1997, options to purchase 490 shares were
exercisable.
 
     During 1995, the Company adopted the 1995 Directors Stock Option Plan (the
"Directors Plan"), the 1995 Equity Incentive Plan (the "Incentive Plan") and the
1995 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the "Purchase Plan"). For purposes of the
discussion contained in the three paragraphs below, "fair market value" means
the closing price of the Company's common stock on the Nasdaq National Market on
the grant date.
 
     The Directors Plan provides for the issuance of up to 300 nonqualified
stock options to the Company's outside directors. Under the provisions of the
Directors Plan, options to purchase 25 shares of the Company's common stock are
granted to outside directors upon their respective dates of becoming members of
the Board of Directors and options to purchase ten shares of such stock will be
granted on each anniversary of such dates.
 
                                       51
<PAGE>   52
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
Options under the Directors Plan are granted at the fair market value of the
stock at the grant date and vest at specific times over a four-year period. At
December 31, 1997, options to purchase 72 shares were exercisable.
 
     The Incentive Plan provides for the issuance of up to 3,550 shares of the
Company's common stock in the form of nonqualified or incentive stock options,
restricted stock or stock bonuses. In addition, all shares that remained
unissued under the 1987 Stock Option Plan on the effective date of the Incentive
Plan, and all shares issuable upon exercise of options granted pursuant to the
1987 Stock Option Plan that expire or become unexercisable for any reason
without having been exercised in full are available for issuance under the
Incentive Plan. Nonqualified stock options and restricted stock may be awarded
at a price not less than 85% of the fair market value of the stock at the date
of the award. Incentive stock options must be awarded at a price not less than
100% of the fair market value of the stock at the date of the award. Options
granted under the Incentive Plan may have a term of up to ten years. The Company
has the discretion to provide for restrictions and the lapse thereof in respect
of restricted stock awards. Options typically vest at the rate of 25% of the
total grant per year over a four-year period; however, the Company may, at its
discretion, implement a different vesting schedule with respect to any new stock
option grant. At December 31, 1997, 316 shares were exercisable.
 
     The Purchase Plan provides for the issuance of a maximum of 400 shares of
common stock. Each purchase period, eligible employees may designate between 2%
and 10% of their cash compensation, subject to certain limitations, to be
deducted from their compensation for the purchase of common stock under the
Purchase Plan. The purchase price of the shares under the Purchase Plan is equal
to 85% of the lesser of the fair market value per share on the first day of the
twelve-month offering period or the last day of each six-month purchase period.
Approximately 60% of eligible employees have participated in the Purchase Plan
in the last two years.
 
     Risk Data's stock option plan is administered by HNC's Board of Directors.
All outstanding Risk Data options were converted into options to purchase HNC
common stock and adjusted to give effect to the acquisition exchange ratio in
the Risk Data acquisition. No changes were made to the terms of the Risk Data
options in connection with the exchange. Options granted under the Risk Data
stock option plan generally vest at the rate of 25% of the total grant per year
and expire ten years after the date of grant. At December 31, 1997, 30 shares
were exercisable under the Risk Data plan.
 
     Retek's stock options are administered by HNC's Board of Directors. All
outstanding Retek options were converted into options to purchase the Company's
common stock and adjusted to give effect to the acquisition exchange ratio in
the Retek acquisition. No changes were made to the terms of the Retek options in
connection with the exchange. Options granted vest ratably over periods from one
to four years and have a term of up to ten years. At December 31, 1997, options
to purchase 32 shares were exercisable.
 
     The CompReview 1995 Stock Option Plan is administered by HNC's Board of
Directors. All outstanding CompReview stock options were converted into options
to purchase HNC common stock in the CompReview acquisition and adjusted to give
effect to the acquisition exchange ratio. No changes were made to the terms of
the CompReview options in connection with the exchange. Options granted under
the CompReview Stock Option Plan generally vest ratably over periods from two to
four years and expire ten years after the date of grant. At December 31, 1997,
options to purchase 156 shares were exercisable.
 
                                       52
<PAGE>   53
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
     Transactions under the Company's stock option and purchase plans during the
years ended December 31, 1995, 1996 and 1997, including options under the Risk
Data stock option plan, options under the Retek stock option plan and options
under the CompReview Stock Option Plan, but excluding options to purchase stock
of Aptex, a subsidiary of the Company, are summarized as follows.
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                 YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,
                                      ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                1995                       1996                       1997
                                      ------------------------   ------------------------   ------------------------
                                              WEIGHTED AVERAGE           WEIGHTED AVERAGE           WEIGHTED AVERAGE
                                      SHARES   EXERCISE PRICE    SHARES   EXERCISE PRICE    SHARES   EXERCISE PRICE
                                      ------  ----------------   ------  ----------------   ------  ----------------
<S>                                   <C>     <C>                <C>     <C>                <C>     <C>
Outstanding at beginning of year....   2,080       $ 0.49         2,868       $ 2.84         3,215       $15.65
  Options granted...................   1,272         6.08         1,645        27.98         2,177        32.61
  Options exercised.................    (207)        0.52        (1,140)        0.96          (475)        6.16
  Options canceled..................    (277)        1.80          (158)       17.62          (326)       26.33
                                      ------                     ------
Outstanding at end of year..........   2,868         2.84         3,215        15.65         4,591        23.92
                                      ======                     ======
Options exercisable at end of
  year..............................   1,437                        841                      1,096
Weighted average fair value of
  options granted during the year...  $ 3.10                     $14.50                     $19.79
</TABLE>
 
     The following table summarizes information about employee stock options
outstanding at December 31, 1997:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                OPTIONS OUTSTANDING
                                    -------------------------------------------      OPTIONS EXERCISABLE
                                                        WEIGHTED                  -------------------------
                                        NUMBER           AVERAGE       WEIGHTED       NUMBER       WEIGHTED
                                    OUTSTANDING AT      REMAINING      AVERAGE    OUTSTANDING AT   AVERAGE
               RANGE OF              DECEMBER 31,      CONTRACTUAL     EXERCISE    DECEMBER 31,    EXERCISE
           EXERCISE PRICES               1997        LIFE (IN YEARS)    PRICE          1997         PRICE
    ------------------------------  --------------   ---------------   --------   --------------   --------
    <S>                             <C>              <C>               <C>        <C>              <C>
    $ 0.02 to $ 3.00..............       1,002             5.90         $ 1.90           702        $ 1.60
      4.50     25.38..............         793             8.21          19.22           188         15.69
     25.60     30.75..............         791             8.86          29.39           147         30.33
     30.81     31.50..............         944             9.57          31.40             1         30.94
     31.88     39.00..............         774             9.42          36.03            32         34.24
     39.09     49.50..............         287             9.27          41.42            26         42.64
                                         -----                                         -----
      0.02     49.50..............       4,591             8.37          23.92         1,096          9.82
                                         =====                                         =====
</TABLE>
 
     During 1996, Aptex adopted the 1996 Equity Incentive Plan (the "Aptex
Plan") whereby 2,000 shares of Aptex common stock were reserved for issuance
pursuant to nonqualified and incentive stock options and restricted stock
awards. The plan is administered by the Board of Directors of Aptex or its
designees and provides generally that nonqualified stock options and restricted
stock may be awarded at a price not less than 85% of the fair market value, as
determined by the Board of Directors, of the stock at the date of the award.
Incentive stock options must be awarded at a price not less than 100% of the
fair market value of the stock at the date of the award, or 110% of fair market
value for awards to more than 10% stockholders. Options granted under the
Incentive Plan may have a term of up to ten years. The Company has the
discretion to provide for restrictions and the lapse thereof in respect of
restricted stock awards, and options typically vest at the rate of 25% of the
total grant per year. However, the Company may, at its discretion, implement a
different vesting schedule with respect to any new stock option grant. During
1996, Aptex issued 1,000 shares of common stock at fair market value under the
Aptex Plan for cash consideration of $0.03 per share. At December 31, 1997,
options to purchase 79 shares were exercisable under the Aptex Plan.
 
                                       53
<PAGE>   54
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
     The Company applies Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 25 and related
Interpretations in accounting for its stock-based compensation. No compensation
expense has been recognized for its employee stock option grants, which are
fixed in nature, as the options have been granted at fair market value. No
compensation expense has been recognized for the Purchase Plan. Had compensation
cost for the Company's stock-based compensation awards issued during 1997 and
1996 been determined based on the fair value at the grant dates of awards
consistent with the method of Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement No.
123 ("FAS 123"), the Company's net income and basic and diluted pro forma net
income per common share would have been reduced to the pro forma amounts
indicated below:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                              YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,
                                                             --------------------------
                                                              1995     1996      1997
                                                             ------   -------   -------
        <S>                                                  <C>      <C>       <C>
        Net income:
          As reported......................................  $6,077   $11,893   $17,565
          Pro forma........................................   5,126     6,122     2,232
        Basic net income per common share:
          As reported......................................    0.38      0.50      0.72
          Pro forma........................................    0.31      0.26      0.09
        Diluted net income per common share:
          As reported......................................    0.28      0.47      0.68
          Pro forma........................................    0.24      0.24      0.09
</TABLE>
 
     The fair value of each option grant is estimated on the date of grant using
the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following weighted average
assumptions used for grants during the years ended December 31, 1995, 1996 and
1997, respectively: dividend yield of 0.0% for all three years, risk-free
interest rates of 6.29%, 6.03% and 6.10%, expected volatilities of 75%, 70% and
65% (0% for 1995 and 1996 options granted by Risk Data, Retek and CompReview
prior to their acquisition by HNC), and expected lives of 3.5, 3.5 and 3.0
years. The fair value of the employees' purchase rights pursuant to the Purchase
Plan is estimated using the Black-Scholes model with the following assumptions:
dividend yield of 0.0% for all three years, risk-free interest rates of 5.66%,
5.36% and 5.32%, expected volatilities of 75%, 70% and 65%, and an expected life
of 6 months for all three years. The weighted average fair value of those
purchase rights granted in 1995, 1996 and 1997 was $2.75, $9.61 and $14.10,
respectively.
 
     The fair value of each option granted under the Aptex Plan is estimated on
the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the
following weighted average assumptions used for grants during the years ended
December 31, 1996 and 1997: dividend yield of 0.0% for both years, risk-free
interest rates of 6.42% and 6.33%, expected volatility of 90% for both years,
and expected lives of 9.25 and 8.0 years. Options to purchase 704 shares and 214
shares were granted during 1996 and 1997, with weighted average exercise prices
per share of $0.03 and $0.08, respectively. During 1997, options to purchase 173
shares with a weighted average exercise price of $0.03 per share were exercised.
During 1997, options to purchase 58 shares with a weighted average exercise
price of $0.03 per share were cancelled. The weighted average fair value per
share of options granted during 1996 and 1997 was $0.03 and $0.07, respectively.
 
                                       54
<PAGE>   55
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
             NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
                    (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
 
     The following table summarizes information about Aptex employee stock
options outstanding at December 31, 1997:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                               OPTIONS OUTSTANDING
                                   -------------------------------------------        OPTIONS EXERCISABLE
                                                       WEIGHTED                    -------------------------
                                       NUMBER           AVERAGE       WEIGHTED         NUMBER       WEIGHTED
                                   OUTSTANDING AT      REMAINING      AVERAGE      OUTSTANDING AT   AVERAGE
             RANGE OF               DECEMBER 31,      CONTRACTUAL     EXERCISE      DECEMBER 31,    EXERCISE
          EXERCISE PRICES               1997        LIFE (IN YEARS)    PRICE            1997         PRICE
    ---------------------------    --------------   ---------------   --------     --------------   --------
    <S>                            <C>              <C>               <C>          <C>              <C>
    $0.03 to $0.03                       497              8.75         $ 0.03            79          $ 0.03
     0.05     0.05                        39              9.40           0.05            --              --
     0.10     0.10                       151              9.82           0.10            --              --
                                         ---                                            ---
     0.03     0.10                       687              9.03           0.05            79            0.03
                                         ===                                            ===
</TABLE>
 
NOTE 10 -- CONTINGENCIES
 
     Various claims arising in the course of business, seeking monetary damages
and other relief, are pending. The amount of the liability, if any, from such
claims cannot be determined with certainty; however, in the opinion of
management, the ultimate liability for such claims will not have a material
adverse effect on the Company's consolidated financial position, results of
operations or cash flows.
 
NOTE 11 -- SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
 
     On January 30, 1998, the Company signed a definitive agreement to acquire
Practical Control Systems Technologies, Inc. ("PCS"), a distribution center
management software vendor based in Cincinnati, Ohio, subject to the
satisfaction of certain closing conditions and the approval of PCS'
shareholders. If consummated, the acquisition of PCS will be accounted for under
the purchase method and will not be considered a "significant" acquisition
pursuant to regulations set forth by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
 
     On February 13, 1998, the Company adopted the 1998 Stock Option Plan (the
"1998 Plan"), under which 1,000,000 shares of HNC Common Stock were reserved for
issuance pursuant to nonqualified stock options. The 1998 Plan is administered
by the Board of Directors of HNC or a committee appointed by the Board and
provides that nonqualified stock options granted under the plan must be awarded
at an exercise price of not less than 100% of the fair market value of the stock
at the date of grant. Options granted under the 1998 Plan may have a term of up
to ten years. No options have been granted under the 1998 Plan to date.
 
                                       55
<PAGE>   56
 
         SELECTED CONSOLIDATED QUARTERLY OPERATING RESULTS (UNAUDITED)
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                        YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1997
                                          --------------------------------------------------------
                                           FIRST      SECOND       THIRD      FOURTH       TOTAL
                                          QUARTER     QUARTER     QUARTER     QUARTER       YEAR
                                          -------     -------     -------     -------     --------
                                                               (IN THOUSANDS)
<S>                                       <C>         <C>         <C>         <C>         <C>
REVENUES:
As restated for pooling transactions....  $24,072     $27,593     $29,989     $32,081     $113,735
As previously reported..................   18,481      20,989      23,213          --           --
OPERATING INCOME:
As restated for pooling transactions....    5,120       6,002       6,371       5,547       23,040
As previously reported..................    3,061       3,464       4,169          --           --
NET INCOME:
As restated for pooling transactions....    4,212       4,959       5,127       3,267       17,565
As previously reported..................    2,183       2,458       2,956          --           --
PRO FORMA NET INCOME(1):
As restated for pooling transactions....  $ 3,434     $ 4,008     $ 4,286     $ 3,689     $ 15,417
As previously reported..................    2,183       2,458       2,956          --           --
</TABLE>
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                        YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1996
                                          --------------------------------------------------------
                                           FIRST      SECOND       THIRD      FOURTH       TOTAL
                                          QUARTER     QUARTER     QUARTER     QUARTER       YEAR
                                          -------     -------     -------     -------     --------
                                                               (IN THOUSANDS)
<S>                                       <C>         <C>         <C>         <C>         <C>
REVENUES:
As restated for pooling transactions....  $13,877     $16,697     $19,115     $21,750     $ 71,439
As previously reported..................    9,899      12,556      14,603      16,775       53,833
OPERATING INCOME:
As restated for pooling transactions....      351       1,801       3,117       4,390        9,659
As previously reported..................     (627)        609       1,574       2,562        4,118
NET (LOSS) INCOME:
As restated for pooling transactions....      258       1,504       2,984       7,147       11,893
As previously reported..................     (727)        366       1,429       5,308        6,376
PRO FORMA NET (LOSS) INCOME(1):
As restated for pooling transactions....  $  (131)    $ 1,088     $ 2,363     $ 6,411     $  9,731
As previously reported..................     (727)        366       1,429       5,308        6,376
</TABLE>
 
(1) Pro forma net income reflects a provision for taxes on the income of
    CompReview, which was a subchapter S corporation prior to its acquisition by
    HNC, as if CompReview had been subject to corporate income taxes as a C
    corporation for all periods presented.
 
ITEM 9.CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL
       DISCLOSURE
 
     Not applicable.
 
                                    PART III
 
ITEM 10.DIRECTORS AND EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE REGISTRANT
 
     The information required by this Item, which will be set forth under the
captions "Proposal No. 1 Election of Directors," "Executive Officers" and
"Compliance With Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934" in the
Company's Proxy Statement for its 1998 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, is
incorporated herein by reference.
 
                                       56
<PAGE>   57
 
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
 
     The information required by this Item, which will be set forth under the
captions "Director Compensation," "Executive Compensation" and "Compensation
Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation" in the Company's Proxy Statement
for its 1998 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, is incorporated herein by
reference.
 
ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT
 
     The information required by this Item, which will be set forth under the
caption "Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management" in the
Company's Proxy Statement for its 1998 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, is
incorporated herein by reference.
 
ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
 
     The information required by this Item, which will be set forth under the
caption "Certain Transactions" in the Company's Proxy Statement for its 1998
Annual Meeting of Stockholders, is incorporated herein by reference.
 
                                    PART IV
 
ITEM 14. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES AND REPORTS ON FORM 8-K
 
     (a) The following documents are filed as part of this report:
 
        1. Financial Statements:
 
           The financial statements of the Company listed below and the report
           thereon are included in Item 8 hereof:
 
           Report of Independent Accountants
           Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 1996 and 1997
           Consolidated Statement of Income for the years ended December 31,
           1995, 1996 and 1997
           Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the years ended December 31,
           1995, 1996 and 1997
           Consolidated Statement of Changes in Stockholders' Equity for the
           years ended December 31,
            1995, 1996 and 1997
           Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
 
        2. Financial Statement Schedule:
 
           The financial statement schedule of the Company listed below and the
           report thereon are included herein:
 
           Report of Independent Accountants on Financial Statement Schedule
           (See page 62.)
 
           Schedule II -- Valuation and Qualifying Accounts and Reserves for
           each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 1997
           (See page 63.)
 
           All other schedules are omitted because they are not applicable or
           not required or because the required information is shown in the
           Financial Statements or notes thereto.
 
                                       57
<PAGE>   58
 
        3. Exhibits:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
            EXHIBIT
            NUMBER                                   DESCRIPTION
           ---------  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
           <S>        <C>
            2.01      Agreement and Plan of Reorganization dated as of July 19, 1996 by and
                      among the Registrant, HNC Merger Corp. and Risk Data Corporation, as
                      amended. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 2.01 to
                      Registrant's Current Report on Form 8-K filed on September 12, 1996, as
                      amended (the "Risk Data 8-K").)
            2.02      Agreement of Merger dated August 30, 1996 by and between HNC Merger Corp.
                      and Risk Data Corporation. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number
                      2.02 to the Risk Data 8-K.)
            2.03      Exchange Agreement dated as of October 25, 1996 by and among the
                      Registrant, Retek Distribution Corporation and the shareholders of Retek
                      Distribution Corporation. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number
                      2.01 to Registrant's Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 12,
                      1996 (the "Retek 8-K").)
            2.04      Form of Option Exchange Agreement between the Registrant and each person
                      who held outstanding options to purchase shares of Retek Distribution
                      Corporation on November 29, 1996. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit
                      Number 2.02 to the Retek 8-K.)
            2.05      Agreement and Plan of Reorganization dated as of July 14, 1997 by and
                      among the Registrant, FW1 Acquisition Corp., CompReview, Inc., Robert L.
                      Kaaren and Mishel E. Munnayer, a.k.a. Michael Munayyer, Trustee of the
                      Michael Munayyer Trust dated August 11, 1995. (Pursuant to Item 601(b)(2)
                      of Regulation S-K, certain schedules have been omitted but will be
                      furnished supplementally to the Commission upon request.) (Incorporated
                      by reference to Exhibit Number 2.01 to Registrant's Current Report on
                      Form 8-K filed on December 15, 1997 (the "CompReview 8-K").)
            2.06      Agreement of Merger dated as of November 28, 1997 by and between FW1
                      Acquisition Corp. and CompReview, Inc. (Incorporated by reference to
                      Exhibit Number 2.02 to the CompReview 8-K.)
            3(i).01   Registrant's Restated Certificate of Incorporation filed with the
                      Secretary of State of Delaware on June 13, 1996. (Incorporated by
                      reference to Exhibit Number 3(i).04 to Registrant's Quarterly Report on
                      Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 1996 (the "Second Quarter 1996
                      10-Q").)
            3(ii).02  Registrant's Bylaws, as amended. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit
                      Number 3(ii).05 to the Second Quarter 1996 10-Q.)
            4.01      Form of Specimen Certificate for Registrant's Common Stock. (Incorporated
                      by reference to Exhibit Number 4.01 to Registrant's Form S-1 Registration
                      Statement, as amended (File No. 33-91932) (the "IPO S-1").)
            4.02      Third Amended Registration Rights Agreement dated March 10, 1993, as
                      amended. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 4.02 to the IPO
                      S-1.)
            4.03      Second Waiver and Amendment to Third Amended Registration Rights
                      Agreement. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 4.03 to
                      Registrant's Form S-1 Registration Statement, as amended (File No.
                      33-99980) (the "Second S-1").)
            4.04      Registration Rights Agreement dated as of August 30, 1996 by and among
                      the Registrant and the former shareholders of Risk Data Corporation.
                      (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 4.01 to the Risk Data 8-K.)
            4.05      Registration Rights Agreement dated as of October 25, 1996 by and among
                      the Registrant and the former shareholders of Retek Distribution
                      Corporation. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 4.01 to the
                      Retek 8-K.)
</TABLE>
 
                                       58
<PAGE>   59
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
            EXHIBIT
            NUMBER                                   DESCRIPTION
           ---------  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
           <S>        <C>
            4.06      Amendment No. 1 to the Registration Rights Agreement dated as of February
                      24, 1997 by and between the Registrant and the former shareholders of
                      Retek Distribution Corporation. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit
                      Number 4.06 to Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended, for
                      the year ended December 31, 1996 (the "1996 10-K").)
            4.07      Registration Rights Agreement dated as of November 28, 1997 by and among
                      the Registrant and the former shareholders of CompReview, Inc.
                      (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 4.01 to the CompReview 8-K.)
           10.01      Registrant's 1987 Stock Option Plan and related documents. (Incorporated
                      by reference to Exhibit Number 10.01 to the IPO S-1.)(1)
           *10.02     Registrant's 1995 Equity Incentive Plan and related documents, as
                      amended.(1)
           10.03      Registrant's 1995 Directors Stock Option Plan and related documents.
                      (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 10.03 to the IPO S-1.)(1)
           10.04      Registrant's 1995 Employee Stock Purchase Plan and related documents.
                      (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 10.04 to the IPO S-1.)(1)
           *10.05     Registrant's 1998 Stock Option Plan.(1)
           10.06      Form of Indemnity Agreement entered into by Registrant with each of its
                      directors and executive officers. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit
                      Number 10.08 to the IPO S-1.)(1)
           10.07      Office Building Lease dated as of December 1, 1993, as amended effective
                      February 1, 1994 and June 1, 1994, between Registrant and PacCor
                      Partners. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 10.09 to the IPO
                      S-1.)
           10.08      Marketing Agreement dated as of June 24, 1993 between Registrant and
                      First Data Resources, Inc. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number
                      10.11 to the IPO S-1.)(2)
           10.09      License Agreement dated as of June 24, 1993, as amended October 18, 1993,
                      September 16, 1994 and by letter amendment, with Addendum dated January
                      21, 1994, as amended February 15, 1995, between Registrant and First Data
                      Resources, Inc. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 10.12 to the
                      IPO S-1.)(2)
           10.10      Loan and Security Agreement dated as of July 11, 1997, between Registrant
                      and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association. (Incorporated by reference to
                      Exhibit Number 10.01 to Registrant's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as
                      amended, for the quarter ended June 30, 1997 (the "Second Quarter 1997
                      10-Q").)
           10.11      Office Building Lease dated as of May 30, 1997, between Retek Information
                      Systems, Inc. and Midwest Real Estate Holdings, Inc. (Incorporated by
                      reference to Exhibit Number 10.02 to the Second Quarter 1997 10-Q.)
           10.12      Office Building Lease dated as of June 17, 1996, between Registrant and
                      Williams Properties I, LLC & Williams Properties II, LLC. (Incorporated
                      by reference to Exhibit Number 10.12 to the 1996 10-K.)
           10.13      Employment Agreement dated as of September 10, 1996, by and between Aptex
                      Software Inc. and Michael A. Thiemann. (Incorporated by reference to
                      Exhibit Number 10.13 to the 1996 10-K.)(1)
           10.14      Investors' Rights Agreement dated as of September 10, 1996, by and among
                      Aptex Software Inc., HNC Software Inc. and Michael A. Thiemann.
                      (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 10.14 to the 1996 10-K.)(1)
</TABLE>
 
                                       59
<PAGE>   60
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
            EXHIBIT
            NUMBER                                   DESCRIPTION
           ---------  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
           <S>        <C>
            10.15     Restricted Stock Purchase Agreement dated as of September 10, 1996, by
                      and between Aptex Software Inc. and Michael Thiemann. (Incorporated by
                      reference to Exhibit Number 10.15 to the 1996 10-K.)(1)
            10.16     Aptex Software Inc.'s 1996 Equity Incentive Plan and related documents.
                      (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 10.16 to the 1996 10-K.)(1)
           *21.01     List of Registrant's subsidiaries.
           *23.01     Consent of Price Waterhouse LLP, Independent Accountants.
           *24.01     Power of Attorney (See "Signatures")
           *27.01     Financial Data Schedule
</TABLE>
 
---------------
 
 *  Filed herewith.
 
(1) Management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.
 
(2) Confidential treatment has been granted for certain portions of this
    document. Such portions have been omitted from the filing and have been
    filed separately with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
 
  (b) Reports on Form 8-K
 
     (i) A Report on Form 8-K was filed on October 24, 1997 to report, under
         Item 5, the earnings press release for the quarter ended September 30,
         1997.
 
     (ii) A Report on Form 8-K was filed on December 15, 1997 to report the
          acquisition of CompReview, Inc. (event dated November 28, 1997), under
          Items 2 and 7 of Form 8-K. Filed therewith were the financial
          statements of CompReview, Inc. as of September 30, 1997 and for the
          nine months ended September 30, 1996 and 1997 and as of December 31,
          1996 and 1995 and for the years ended December 31, 1996, 1995 and
          1994. Also filed therewith were pro forma consolidated combined
          condensed financial information at September 30, 1997 and for the nine
          months ended September 30, 1997 and 1996 and for the years ended
          December 31, 1996, 1995 and 1994 and historical and supplemental
          consolidated financial statements of the Company at December 31, 1996
          and 1995 and for the years ended December 31, 1996, 1995 and 1994.
 
                                       60
<PAGE>   61
 
                                   SIGNATURES
 
     Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on
its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
 
Date: February 16, 1998                   HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
                                          By:     /s/ RAYMOND V. THOMAS
                                            ------------------------------------
                                                     Raymond V. Thomas
                                                 Vice President, Finance &
                                                        Administration
                                                and Chief Financial Officer
 
     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this
report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the
registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                  SIGNATURE                                TITLE                      DATE
---------------------------------------------   ----------------------------   -------------------
<C>                                             <S>                            <C>
 
             /s/ ROBERT L. NORTH                President and Chief              February 16, 1998
---------------------------------------------   Executive Officer (Principal
               Robert L. North                  Executive Officer)
 
            /s/ RAYMOND V. THOMAS               Vice President, Finance &        February 16, 1998
---------------------------------------------   Administration and Chief
              Raymond V. Thomas                 Financial Officer (Principal
                                                Financial Officer and
                                                Principal Accounting
                                                Officer)
           /s/ EDWARD K. CHANDLER               Director                         February 16, 1998
---------------------------------------------
             Edward K. Chandler
 
             /s/ OLIVER D. CURME                Director                         February 16, 1998
---------------------------------------------
               Oliver D. Curme
 
                                                Director                         February   , 1998
---------------------------------------------
               Thomas F. Farb
 
         /s/ CHARLES H. GAYLORD JR.             Director                         February 16, 1998
---------------------------------------------
           Charles H. Gaylord, Jr.
</TABLE>
 
                                       61
<PAGE>   62
 
       REPORT OF INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTANTS ON FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULE
 
To the Board of Directors of HNC Software Inc.
 
Our audits of the consolidated financial statements referred to in our report
dated January 29, 1998, except as to Note 11 which is as of February 13, 1998,
appearing on page 36 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K of HNC Software Inc.
also included an audit of the Financial Statement Schedule listed in Item 14(a)
of this Form 10-K. In our opinion, this Financial Statement Schedule presents
fairly, in all material respects, the information set forth therein when read in
conjunction with the related consolidated financial statements.
 
PRICE WATERHOUSE LLP
 
San Diego, California
January 29, 1998
 
                                       62
<PAGE>   63
 
                               HNC SOFTWARE INC.
 
         SCHEDULE II -- VALUATION AND QUALIFYING ACCOUNTS AND RESERVES
                  FOR THE THREE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1997
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                   ALLOWANCE FOR        DEFERRED TAX
                                                                 DOUBTFUL ACCOUNTS     ASSET VALUATION
                                                                 AND SALES RETURNS        ALLOWANCE
                                                                 -----------------     ---------------
<S>                                                              <C>                   <C>
Balance at December 31, 1994..................................      $   514,000          $ 4,238,000
  Provision...................................................          529,000              702,000
  Write-off...................................................         (472,000)                  --
  Recovery....................................................          (18,000)          (2,223,000)
                                                                     ----------          -----------
Balance at December 31, 1995..................................          553,000            2,717,000
  Provision...................................................          279,000                   --
  Write-off...................................................          (94,000)                  --
  Recovery....................................................          (29,000)          (2,717,000)
                                                                     ----------          -----------
Balance at December 31, 1996..................................          709,000                   --
  Provision...................................................        3,171,000                   --
  Write-off...................................................         (505,000)                  --
  Recovery....................................................         (175,000)                  --
                                                                     ----------          -----------
Balance at December 31, 1997..................................      $ 3,200,000          $        --
                                                                     ==========          ===========
</TABLE>
 
                                       63
<PAGE>   64
 
                                 EXHIBIT INDEX
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
 EXHIBIT
 NUMBER                                       EXHIBIT TITLE
---------  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<C>        <S>
     2.01  Agreement and Plan of Reorganization dated as of July 19, 1996 by and among the
           Registrant, HNC Merger Corp. and Risk Data Corporation, as amended. (Incorporated
           by reference to Exhibit Number 2.01 to Registrant's Current Report on Form 8-K
           filed on September 12, 1996, as amended (the "Risk Data 8-K").)....................
     2.02  Agreement of Merger dated August 30, 1996 by and between HNC Merger Corp. and Risk
           Data Corporation. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 2.02 to the Risk
           Data 8-K.).........................................................................
     2.03  Exchange Agreement dated as of October 25, 1996 by and among the Registrant, Retek
           Distribution Corporation and the shareholders of Retek Distribution Corporation.
           (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 2.01 to Registrant's Current Report on
           Form 8-K filed on December 12, 1996 (the "Retek 8-K").)............................
     2.04  Form of Option Exchange Agreement between the Registrant and each person who held
           outstanding options to purchase shares of Retek Distribution Corporation on
           November 29, 1996. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 2.02 to the Retek
           8-K.)..............................................................................
     2.05  Agreement and Plan of Reorganization dated as of July 14, 1997 by and among the
           Registrant, FW1 Acquisition Corp., CompReview, Inc., Robert L. Kaaren and Mishel E.
           Munnayer, a.k.a. Michael Munayyer, Trustee of the Michael Munayyer Trust dated
           August 11, 1995. (Pursuant to Item 601(b)(2) of Regulation S-K, certain schedules
           have been omitted but will be furnished supplementally to the Commission upon
           request.) (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 2.01 to Registrant's Current
           Report on Form 8-K filed on December 15, 1997 (the "CompReview 8-K").).............
     2.06  Agreement of Merger dated as of November 28, 1997 by and between FW1 Acquisition
           Corp. and CompReview, Inc. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 2.02 to the
           CompReview 8-K.)...................................................................
  3(i).01  Registrant's Restated Certificate of Incorporation filed with the Secretary of
           State of Delaware on June 13, 1996. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number
           3(i).04 to Registrant's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June
           30, 1996 (the "Second Quarter 1996 10-Q").)........................................
 3(ii).02  Registrant's Bylaws, as amended. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number
           3(ii).05 to the Second Quarter 1996 10-Q.).........................................
     4.01  Form of Specimen Certificate for Registrant's Common Stock. (Incorporated by
           reference to Exhibit Number 4.01 to Registrant's Form S-1 Registration Statement,
           as amended (File No. 33-91932) (the "IPO S-1").)...................................
     4.02  Third Amended Registration Rights Agreement dated March 10, 1993, as amended.
           (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 4.02 to the IPO S-1.).................
     4.03  Second Waiver and Amendment to Third Amended Registration Rights Agreement.
           (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 4.03 to Registrant's Form S-1
           Registration Statement, as amended (File No. 33-99980) (the "Second S-1").)........
     4.04  Registration Rights Agreement dated as of August 30, 1996 by and among the
           Registrant and the former shareholders of Risk Data Corporation. (Incorporated by
           reference to Exhibit Number 4.01 to the Risk Data 8-K.)............................
     4.05  Registration Rights Agreement dated as of October 25, 1996 by and among the
           Registrant and the former shareholders of Retek Distribution Corporation.
           (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 4.01 to the Retek 8-K.)...............
     4.06  Amendment No. 1 to the Registration Rights Agreement dated as of February 24, 1997
           by and between the Registrant and the former shareholders of Retek Distribution
           Corporation. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 4.06 to Registrant's
           Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended, for the year ended December 31, 1996 (the
           "1996 10-K").).....................................................................
     4.07  Registration Rights Agreement dated as of November 28, 1997 by and among the
           Registrant and the former shareholders of CompReview, Inc. (Incorporated by
           reference to Exhibit Number 4.01 to the CompReview 8-K.)...........................
    10.01  Registrant's 1987 Stock Option Plan and related documents. (Incorporated by
           reference to Exhibit Number 10.01 to the IPO S-1.)(1)..............................
   *10.02  Registrant's 1995 Equity Incentive Plan and related documents, as amended.(1)......
    10.03  Registrant's 1995 Directors Stock Option Plan and related documents. (Incorporated
           by reference to Exhibit Number 10.03 to the IPO S-1.)(1)...........................
</TABLE>
<PAGE>   65
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
 EXHIBIT
 NUMBER                                       EXHIBIT TITLE
---------  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<C>        <S>
    10.04  Registrant's 1995 Employee Stock Purchase Plan and related documents. (Incorporated
           by reference to Exhibit Number 10.04 to the IPO S-1.)(1)...........................
   *10.05  Registrant's 1998 Stock Option Plan.(1)............................................
    10.06  Form of Indemnity Agreement entered into by Registrant with each of its directors
           and executive officers. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 10.08 to the
           IPO S-1.)(1).......................................................................
    10.07  Office Building Lease dated as of December 1, 1993, as amended effective February
           1, 1994 and June 1, 1994, between Registrant and PacCor Partners. (Incorporated by
           reference to Exhibit Number 10.09 to the IPO S-1.).................................
    10.08  Marketing Agreement dated as of June 24, 1993 between Registrant and First Data
           Resources, Inc. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 10.11 to the IPO
           S-1.)(2)...........................................................................
    10.09  License Agreement dated as of June 24, 1993, as amended October 18, 1993, September
           16, 1994 and by letter amendment, with Addendum dated January 21, 1994, as amended
           February 15, 1995, between Registrant and First Data Resources, Inc. (Incorporated
           by reference to Exhibit Number 10.12 to the IPO S-1.)(2)...........................
    10.10  Loan and Security Agreement dated as of July 11, 1997, between Registrant and Wells
           Fargo Bank, National Association. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number
           10.01 to Registrant's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as amended, for the quarter
           ended June 30, 1997 (the "Second Quarter 1997 10-Q"))..............................
    10.11  Office Building Lease dated as of May 30, 1997, between Retek Information Systems,
           Inc. and Midwest Real Estate Holdings, Inc. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit
           Number 10.02 to the Second Quarter 1997 10-Q.).....................................
    10.12  Office Building Lease dated as of June 17, 1996, between Registrant and Williams
           Properties I, LLC & Williams Properties II, LLC. (Incorporated by reference to
           Exhibit Number 10.12 to the 1996 10-K.)............................................
    10.13  Employment Agreement dated as of September 10, 1996, by and between Aptex Software
           Inc. and Michael A. Thiemann. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 10.13 to
           the 1996 10-K.)(1).................................................................
    10.14  Investors' Rights Agreement dated as of September 10, 1996, by and among Aptex
           Software Inc., HNC Software Inc. and Michael A. Thiemann. (Incorporated by
           reference to Exhibit Number 10.14 to the 1996 10-K.)(1)............................
    10.15  Restricted Stock Purchase Agreement dated as of September 10, 1996, by and between
           Aptex Software Inc. and Michael Thiemann. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit
           Number 10.15 to the 1996 10-K.)(1).................................................
    10.16  Aptex Software Inc.'s 1996 Equity Incentive Plan and related documents.
           (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit Number 10.16 to the 1996 10-K.)(1)...........
   *21.01  List of Registrant's subsidiaries..................................................
   *23.01  Consent of Price Waterhouse LLP, Independent Accountants*..........................
   *24.01  Power of Attorney (See "Signatures")...............................................
   *27.01  Financial Data Schedule............................................................
</TABLE>
 
---------------
 
 *  Filed herewith.
 
(1) Management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.
 
(2) Confidential treatment has been granted for certain portions of this
    document. Such portions have been omitted from the filing and have been
    filed separately with the Securities and Exchange Commission.