That presumption may be overcome by evidence that the vendor has a standard business practice of using long-term or installment contracts and a history of successfully collecting under the original payment terms without making concessions. For example, one year of payments under three-year payment arrangements would not provide sufficient history because all of the payments under the contracts would not yet have been paid as due. In addition to a history of collecting payments as due without making concessions, paragraph 14 of SOP 97-2 requires that the software vendor must intend not to provide refunds or concessions that are beyond the provisions of the arrangement. In evaluating a vendor s history, the historical arrangements should be comparable to the current arrangement relative to terms and circumstances to conclude that the history is relevant. New arrangements with substantially the same types and class of customer is an indicator that the history is relevant.
Significant differences call into question the relevance of the history.
Stage of Product Life Cycle. Product maturity and overall stage within its product life cycle should be considered when assessing the relevance of history. The inclusion of new products in a license arrangement should not automatically preclude the vendor from concluding that the software products are comparable. For example, if substantially all of the products under one license arrangement are mature products, the inclusion of a small number of newly developed products in a subsequent arrangement may not change the overall risk of concession and economic substance of the subsequent transaction. Elements Included in the Arrangement.