Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Summary of significant accounting policies

v3.22.2.2
Summary of significant accounting policies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2022
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Summary of significant accounting policies

2. Summary of significant accounting policies

Basis of presentation

The unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for interim financial reporting and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. These consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2021 included within the Company’s final prospectus filed with the SEC on May 16, 2022, pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act. The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and all majority-owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. In our opinion, all adjustments considered necessary for a fair statement have been included in the accompanying unaudited financial statements. Operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year ending December 31, 2022. The December 31, 2021, balance sheet information has been derived from the 2021 audited financial statements of ProFrac Predecessor.

Use of estimates

The preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect (1) the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and (2) the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. We base these estimates on historical results and various other assumptions believed to be reasonable, all of which form the basis for making estimates concerning the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily available from other sources. It is at least reasonably possible these estimates could be revised in the near term, and these revisions could be material.

Leases

The Company determines if an arrangement is a lease at inception of the arrangement. To the extent that we determine an arrangement represents a lease, we classify that lease as an operating lease or a finance lease. We capitalize operating and finance leases on our consolidated balance sheets through a right-of-use (“ROU”) asset and a corresponding lease liability. ROU assets represent our right to use an underlying asset for the lease term, and lease liabilities represent our obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. See Note 12 – Leases for additional information.

Operating and finance lease ROU assets and liabilities are recognized at the commencement date of the lease based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. Lease expense for operating leases is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

Revenue recognition

The Company’s products and services are sold based upon contracts with customers. The Company recognizes revenue as it satisfies performance obligations by transferring control over a service or product to a customer. Payment terms are specified in each customer agreement and are typically a specific number of days following satisfaction of the performance obligation. The following are descriptions of the principal activities of each reportable segment from which the Company generates its revenue.

Stimulation services.    We generate revenue through the provision of hydraulic fracturing services, which involves the injection of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure into formations to optimize hydrocarbon flow paths during the completion phase of wellbores. Our contracts with customers are short term in nature, typically less than four weeks, and have a single performance obligation, which is the contracted total stages, satisfied over time. Once a stage has been completed, a field ticket is created which includes charges for services performed and any inputs consumed during the service. The signing of the field ticket by a customer representative represents their acceptance of the service and agreement to the amounts to which the Company has the right to invoice and recognize as revenue. We believe that recognizing revenue based on actual stages completed, upon receipt of a signed field ticket, appropriately depicts how our hydraulic fracturing services are transferred to our customers over time.

Manufacturing.    We generate revenue through sales of equipment used to perform oilfield services. The performance obligation is satisfied and revenues are recognized at the point-in-time that control of goods are transferred to the customer, generally upon shipment from our manufacturing facility. Payment terms are specified in each customer agreement and are typically a specific number of days following satisfaction of the performance obligation.

Proppant production.    We generate revenue through the sale of frac sand to oilfield service providers and E&P companies. The performance obligation is satisfied and revenue is recognized at the point-in-time that control of the product is transferred to the customer, generally upon shipment from our facility. We charge our customers on a per-ton basis at current market prices. Payment terms are specified in each customer agreement and are typically a specific number of days following satisfaction of the performance obligation.

Taxes collected from customers and remitted to governmental authorities are accounted for on a net basis and are therefore excluded from revenues in the consolidated statements of operations.

Business Combinations

Business combinations are accounted for under the acquisition method of accounting. Under this method, the assets acquired and liabilities assumed are recognized at their respective fair values as of the date of acquisition. The excess, if any, of the acquisition price over the fair values of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed is recorded as goodwill. For significant acquisitions, we utilize third-party appraisal firms to assist us in determining the fair values for certain assets acquired and liabilities assumed. The measurement of these fair values requires us to make significant estimates and assumptions which are inherently uncertain.

Adjustments to the fair values of assets acquired and liabilities assumed are made until we obtain all relevant information regarding the facts and circumstances that existed as of the acquisition date (the “measurement period”), not to exceed one year from the date of the acquisition. We recognize measurement-period adjustments in the period in which we determine the amounts, including the effect on earnings of any amounts we would have recorded in previous periods if the accounting had been completed at the acquisition date.

See Note 14 — Acquisitions and investments for information on acquisitions completed during the historical period.

Goodwill

We have acquired goodwill related to business acquisitions. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of net assets acquired. We review our goodwill on an annual basis, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value of goodwill may exceed its fair value. If the carrying value of goodwill exceeds its fair value, we recognize an impairment loss for this difference.

Variable Interest Entities

We evaluate our ownership, contractual and other interest in entities to determine if they are variable interest entities (“VIE”). We evaluate whether we have a variable interest in those entities and the nature and extent of those interests. Based on our evaluation, if we determine we are the primary beneficiary of a VIE, we consolidate the entity in our financial statements.

Fair value measurements

Fair value is defined as the price that would be received from selling an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at a measurement date. We apply the following fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value into three levels and bases of categorization within the hierarchy upon the lowest level input that is available and significant to the fair value measurement:

Level 1: The use of quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2: Other than quoted prices included in Level 1, inputs that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly, for substantially the full term of the asset or liability. At September 30, 2022, we had no Level 2 measurements.

Level 3: The use of significant unobservable inputs that typically require the use of management’s estimates of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing. See Note 16 — Fair Value of Financial Interests for more information on our investments using Level 3 measurements.

Our current assets and liabilities contain financial instruments, the most significant of which are trade accounts receivable and payable. We believe the carrying value of our current assets and liabilities approximate fair value. Our fair value assessment incorporates a variety of considerations, including: (i) the short-term duration of the instruments and (ii) our historical incurrence of and expectations of future bad debt expense. The book value of our floating rate debt approximates fair value because of its floating rate structure.

Income taxes

Before May 12, 2022, the ProFrac Predecessor entities were organized as limited liability companies or a limited partnership and were treated as either a disregarded entity or a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, whereby the ordinary business income or loss and certain deductions were passed-through and reported on the members’ income tax returns. As such, the Company was not required to account for U.S. federal income taxes in the consolidated financial statements. Certain state income-based taxes are imposed on the Company which are reflected as income tax expense or benefit in historical periods.

In connection with the IPO in May 2022, the Company reorganized and ProFrac LLC became partially owned by ProFrac Corp., a U.S. Internal Revenue Code Subchapter C corporation (“C-Corporation”). ProFrac Corp. is a taxable entity and is required to account for income taxes under the asset and liability method for periods subsequent to May 12, 2022.

Under the asset and liability method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax basis. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled pursuant to the provisions of Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 740, Income Taxes. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rate is recognized in earnings in the period that includes the enactment date. Valuation allowances are established when necessary to reduce deferred tax assets to the amounts more-likely-than-not to be realized.

Recently adopted accounting standards

On January 1, 2022, we adopted the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) for “Leases,” which amended existing guidance to require lessees to recognize liabilities and ROU assets on the balance sheet for the rights and obligations created by long-term leases and to disclose additional quantitative and qualitative information about leasing arrangements. We adopted this guidance using the current period adjustment approach on January 1, 2022 using the transition method that allows a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption.

We have completed our process to implement this standard, and we have designed processes and internal controls necessary for adoption of this standard. We have made policy elections to (i) not capitalize short-term leases for all asset classes, (ii) not separate non-lease components from lease components for all of our existing asset classes, (iii) apply the package of practical expedients that allows us to not reassess: whether any expired or existing contracts contain leases, lease classification for any expired or existing leases and initial direct costs for existing leases and (iv) apply the practical expedient to apply hindsight in estimating lease term and impairment.   

The impact of applying this standard is not expected to significantly impact our results of operations or cash flows. As of January 1, 2022, we recognized ROU assets and liabilities of approximately $35.8 million from operating leases on our consolidated balance sheet. See Note 12 - Leases for additional disclosures related to our adoption this accounting standards update.

New accounting standards to be adopted

We have not yet implemented FASB ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses. The ASU introduces a new accounting model, the Current Expected Credit Losses model (“CECL”), which requires recognition of credit losses and additional disclosures related to credit risk. The CECL model utilizes a lifetime expected credit loss measurement objective for the recognition of credit losses for loans and other receivables at the time the financial asset is originated or acquired. The expected credit losses are adjusted each period for changes in expected lifetime credit losses. This model replaces the multiple existing impairment models previously used under GAAP, which generally require that a loss be incurred before it is recognized. The new standard also applies to financial assets arising from revenue transactions such as contract assets and accounts receivable.

Implementation is currently required for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022. The Company does not believe implementation will have a material impact on its financial statements.

We have not yet implemented FASB ASU No. 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740) – Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes, which removes specific exceptions to the general principles in Topic 740 under GAAP. The new guidance also improves the application of income tax-related guidance and simplifies GAAP for franchise taxes that are partially based on income, transactions with a government that result in a step up in the tax basis of goodwill, separate financial statements of legal entities that are not subject to tax, and enacted changes in tax laws in interim periods. The new guidance will be effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, and interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022; however, early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the new guidance on its consolidated financial statements.