Significant Accounting Policies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Significant Accounting Policies [Text Block]

3. Significant Accounting Policies

Cash Equivalents —The Company considers all highly liquid debt securities purchased with an original maturity of three months or less to be cash equivalents. The Company’s cash and cash equivalents are maintained with major financial institutions within the United States and at times the balances with these institutions exceed the amount of federal insurance coverage on such deposits.

Property and Equipment —Property and equipment is stated at cost. Depreciation is computed using straight-line and an accelerated method over estimated useful lives of 3 to 10 years. Expenditures for maintenance and repairs, which do not materially extend the useful lives of property and equipment, are charged to operations as incurred. When property or equipment is retired or otherwise disposed of, the property accounts are relieved of costs and accumulated depreciation and any resulting gain or loss is recognized.

Cost-Basis Method Valuation —The Company’s non-marketable equity investment is recorded using the cost-basis method of accounting, and is classified within other long-term assets on the accompanying balance sheet as permitted by FASB ASC 325, “Cost Method Investments”, as the Company owns less than 20% of the voting securities and does not have the ability to exercise significant influence over operating and financial policies of the entity. See Note 5 Investment in Non-consolidated Affiliate for more information.

Revenue Recognition —The Company recognizes revenue in accordance with the FASB ASC 605 Revenue Recognition and Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”)’s Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 104, “Revenue Recognition” (“SAB 104”) which require that four basic criteria must be met before revenue can be recognized: (1) persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists; (2) delivery has occurred or services rendered; (3) the seller’s price to the buyer is fixed and determinable; and (4) collectability is reasonably assured. Since inception of the development stage on July 1, 2005, the Company has earned minimal amounts of product revenue.

Since inception of the development stage on July 1, 2005, the principal source of revenue for the Company has been from government funded research and development contracts and grants. Grant revenue is recognized when the Company fulfills obligations as set forth under the grant. Terms of the grant reflected in the accompanying financial statements require the Company to maintain specified employment criteria over a five year period. If the Company fails to meet the specified criteria, it must repay the unearned portion of the grant. As a result, the Company reported a liability of $520,000 at September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively.

Research and development contract revenue is recognized as the Company meets milestones as set forth under the contract. The Company recognized no revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Research and Development Costs —Research and development costs are expensed as incurred. Funds obtained from government agencies that represent a cost reimbursement activity are reflected as reductions of Research and Development expenses.

Use of Estimates —The preparation of the Company’s financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles requires the Company’s management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in these financial statements and accompanying notes. Significant estimates include the useful lives of the Company’s property and equipment, the life and realization of the Company’s capitalized costs associated with its patents and the Company’s valuation allowance associated with its deferred tax asset, share-based compensation and impairment of investment in non-consolidated affiliate. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Share-Based Compensation —The Company follows the provisions of FASB ASC 718 Compensation—Stock Compensation, which requires the measurement and recognition of compensation expense for all share-based payment awards to employees and directors based on estimated fair values. Additionally, the Company follows the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 107 “Share-Based Payment” (“SAB 107 ”), as amended by Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 110 (“SAB 110 ”), which provides supplemental application guidance based on the views of the SEC. The Company estimates the expected term, which represents the period of time from the grant date that the Company expects its stock options to remain outstanding, using the simplified method as permitted by SAB 107 and SAB 110. Under this method, the expected term is estimated as the mid-point between the time the options vest and their contractual terms. The Company continues to apply the simplified method because it does not have sufficient historical exercise data to provide a reasonable basis upon which to estimate the expected terms due to the limited period of time its equity shares have been publicly traded and the limited number of its options which have so far vested and become eligible for exercise.

Share-based compensation expense for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011were as follows:

		For the Three Months				For the Nine Months
		Ended September 30,				Ended September 30,
		2012		2011		2012		2011
Share-based compensation:
Selling, general and administrative	$	228,359	$	56,360	$	303,979	$	822,467
Research and development		—		23,332		63,459		367,593
Total share-based compensation	$	228,359	$	79,692	$	367,438	$	1,190,060

The Company granted restricted stock awards to various directors and employees as part of its incentive plan. These restricted stock awards vest immediately or equally over 12 months from the grant date.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2012, the Company granted 878,571 restricted stock awards of which 171,431 shares have vested as of September 30, 2012. There were no restricted stock units or options to purchase common stock granted, and no restricted stock awards, restricted stock units or options to purchase common stock were forfeited during the nine months ended September 30, 2012.

Reclassifications —Certain reclassifications have been made to the 2011 financial statements to conform to the 2012 presentation. Such reclassifications had no impact on net loss.

Impact of Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements—

In April 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2011-04, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRS . This ASU amends current fair value measurement and disclosure guidance to include increased transparency around valuation input and investment categorization. ASU 2011-04 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2011, with early adoption not permitted. The adoption of ASU 2011-04 in the first quarter of 2012 did not have an impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

In September 2011, the FASB issued ASU 2011-05, Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Presentation of Comprehensive Income . ASU 2011-05 allows an entity to present components of net income and other comprehensive income in one continuous statement, referred to as the statement of comprehensive income, or in two separate, but consecutive statements. ASU 2011-05 eliminates the option to present the components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of changes in stockholders’ equity. While the new guidance changes the presentation of comprehensive income, there are no changes to the components that are recognized in net income or other comprehensive income under current accounting guidance. ASU 2011-05 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2011 and must be applied retrospectively. The Company did not have any other comprehensive income during the three months ended March 31, 2012 and the adoption of ASU 2011-05 in the first quarter of 2012 did not have an impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

In December 2011, the FASB issued ASU 2011-11, Balance Sheet (Topic 210), Disclosures about Offsetting Assets and Liabilities , which requires companies to disclose information about financial instruments that have been offset and related arrangements to enable users of their financial statements to understand the effect of those arrangements on their financial position. Companies will be required to provide both net (offset amounts) and gross information in the notes to the financial statements for relevant assets and liabilities that are offset. ASU 2011-11 is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning on or after January 1, 2013. The Company is evaluating the effect the adoption of ASU 2011-11 in the first quarter of 2013 may have on its financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for all significant accounting policies of the reporting entity.

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DAYSTAR TECHNOLOGIES INC 10-Q