BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

NOTE 2. BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for financial information and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.

Emerging Growth Company

The Company is an emerging growth company as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statements with another public company that is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company that has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP 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 date of the financial statements Actual results could differ from those estimates and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period.

Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. Accordingly, the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.

Concentration of Credit Risk

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of cash accounts in a financial institution, which, at times, may exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation coverage limit of $250,000. Any loss incurred or a lack of access to such funds could have a significant adverse impact on the Company's financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company had no cash equivalents as of December 31, 2022 and 2021.

Investments Held in the Trust Account

The Company’s portfolio of investments held in the Trust Account is comprised of U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less, or investments in money market funds that invest in U.S. government securities and generally have a readily determinable fair value, or a combination thereof. When the Company’s investments held in the Trust Account are comprised of U.S. government securities, the investments are classified as trading securities. When the Company’s investments held in the Trust Account are comprised of money market funds, the investments are recognized at fair value. Trading securities and investments in money market funds are presented on the balance sheets at fair value at the end of each reporting period. Gains and losses resulting from the change in fair value of these securities are included in income from investments held in the Trust Account in the accompanying statements of operations. The estimated fair values of investments held in the Trust Account are determined using available market information.

Offering Costs

Offering costs consist of legal, accounting, underwriting fees and other costs incurred through the balance sheet date that were directly related to the Initial Public Offering. Offering costs are allocated to the separable financial instruments issued in the Initial Public Offering based on a relative fair value basis, compared to total proceeds received. Offering costs allocated to derivative warrant liabilities are expensed as incurred, presented as non-operating expenses in the statements of operations. Offering costs associated with the Class A ordinary shares issued are charged to shareholders’ equity upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under the FASB ASC Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures,” equals or approximates the carrying amounts represented in the balance sheets, except for derivative assets and liabilities (see Note 9).

Fair Value Measurements

Fair value is defined as the price that would be received for sale of an asset or paid for transfer of a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. GAAP establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). These tiers consist of:

●

Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical instruments in active markets;

●

Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable such as quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets or quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and

●

Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions, such as valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable.

In some circumstances, the inputs used to measure fair value might be categorized within different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In those instances, the fair value measurement is categorized in its entirety in the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement.

Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption

The Company accounts for its Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC Topic 480, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Class A ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A ordinary shares (including Class A ordinary shares that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class A ordinary shares are classified as shareholders’ equity. The Company’s Class A ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, as of Initial Public Offering, 14,375,000 Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders’ deficit section of the Company’s balance sheets.

The Company recognizes changes in redemption value immediately as they occur and adjusts the carrying value of the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. This method would view the end of the reporting period as if it were also the redemption date for the security. Effective with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company recognized the accretion from initial book value to redemption amount, which resulted in charges against additional paid-in capital (to the extent available) and accumulated deficit.

Derivatives

The Company does not use derivative instruments to hedge exposures to cash flow, market, or foreign currency risks. The Company evaluates all of its financial instruments, including issued share purchase warrants, to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives, pursuant to FASB ASC Topic 480, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity” (“ASC 480”), and FASB ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging” (“ASC 815”). The classification of derivative instruments, including whether such instruments should be recorded as liabilities or as equity, is re-assessed at the end of each reporting period.

The Public Warrants and the Private Placement Warrants are recognized as derivative liabilities in accordance with ASC 815. Accordingly, the Company recognizes the warrant instruments as liabilities at fair value and adjust the instruments to fair value at each reporting period. The liabilities are subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until exercised. The initial fair value of the Public Warrants issued in connection with the Initial Public Offering and Private Placement Warrants has been estimated using Monte Carlo simulation model. For periods subsequent to the detachment of the Public Warrants from the Units, the Public Warrants’ listed price in an active market was used as the fair value. The fair value of the Public Warrants as of December 31, 2022 and 2021 is based on observable listed prices for such warrants. The fair value of the Private Placement Warrants as of December 31, 2022 and 2021 is based upon the publicly traded value. The determination of the fair value of the warrant liability may be subject to change as more current information becomes available and accordingly the actual results could differ significantly. Derivative warrant liabilities are classified as non-current liabilities as their liquidation is not reasonably expected to require the use of current assets or require the creation of current liabilities.

The forward purchase agreement between the Company and the Sponsor, providing for the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor to purchase up to 5,000,000 Class A ordinary shares and 1,666,667 redeemable warrants (the “Forward Purchase Warrants”), for an aggregate purchase price of $50,000,000, in each case, for $10.00 per one Class A ordinary share and one-third of one Forward Purchase Warrant (collectively, the “Forward Purchase Securities”), in a private placement to close substantially concurrently with the closing of the Business Combination, is recognized as a derivative liability in accordance with ASC 815. Accordingly, the Company recognizes the instrument as an asset or liability at fair value and with changes in fair value recognized in the Company’s statements of operations. The fair value of the forward purchase agreement is determined as the estimated unit value less the net present value of the forward purchase agreement.

Net Income per Ordinary Share

The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share.” The Company has two classes of shares, which are referred to as Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Income and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of shares. This presentation assumes a business combination as the most likely outcome. Net income per ordinary share is calculated by dividing the net income by the weighted average shares of ordinary shares outstanding for the respective period.

The calculation of diluted net income does not consider the effect of the warrants underlying the Units sold in the Initial Public Offering (including the consummation of the Over-allotment) and the private placement warrants to purchase an aggregate of 10,133,334 Class A ordinary shares in the calculation of diluted income per share, because their exercise is contingent upon future events. As a result, diluted net income per share is the same as basic net income per share for the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from February 12, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021 (see dilution related to the effect of Class B ordinary shares below). Accretion associated with the redeemable Class A ordinary shares is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value.

The Company has considered the effect of Class B ordinary shares that were excluded from weighted average number as they were contingent on the exercise of over-allotment option by the underwriters. Since the contingency was satisfied, the Company included these shares in the weighted average number as of the beginning of the interim period to determine the dilutive impact of these shares.

The following table presents a reconciliation of the numerator and denominator used to compute basic and diluted net income per share of ordinary shares:


					For the Period From February 12, 2021
	For the Year Ended December 31, 2022				(Inception) Through December 31, 2021
	Class A		Class B		Class A		Class B
Basic and diluted net income per ordinary share:
Numerator:
Allocation of net income, basic	$	4,933,292	$	1,233,323	$	2,560,372	$	991,484
Allocation of net income, diluted		4,933,292		1,233,323		2,522,933	$	1,028,923
Denominator:
Basic weighted average ordinary shares outstanding		14,375,000		3,593,750		8,811,920		3,412,345
Diluted weighted average ordinary shares outstanding		14,375,000		3,593,750		8,811,920		3,593,750
Basic net income per ordinary share		0.34		0.34	$	0.29	$	0.29
Diluted net income per ordinary share	$	0.34	$	0.34	$	0.29	$	0.29

Income Taxes

FASB ASC Topic 740, “Income Taxes”, prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. The Company’s management determined that the Cayman Islands is the Company’s only major tax jurisdiction. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits and no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2022 and 2021. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position.

The Company is considered an exempted Cayman Islands company and is presently not subject to income taxes or income tax filing requirements in the Cayman Islands or the United States. As such, the Company’s tax provision was zero for the period presented. The Company’s management does not expect that the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits will materially change over the next twelve months.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In June 2022, the FASB issued ASU 2022-03, ASC Subtopic 820, “Fair Value Measurement of Equity Securities Subject to Contractual Sale Restrictions”. The ASU amends ASC 820 to clarify that a contractual sales restriction is not considered in measuring an equity security at fair value and to introduce new disclosure requirements for equity securities subject to contractual sale restrictions that are measured at fair value. The ASU applies to both holders and issuers of equity and equity-linked securities measured at fair value. The amendments in this ASU are effective for the Company in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023, and interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted for both interim and annual financial statements that have not yet been issued or made available for issuance. The Company is still evaluating the impact of this pronouncement on the financial statements.

The Company’s management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards updates, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the accompanying Company’s financial statements.

G Squared Ascend II, Inc. 10-K