comScore, Inc. (OTC: SCOR) announced today that it has filed its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, which contains audited Consolidated Financial Statements for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, and includes unaudited restated results for 2014 and 2013. In addition, the Company filed its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended September 30, June 30 and March 31, 2017 and is now current on its periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and has begun the process to relist its common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Bill Livek, comScore's Executive Vice Chairman and President said, "The completion of our restatement process and the filing of current financials is an important step for our company as it allows us to move forward and focus our full attention on delivering on the vast potential of our business. On behalf of the Board, I'd like to thank our investors, customers and employees for their patience during this process, and assure them that, as a result of this process, we are significantly improving our accounting policies and procedures as we also constantly reinforce ethical compliance throughout our organization. With these matters behind us, we are confident that our strong assets, market-leading technologies and excellent team will enable us to deliver improved services to our customers, stay ahead of our competitors and deliver long-term value to our stockholders."
Livek continued, "Over the past several months our Board and management have taken significant steps to reset and refocus our company so we can deliver on our customer-centric promise of making advertising and audiences more valuable for our clients across every screen, platform and device. We have focused on driving growth in our core business lines through product enhancements, implementing cross-platform management – which is a massive opportunity – and relentlessly driving toward improved profitability through efficiency in all facets of our business. While there is much to be done, we are excited about the business enhancements and progress we've made and are encouraged by our path forward -- one that will allow us to deliver industry-leading solutions that our clients need today and into the future."
The Company expects to hold a call to discuss 2018 first quarter results in early May and hold its 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders later in the second quarter of this year.
Financial Restatement and Remediation Initiatives
As previously disclosed, in February 2016, the Audit Committee of the comScore Board of Directors commenced an internal investigation, with the assistance of outside advisors, into matters related to the Company's revenue recognition practices, disclosures, internal controls, corporate culture and certain employment practices. As a result of the issues identified in the investigation and management's subsequent review, the Company concluded that it could no longer support the prior accounting for non-monetary contracts recorded by the Company during 2013, 2014 and 2015 and that adjustments to the Company's accounting for certain non-monetary and monetary transactions, certain business and asset acquisitions, deferred tax assets and other accounting matters were required. The Company has also taken actions to strengthen its compliance controls and reinforce a strong corporate culture of ethics and client service.
The Company has now completed its review of substantially all of its accounting policies, significant accounting transactions, related party transactions, and other financial, internal control and disclosure matters. The Form 10-K filed Friday, March 23, 2018 contains the adjustment or restatement of certain previously filed or furnished consolidated financial statements for 2015, 2014 and 2013. It also contains audited Consolidated Financial Statements for 2017, 2016 and 2015 (see Appendix A).
As described in the Form 10-K, the Company's review identified various material weaknesses in internal control, including entity level controls and in certain accounting practices. Certain material weaknesses have been remediated as of December 31, 2017 and others are being remediated through additional work expected to be completed in 2018.
The Company's remediation initiatives include significant changes in how it approaches compliance. When fully implemented and operational, the Company believes these measures will fully remediate the identified deficiencies and strengthen its internal control over financial reporting. These remediation initiatives, as well as the Company's remaining material weaknesses requiring remediation as of December 31, 2017, are detailed in the Form 10-K filed Friday, March 23, 2018.
