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Affirm Lost $40 Million More Than Originally Reported in Q1 2021
Payments firm says the accounting error isn’t material.
May 13, 2022
Affirm (AFRM), a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) company, understated stock based compensation (SBC) for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2021 by $25 million. The estimated fair value of RSUs granted during the three months ended December 31, 2020 did not reflect an increase in share value due to the company’s anticipated IPO. Affirm says this error was corrected for the year ending June 30, 2021.

The latest quarterly filing indicates the interim financial information for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2021 was corrected to reflect the total combined increase in stock based compensation expense of $40 million from amounts previously reported.

Rather than a loss of $277.7 million for the nine months ended March 31, 2021 as previously reported, Affirm’s reported loss is now $317.6 million. The previously reported loss per share of $2.48 is now $2.80.

Though the expense that was excluded is approximately 14.4% of the previously reported net loss, Affirm says it’s immaterial.

The new corrections come after a series of accounting mistakes related to Affirm’s acquisition of PayBright in 2021. Not only did Affirm understate accrued expenses and other liabilities by $5.6 million— the company blamed incorrect Monte Carlo simulation inputs— Affirm also understated additional paid in capital by $4.5 million.

Notably, goodwill accounted for 89% of the $288.7 million purchase price.
Related: SQ, KLAR, PYPL, KPLT
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