consideration can be a fixed price or an hourly rate, and in either case, the use of labor hours expended as an input measure provides a faithful depiction of the transfer of services to the customers. Deferred revenues for these services represent amounts collected from, or invoiced to, customers in excess of revenues recognized. This results primarily from i) receipt of license fees that are deferred due to one or more of the revenue recognition criteria not being met, and ii) the billing of annual customer support agreements, annual managed service agreements, and billings for other professional services that have not yet been performed by the Company. The Company records amounts billed and received, but not earned, as deferred revenue. These amounts are recorded in Deferred revenue as a component of Other long-term liabilities in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets based on the period over which the Company expects to render services. Costs directly associated with revenue deferred, consisting primarily of labor and related expenses, are also deferred and recognized in proportion to the expected future revenue from the contract.
Variable consideration exists in contracts for certain client programs that provide for adjustments to monthly billings based upon whether the Company achieves, exceeds or fails certain performance criteria. Adjustments to monthly billings consist of contractual bonuses/penalties, holdbacks and other performance based conditions. Variable consideration is estimated at contract inception at its most likely value and updated at the end of each reporting period as additional performance data becomes available. Revenue related to such variable consideration is recognized only to the extent that a significant reversal of any incremental revenue is not considered probable.
Contract modifications are routine in the performance of the customer contracts. Contracts are often modified to account for customer mandated changes in the contract specifications or requirements, including service level changes. In most instances, contract modifications relate to goods or services that are incremental and distinctly identifiable, and, therefore, are accounted for prospectively.
Direct and incremental costs to obtain or fulfill a contract are capitalized, and the capitalized costs are amortized over the corresponding period of benefit, determined on a contract by contract basis. The Company recognizes an asset for the incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer if it expects to recover those costs. The incremental costs of obtaining a contract are those costs that the Company incurs to obtain a customer contract that it would not have incurred if the contract had not been obtained. Contract acquisition costs consist primarily of payment of commissions to sales personnel and are incurred when customer contracts are signed. The deferred sales commission amounts are amortized based on the expected period of economic benefit and are classified as current or non-current based on the timing of when they are expected to be recognized as an expense. Costs to obtain a contract that would have been incurred regardless of whether the contract was obtained are recognized as an expense when incurred, unless those costs are explicitly chargeable to the customer regardless of whether the contract is obtained. Sales commissions are paid for obtaining new clients only and are not paid for contract renewals or contract modifications. Capitalized costs of obtaining contracts are periodically reviewed for impairment.
In certain cases, the Company negotiates an upfront payment to a customer in conjunction with the execution of a contract. Such upfront payments are critical to acquisition of new business and are often used as an incentive to negotiate favorable rates from the clients and are accounted for as upfront discounts for future services. Such payments are either made in cash at the time of execution of a contract or are netted against the Company's service invoices. Payments to customers are capitalized as contract acquisition costs and are amortized in proportion to the expected future revenue from the contract, which in most cases results in straight-line amortization over the life of the contract. Such payments are considered a reduction of the selling prices of the Company's products or services, and therefore, are accounted for as a reduction of revenue when amortized. Such capitalized contract acquisition costs are periodically reviewed for impairment taking into consideration ongoing future cash flows expected from the contract and estimated remaining useful life of the contract.