Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Principles of Consolidation

The Consolidated Financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, (i) CloudFirst Technologies Corporation, a Delaware corporation (“CloudFirst”), (ii) Data Storage FL, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, (iii) Flagship Solutions, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, (iv) Information Technology Acquisition Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, and (v) its majority-owned subsidiary, Nexxis Inc., a Nevada corporation. All inter-company transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with US 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 and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

Estimated Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The fair value measurement disclosures are grouped into three levels based on valuation factors:

● Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical investments

● Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar investments and market corroborated inputs)

● Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including the Company’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

The Company’s Level 1 assets/liabilities include cash, accounts receivable, marketable securities, accounts payable, prepaid, and other current assets. Management believes the estimated fair value of these accounts at September 30, 2023 approximate their carrying value as reflected in the balance sheets due to the short-term nature of these instruments.

The Company’s Level 2 assets/liabilities include certain of the Company’s operating lease right-of-use assets. Their carrying value approximates their fair values based upon a comparison of the interest rate and terms of such debt given the level of risk to the rates and terms of similar debt currently available to the Company in the marketplace.

The Company’s Level 3 assets/liabilities include goodwill and intangible assets. Inputs to determine fair value are generally unobservable and typically reflect management’s estimates of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. The fair values are therefore determined using model-based techniques, including discounted cash flow models. Unobservable inputs used in the models are significant to the fair values of the assets and liabilities.

The Company’s marketable equity securities are publicly traded stocks measured at fair value using quoted prices for identical assets in active markets and classified as Level 1 within the fair value hierarchy. Marketable equity securities as of September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022 are $10,531,921 and $9,010,968 respectively.

Recently adopted accounting standards:

In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. The FASB subsequently issued amendments to ASU 2016-13, which have the same effective date and transition date of January 1, 2023. These standards replace the existing incurred loss impairment model with an expected credit loss model and requires a financial asset measure at amortized cost to be presented at the net amount expected to be collected. The Company determined that this change does not have a material impact to the financial statements or financial statement disclosures.

Assets and Liabilities Measured at Fair Value on a Nonrecurring Basis

Certain assets and liabilities are measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis. Assets and liabilities recognized or disclosed at fair value on the consolidated financial statements on a nonrecurring basis include items such as property, plant and equipment, operating lease right-of-use assets, goodwill, and other intangible assets. These assets are measured using Level 3 inputs, if determined to be impaired.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with an original maturity or remaining maturity at the time of purchase, of three months or less to be cash equivalents.

Investments

The Company invests in equity securities and reports them in accordance with ASU 2016-01. Equity securities are reported at fair value with unrealized gains and losses, net of the related tax effect, reflected as a gain or loss on the statement of operations. Dividends and interest are recognized when earned.

The following table sets forth a summary of the changes in equity investments, at cost that are measured at fair value on a non-recurring basis:

Concentration of Credit Risk and Other Risks and Uncertainties

Financial instruments and assets subjecting the Company to concentration of credit risk consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, and trade accounts receivable. The Company’s cash and cash equivalents are maintained at major U.S. financial institutions. Deposits in these institutions may exceed the amount of insurance provided on such deposits.

The Company’s customers are primarily concentrated in the United States.

As of September 30, 2023, the Company had three customers with an accounts receivable balance representing 16%, 14%, and 10% of total accounts receivable, respectively. As of December 31, 2022, the Company had two customers with an accounts receivable balance representing 23% and 14% of total accounts receivable, respectively.

For the three months ended September 30, 2023, the Company had one customer that accounted for 13% of revenue. For the three months ended September 30, 2022, the Company had one customer that accounted for 14% of revenue. For the nine months ended September 30, 2023, the Company had two customers that accounted for 15% and 11% of revenue, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company had two customers that accounted for 20% and 14% of revenue, respectively.

Accounts Receivable/Allowance for Credit Losses

The Company sells its services to customers on an open credit basis. Accounts receivables are uncollateralized, non-interest-bearing customer obligations. Accounts receivables are typically due within 30 days. The allowance for credit losses reflects the estimated accounts receivable that will not be collected due to credit losses. Provisions for estimated uncollectible accounts receivable are made for individual accounts based upon specific facts and circumstances including criteria such as their age, amount, and customer standing. Provisions are also made for other accounts receivable not specifically reviewed based upon historical experience.

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are recorded at cost and depreciated over their estimated useful lives or the term of the lease using the straight-line method for financial statement purposes. Estimated useful lives in years for depreciation are five to seven years for property and equipment. Additions, betterments, and replacements are capitalized, while expenditures for repairs and maintenance are charged to operations when incurred. As units of property are sold or retired, the related cost and accumulated depreciation are removed from the accounts, and any resulting gain or loss is recognized in income.

Goodwill and Other Intangibles

The Company tests goodwill and other intangible assets for impairment on at least an annual basis. Impairment exists if the carrying value of a reporting unit exceeds its estimated fair value. To determine the fair value of goodwill and intangible assets, the Company uses many assumptions and estimates using a market participant approach that directly impact the results of the testing. In making these assumptions and estimates, the Company uses industry accepted valuation models and set criteria that are reviewed and approved by various levels of management.

The Company tests goodwill for impairment on an annual basis on December 31, or more frequently if events occur or circumstances change indicating that the fair value of the goodwill may be below its carrying amount. The Company has four reporting units. The Company uses an income-based approach to determine the fair value of the reporting units. This approach uses a discounted cash flow methodology and the ability of the Company’s reporting units to generate cash flows as measures of fair value of its reporting units.

Revenue Recognition

Nature of goods and services

The following is a description of the products and services from which the Company generates revenue, as well as the nature, timing of satisfaction of performance obligations, and significant payment terms for each:

Cloud Infrastructure provides clients the ability to migrate their on-premises computing and digital storage to DSC’s enterprise-level technical compute and digital storage assets located in Tier 3 data centers. Data Storage Corporation owns the assets and provides a turnkey solution whereby achieving reliable and cost-effective, multi-tenant IBM Power compute, x86/intel, flash digital storage, while providing disaster recovery and cyber security while eliminating client capital expenditures. The client pays a monthly fee and can increase capacity as required.

Clients can subscribe to an array of disaster recovery solutions. Product offerings provided directly from DSC are High Availability, Data Vaulting and retention solutions, including standby servers which allows clients to centralize and streamline their mission-critical digital information and technical environment while ensuring business continuity if they experience a cyber-attack or natural disaster Client’s data is vaulted, at two data centers with the maintenance of retention schedules for corporate governances and regulations all to meet their back to work objective in a disaster.

These services are performed at the inception and continue through the term of the agreement. The Company provides professional assistance to its clients during the implementation processes. On-boarding and set-up services ensure that the solution or software is installed properly and function as designed to provide clients with the best solutions. In addition, clients that are managed service clients have a requirement for DSC to offer time and material billing supplementing the client’s staff.

The Company also derives both one-time and subscription-based revenue, from providing support, management and renewal of software, hardware, third party maintenance contracts and third-party cloud services to clients. The managed services include help desk, remote access, operating system and software patch management, annual recovery tests and manufacturer support for equipment and on-gong monitoring of client system performance.

The Company provides equipment and software and actively participates in collaboration with IBM and other equipment manufacturers and software companies to provide innovative business solutions to clients.

The Company provides VoIP, Internet access and data transport services to ensure businesses are fully connected to the internet from any location, remote and on premise. The Company provides Hosted VoIP solutions with equipment options for IP phones and internet speeds of up to 10Gb delivered over fiber optics.

Disaggregation of revenue

In the following table, revenue is disaggregated by major product line, geography, and timing of revenue recognition.

Contract receivables are recorded at the invoiced amount and are uncollateralized, non-interest-bearing client obligations. Provisions for estimated uncollectible accounts receivable are made for individual accounts based upon specific facts and circumstances including criteria such as their age, amount, and client standing.

Sales are generally recorded in the month the service is provided. For clients who are billed on an annual basis, deferred revenue is recorded and amortized over the life of the contract.

Transaction price allocated to the remaining performance obligations

The Company has the following performance obligations:

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Solutions

Subscription services allow clients to access data or receive services for a predetermined period of time. As the client obtains access at a point in time and continues to have access for the remainder of the subscription period, the client is considered to simultaneously receive and consume the benefits provided by the entity’s performance as the entity performs. Accordingly, the related performance obligation is considered to be satisfied ratably over the contract term. As the performance obligation is satisfied evenly across the term of the contract, revenue is recognized on a straight-line basis over the contract term.

Initial Set-Up Fees

The Company accounts for set-up fees as a separate performance obligation. Set-up services are performed one-time and accordingly the revenue is recognized at the point in time, and is non-refundable, and the Company is entitled to the payment.

Equipment Sales

The obligation for the equipment sales is such that the control of the product transfer is at a point in time (i.e., when the goods have been shipped or delivered to the client’s location, depending on shipping terms). Noting that the satisfaction of the performance obligation, in this sense, does not occur over time, the performance obligation is considered to be satisfied at a point in time when the obligation to the client has been fulfilled (i.e., when the goods have left the shipping facility or delivered to the client, depending on shipping terms).

License - granting SSL certificates and other licenses

Performance obligations as it relates to licensing means that the control of the product transfers, either at a point in time or over time, depending on the nature of the license. The revenue standard identifies two types of licenses of IP: (i) a right to access IP; and (ii) a right to use IP. To assist in determining whether a license provides a right to use or a right to access IP, ASC 606 defines two categories of IP: Functional and Symbolic. The Company’s license arrangements typically do not require the Company to make its proprietary content available to the client either through a download or through a direct connection. Throughout the life of the contract the Company does not continue to provide updates or upgrades to the license granted. Based on the guidance, the Company considers its license offerings to be akin to functional IP and recognizes revenue at the point in time the license is granted and/or renewed for a new period.

Payment Terms

The typical terms of subscription contracts range from 12 to 36 months, with auto-renew options extending the contract for an additional term. The Company invoices clients one month in advance for its services, in addition to any contractual data overages or for additional services. Equipment, software, and managed services are typically invoiced on net 30-day terms and are non-subscription based.

Warranties

The Company offers guaranteed service levels and service guarantees on some of its contracts. These warranties are not sold separately and are accounted as “assurance warranties”.

Significant Judgement

In the instance where contracts have multiple performance obligations the Company uses judgment to establish a stand-alone price for each performance obligation. The price for each performance obligation is determined by reviewing market data for similar services as well as the Company’s historical pricing of each individual service. The sum of each performance obligation is calculated to determine the aggregate price for the individual services. The proportion of each individual service to the aggregate price is determined. The ratio is applied to the total contract price in order to allocate the transaction price to each performance obligation.

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

The Company reviews its long-lived assets for impairment whenever events and circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset might not be recoverable. An impairment loss, measured as the amount by which the carrying value exceeds the fair value is recognized if the carrying amount exceeds estimated un-discounted future cash flows.

Advertising Costs

The Company expenses the costs associated with advertising as they are incurred. The Company incurred $165,403 and $263,485 for advertising costs for the three months ended September 30, 2023, and 2022, respectively. The Company incurred $581,423 and $669,278 for advertising costs for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Stock-Based Compensation

The Company follows the requirements of FASB ASC 718-10-10, Share-Based Payments with regards to stock-based compensation issued to employees and non-employees. The Company has agreements and arrangements that call for stock to be awarded to the employees and consultants at various times as compensation and periodic bonuses. The expense for this stock-based compensation is equal to the fair value of the stock price on the day the stock was awarded multiplied by the number of shares awarded. The Company has a relatively low forfeiture rate of stock-based compensation and forfeitures are recognized as they occur.

The valuation methodology used to determine the fair value of the options issued during the period is the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The Black-Scholes model requires the use of a number of assumptions including the volatility of the stock price, the average risk-free interest rate, and the weighted average expected life of the options. Risk-free interest rates are calculated based on continuously compounded risk-free rates for the appropriate term. The dividend yield is assumed to be zero as the Company has never paid or declared any cash dividends on its Common Stock and does not intend to pay dividends on its Common Stock in the foreseeable future. The expected forfeiture rate is estimated based on management’s best assessment.

Estimated volatility is a measure of the amount by which DSC’s stock price is expected to fluctuate each year during the expected life of the award. The Company’s calculation of estimated volatility is based on historical stock prices over a period equal to the expected life of the awards.

Net Income (Loss) Per Common Share

Basic income per share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. Diluted earnings per share is computed by dividing net income adjusted for income or loss that would result from the assumed conversion of potential common shares from contracts that may be settled in stock or cash by the weighted average number of shares of common stock, common stock equivalents and potentially dilutive securities outstanding during each period.

The following table sets forth the information needed to compute basic and diluted earnings per share for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, and 2022:

The following table sets forth the number of potential shares of common stock that have been excluded from diluted net income (loss) per share because their effect was anti-dilutive: