Perficient (PRFT) Risk Analysis

Our success depends upon our ability to continue to develop and implement services and solutions that anticipate and respond to rapid and continuing changes in technology and industry developments and offerings by new entrants to serve the evolving needs of our clients. Current areas of significant change include mobility, cloud-based computing, software-as-a-service solutions, artificial intelligence, machine learning and the processing and analyzing of large amounts of data. Technological developments such as these may materially affect the cost and use of technology by our clients. Further, if we continue to implement emerging technologies into our products and services, we may not be able to anticipate vulnerabilities, flaws or security threats resulting from the use of such technologies or develop adequate protective measures. Our growth strategy focuses on responding to these types of developments by driving innovation for our core business as well as through new business initiatives beyond our core business that will enable us to differentiate our services and solutions. If we do not sufficiently invest in new technology and industry developments, or if we do not make the right strategic investments to respond to these developments and successfully drive innovation, our services and solutions, our results of operations, and our ability to develop and maintain a competitive advantage and continue to grow could be negatively affected. In addition, we operate in a quickly evolving environment, in which there currently are, and we expect will continue to be, new technology entrants. New services or technologies offered by competitors or new entrants may make our offerings less differentiated or less competitive, when compared to other alternatives, which may adversely affect our results of operations.

We are dependent upon information technology networks and systems to process, transmit, and store electronic information and to communicate among our locations and with our partners and clients. Security incidents with respect to this infrastructure or human error could lead to shutdowns or disruptions of our systems and potential unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. There has been a global increase in information technology security threats and increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. Given the uncertainty of such incidents, our infrastructure may be vulnerable. In providing services to clients, we are also required at times to manage, utilize, and store sensitive or confidential client or employee data. As a result, we are subject to numerous laws and regulations designed to protect this information, such as various U.S. federal and state laws and foreign laws governing the protection of personally identifiable information. We also rely on third-party service providers, and security incidents or cyber attacks relating to the information technology systems of our third-party service providers could have a material adverse impact on the Company. If any person, including any of our employees, negligently disregards or intentionally breaches our established controls with respect to such data or otherwise mismanages or misappropriates that data, we could be subject to monetary damages, regulatory enforcement actions, fines, and/or criminal prosecution. Unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential client or employee data, whether through systems failure, human error or negligence, cyber attacks, security incidents, fraud or misappropriation could damage our reputation and cause us to lose clients. Similarly, unauthorized access to or through our information systems or those we develop for our clients, whether by our employees or third parties, could result in negative publicity, significant remediation costs, legal liability, and damage to our reputation and could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. In addition, our liability insurance might not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against claims related to security incidents, cyber attacks and other related breaches. More information on the Company's processes related to general and company specific cybersecurity risks, including management's role and the Board of Directors' oversight, can be found in Item 1C, "Cybersecurity".

We are subject to income taxes in numerous jurisdictions. We calculate and provide for income taxes in each tax jurisdiction in which we operate. Tax accounting often involves complex matters and requires our judgment to determine our corporate provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities. We are subject to ongoing tax audits in various jurisdictions. Tax authorities have disagreed, and may in the future disagree, with our judgments, or may take increasingly aggressive positions opposing the judgments we make. We regularly assess the likely outcomes of these audits to determine the appropriateness of our tax liabilities. However, our judgments might not be sustained as a result of these audits, and the amounts ultimately paid could be different from the amounts previously recorded. See Note 13, Income Taxes, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the disallowance of certain research credits claimed by the Company and the Company's actions to assert such credits. In addition, our effective tax rate in the future could be adversely affected by changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities and changes in tax laws. Tax rates in the jurisdictions in which we operate may change as a result of macroeconomic or other factors outside of our control. Increases in the tax rate in any of the jurisdictions in which we operate could have a negative impact on our profitability. In addition, changes in tax laws, treaties, or regulations, or their interpretation or enforcement, may be unpredictable and could materially adversely affect our tax position. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ("OECD") reached an agreement among various countries to implement a minimum 15% corporate tax rate, commonly referred to as Pillar Two. Certain countries in which we operate have enacted legislation to adopt the Pillar Two framework and other countries are also considering changes to their tax laws to implement this framework. We are continuing to evaluate the impact of these changes on our effective tax rate and tax liabilities as new guidance and information becomes available.

The markets in which we operate are highly competitive, ever evolving, and subject to rapid technological change. Our competitors include: large multinational providers that offer some or all of the services that we do; offshore service providers in lower-cost locations that offer services similar to those we offer, often at highly competitive prices and on more aggressive contractual terms; niche solution and service providers or local competitors that compete with us in a specific geographic market, industry segment or service area, including companies that provide new or alternative products, service or delivery models; accounting firms that are expanding or building their capabilities to provide certain consulting services, including through acquisitions; and in-house departments of large corporations that use their own resources, rather than engage an outside firm for the types of services we provide. Many of the larger regional and national information technology consulting firms have substantially longer operating histories, more established reputations and potential vendor relationships, greater financial resources, sales and marketing organizations, market penetration, and research and development capabilities, as well as broader product offerings, greater market presence, and name recognition. In addition, there are relatively low barriers to entry in this business and therefore new entrants may compete with us in the future. For example, due to the rapid changes and volatility in our market, many well-capitalized companies, including some of our partners that have focused on sectors of the software and services industry that are not competitive with our business may refocus their activities and deploy their resources to be competitive with us. Our future financial performance is largely dependent upon our ability to compete successfully in the markets we currently serve. If we are unable to compete successfully, we could lose market share and clients to competitors, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, we may face greater competition due to consolidation of companies in the technology sector, through strategic mergers or acquisition. Consolidation activity may result in new competitors with greater scale, a broader footprint, or offerings that are more attractive than ours. We believe that this competition could have a negative effect on our ability to compete for new work and skilled professionals. One or more of our competitors may develop and implement methodologies that result in superior productivity and price reductions without adversely affecting their profit margins. In addition, competitors may win client engagements by significantly discounting their services in exchange for a client's promise to purchase other goods and services from the competitor, either concurrently or in the future. These activities may potentially force us to lower our prices and suffer reduced operating margins. Any of these negative effects could significantly impair our results of operations and financial condition. We may not be able to compete successfully against new or existing competitors.

Our revenue and profitability depend on the demand for our services and favorable margins, which could be negatively affected by numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control and unrelated to our work product. As described above, volatile, negative or uncertain global economic and political conditions have adversely affected, and could in the future adversely affect, client demand for our services and solutions. In addition, developments in the markets we serve, which may be rapid, could shift demand to services and solutions where we are less competitive, or might require significant investment by us to upgrade, enhance or expand our services and solutions to meet that demand. Companies in the markets we serve sometimes seek to achieve economies of scale and other synergies by combining with or acquiring other companies. If one of our current clients merges or consolidates with a company that relies on another provider for its consulting, systems integration and technology, or outsourcing services, we may lose work from that client or lose the opportunity to gain additional work if we are not successful in generating new opportunities from the merger or consolidation. Many of our consulting contracts are less than 12 months in duration, and often contain 10 to 30 day termination provisions. If a client is dissatisfied with our services and we are unable to effectively respond to its needs, the client might terminate existing contracts, or reduce or eliminate spending on the services and solutions we provide. Additionally, a client could choose not to retain us for additional stages of a project, try to renegotiate the terms of its contract or cancel or delay additional planned work. When contracts are terminated or not renewed, we lose the anticipated revenues, and it may take significant time to replace the lost revenues or we may be unsuccessful in our attempt to recover such revenues. Consequently, our results of operations in subsequent periods could be materially lower than expected. The specific business or financial condition of a client, changes in management and changes in a client's strategy are also factors that can result in terminations, cancellations or delays, and in pressure to reduce costs.

We believe the Perficient brand name and our reputation are important corporate assets that help distinguish our services from those of our competitors and also contribute to our efforts to recruit and retain talented employees. However, our corporate reputation is potentially susceptible to material damage by events such as disputes with clients, information technology security breaches or service outages, or other delivery failures. Similarly, our reputation could be damaged by actions or statements of current or former clients, employees, competitors, vendors, as well as members of the investment community and the media. The investment community, our employees and other stakeholders have evidenced an increased focus on certain environmental, social, governance and other factors, issues and initiatives. We have disclosed certain of our efforts with respect to such matters. Our reputation could be damaged if our efforts are, or are deemed to be, unsuccessful or are deemed insufficient relative to our competitors. There is a risk that negative information could adversely affect our business. Damage to our reputation could be difficult and time-consuming to repair, could make potential or existing clients reluctant to select us for new engagements or cause existing clients to terminate our services, resulting in a loss of business, and could adversely affect our recruitment and retention efforts. Damage to our reputation could also reduce the value and effectiveness of the Perficient brand name and could reduce investor confidence in us, materially adversely affecting our share price.

Our success depends, in large part, upon our ability to keep our supply of skills and resources in balance with client demand and our ability to attract and retain personnel with the knowledge and skills to lead our business. Experienced personnel in our industry are in high demand, and there is much competition to attract qualified personnel. We must hire, retain and motivate appropriate numbers of talented people with diverse skills in order to serve clients across North America, respond quickly to rapid and ongoing technology, industry and macroeconomic developments and grow and manage our business. For example, if we are unable to hire or continually train our employees to keep pace with the rapid and continuing changes in technology and the markets we serve or changes in the types of services clients are demanding we may not be able to develop and deliver new services and solutions to fulfill client demand. As we expand our services and solutions, we must also hire and retain an increasing number of professionals with different skills and expectations than those of the professionals we have historically hired and retained. Additionally, if we are unable to successfully integrate, motivate and retain these professionals, our ability to continue to secure work for our services and solutions in those markets may decline. We are dependent upon retaining our senior executives and other experienced managers, and if we are unable to do so, our ability to develop new business and effectively lead our current projects could be jeopardized. We depend upon identifying, developing, and retaining key employees to provide leadership and direction for our businesses. This includes developing talent and leadership capabilities in emerging markets, where the depth of skilled employees is often limited and competition for these resources is great. Our geographic expansion strategy in emerging markets depends on our ability to attract, retain and integrate both local business leaders and people with the appropriate skills. Similarly, our profitability depends upon our ability to effectively utilize personnel with the right mix of skills and experience to perform services for our clients, including our ability to transition employees to new assignments on a timely basis. If we are unable to effectively deploy our employees on a timely basis to fulfill the needs of our clients, our ability to perform our work profitably could suffer. If the utilization rate of our professionals is too high, it could have an adverse effect on employee engagement and attrition, the quality of the work performed and our ability to staff projects. If our utilization rate is too low, our profitability and the engagement of our employees could suffer. The costs associated with recruiting and training employees are significant. An important element of our global business model is the deployment of our employees around the world, which allows us to move talent as needed. Therefore, if we are not able to deploy the talent we need because of increased regulation of immigration or work visas, including limitations placed on the number of visas granted, limitations on the type of work performed or location in which it can be performed, and new or higher minimum salary requirements, it could be more difficult to staff our employees on client engagements and could increase our costs. Our equity-based incentive compensation plans are designed to reward high-performing personnel for their contributions and provide incentives for them to remain with us. If the anticipated value of these incentives does not materialize because of volatility or lack of positive performance in our stock price, or if our total compensation package is not viewed as being competitive, our ability to attract and retain the personnel we need could be adversely affected. There is a risk that at certain points in time and in certain markets, we will find it difficult to hire and retain a sufficient number of employees with the skills or backgrounds to meet current and/or future demand. In these cases, we might need to redeploy existing personnel or increase our reliance on subcontractors to fill certain labor needs, and if not done effectively, our profitability could be negatively impacted. Additionally, if demand for our services were to escalate at a high rate, we may need to adjust our compensation practices, which could put upward pressure on our costs and adversely affect our profitability if we are unable to recover these increased costs. At certain times, however, we may also have more personnel than we need in certain skill sets or geographic locations. In these situations, we must evaluate voluntary attrition and use reduced levels of new hiring and increased involuntary terminations as a means to keep our supply of skills and resources in balance with client demand in those markets.

Although we report our results of operations in U.S. dollars, a small portion of our revenues is denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Unfavorable fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. Because our consolidated financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars, we must translate revenues and expenses, as well as assets and liabilities, into U.S. dollars at exchange rates in effect during or at the end of each reporting period. Therefore, changes in the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies will affect our net revenues, operating income and the value of balance-sheet items, including intercompany payables and receivables, denominated in other currencies. These changes cause our growth in consolidated earnings stated in U.S. dollars to be higher or lower than our growth in local currency when compared against other periods. Our currency hedging program, which is designed to partially offset the impact on consolidated earnings related to the changes in value of certain balance sheet items, might not be successful. As we continue to leverage our global delivery model, certain of our expenses are incurred in currencies other than those in which we bill for the related services. An increase in the value of certain currencies, such as the Canadian dollar, Indian rupee, Chinese yuan, British pound, euro, Colombian peso, Argentine peso, Chilean peso, Uruguayan peso, and Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar could increase costs for delivery of services at off-shore sites by increasing labor and other costs that are denominated in local currency. Our contractual provisions or cost management efforts might not be able to offset their impact, and our currency hedging activities, which are designed to partially offset this impact, might not be successful. This could result in a decrease in the profitability of our contracts that are utilizing delivery center resources. Conversely, a decrease in the value of certain currencies, such as the Canadian dollar, Indian rupee, Chinese yuan, British pound, euro, Colombian peso, Argentine peso, Chilean peso, Uruguayan peso, and Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar in which our revenue is recorded could place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to service providers that benefit to a greater degree from such a decrease and can, as a result, deliver services at a lower cost. In addition, our currency hedging activities are themselves subject to risk. These include risks related to counterparty performance under hedging contracts, risks related to ineffective hedges and risks related to currency fluctuations. We also face risks that extreme economic conditions, political instability, hostilities or natural disasters could impact or perhaps eliminate the underlying exposures that we are hedging. Such an event could lead to losses being recognized on the currency hedges then in place that are not offset by anticipated changes in the underlying hedge exposure.