China Fire & Security (NASDAQ:CFSG)

According to our standard contract terms, the prerequisite that must be met in order to have the legal right to bill our customers for the amounts recognized as unbilled costs and earnings is the customer’s acceptance of the completion of different stages throughout the implementation of the whole project. This is accomplished through the customer’s inspection process upon completion of certain stages of a project’s implementation including (but not limited to): the completion of a project’s design, the delivery of certain equipment to a project’s location, the completion of a certain stage of a project’s construction, the completion of a system adjustment and final acceptance by the customer and the fire safety department. For a standard system contracting project, there are multiple stages of construction, customer inspection and billing. These processes are on-going throughout the term of the contract, which can be for an extended period of time. In our operating history, we have never been unable to bill our customers or receive payments for the amounts recognized as unbilled costs and earnings as a result of the customer’s inspection process upon achieving a certain stage. Therefore, the collectability of the amounts recognized as unbilled costs and earnings is reasonably assured.

The main reason for the recent delays or prolonged customer inspection processes is the weakness in the iron and steel industry. These delays or prolonged inspection processes can slow the customers’ payments to their suppliers including our company. The recent delays in our customer’s inspection process did not relate to any performance issues raised by our customers. We have not experienced any inability to bill and/or non-payment for a receivable and/or customer’s claim because of a contract dispute. In recent quarters, we have not made any material changes in the standard contract payment provisions as compared to prior periods. In the future, we will disclose any material contract changes to our standard contractual terms and also provide investors with an explanation of such changes, along with an explanation of any material impact such changes are having or may have on our operating results and liquidity.