Operating Expenses
The most significant component of our operating expenses is personnel costs, which consist of salaries, bonuses, sales commissions, stock-based compensation, and other employee-related benefits. Operating expenses also include non-personnel costs such as facilities, technology, professional fees, and marketing. In light of macroeconomic conditions and their past and potential future impacts on our business, we have made efforts to contain our operating expenses, including implementing restructuring plans. Inflation, and in particular increases to the cost of labor due to cost-of-living increases, have negatively impacted our operating expenses, and we expect this to continue. However, inflation has not materially affected our business to date.
Sales and marketing. Sales and marketing expenses primarily consist of personnel costs such as salaries, bonuses, sales commissions, stock-based compensation, and other employee-related benefits for our sales and marketing teams, as well as non-personnel costs including overhead costs, technology and advertising costs. While we have slowed hiring in response to macroeconomic conditions, and expect to maintain slower levels until macroeconomic conditions improve, we have continued to hire additional sales and marketing personnel, enhance our digital marketing infrastructure and invest in marketing programs targeting our major vertical markets.
Product development. Product development expenses primarily consist of personnel costs such as salaries, bonuses, stock-based compensation, and other employee-related benefits for our engineering, data science and product teams, as well as non-personnel costs including overhead costs. We believe that our core technologies and ongoing innovation represent a significant competitive advantage for us, and we continue to invest in systems optimization and product improvements for our customers, enhance our software development team and invest in automation and artificial intelligence to drive higher quality data and deeper insights.
General and administrative. General and administrative expenses primarily consist of personnel costs such as salaries, bonuses, stock-based compensation, and other employee-related benefits for our executive, finance, legal, human resources, IT and operations, and administrative teams, as well as non-personnel costs including overhead costs, professional fees and other corporate expenses. General and administration expenses also include sales tax amounts payable to taxation authorities, inclusive of interest and penalties, for customers that we did not collect sales taxes from, due to misclassifications of products and services for sales tax purposes. We do not expect sales taxes and related interest and penalties to be an ongoing component of our general and administrative expense as we have completed voluntary disclosure agreements, registered with certain tax authorities, and commenced collection of sales taxes from customers in these tax jurisdictions.
Depreciation and Amortization. Depreciation and amortization expenses consist primarily of amortization of intangible assets resulting from acquisitions and business combinations, as well as depreciation of property and equipment. We anticipate depreciation of property and equipment as a percentage of revenue to moderately decrease, although amortization will increase if we make additional acquisitions in the future.
Transaction, integration, and restructuring expenses. Transaction, integration, and restructuring expenses are costs directly associated with various acquisition, strategic partnership, and integration activities we have undertaken, primarily accounting, legal due diligence, consulting, and advisory fees, as well as expenses related to the 2024 Restructuring Plan and our office relocations and consolidations.
Goodwill impairment. Goodwill represents the excess of consideration transferred over the fair value of tangible and identifiable intangible net assets acquired and the liabilities assumed in a business combination. Substantially all of our goodwill was recognized in the purchase price allocations when we were acquired in 2019 by Advent (the “Advent Acquisition”), with smaller incremental amounts recognized in subsequent business combinations. Goodwill is not amortized, but is tested for impairment at the reporting unit level annually and more frequently if indicators of potential impairment arise. In conducting the impairment test, we first review qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of our single reporting unit is less than its carrying amount.
When testing goodwill for impairment, we have the option of first performing a qualitative assessment to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. If we elect to bypass the qualitative assessment, or if a qualitative assessment indicates it is more likely than not that carrying value exceeds its fair value, we perform a quantitative goodwill impairment test. Under the quantitative goodwill impairment test, if our reporting unit’s carrying amount exceeds its fair value, we will record an impairment charge based on that difference. During the first quarter of 2025, we experienced declines in our market capitalization as a result of sustained decreases in our stock price, which represented a triggering event requiring our management to perform a quantitative goodwill impairment test as of the end of the first quarter of 2025. As a result of the impairment test, we determined that the fair value of our single reporting unit was lower than its carrying value and, accordingly, recorded a non-cash, pre-tax, goodwill impairment charge of $176.5 million during the first quarter of 2025. The goodwill impairment charges did not affect our liquidity or the financial covenants in our outstanding debt agreement.