8. LEASES

Operating Lease Liability

In June 2018, the Company executed an agreement for office space in the Borough of Florham Park, Morris County, New Jersey to be used as its headquarters (“HQ Lease”). The HQ Lease commenced upon completion of certain improvements in October 2018 and terminates in February 2024 with an option to extend the term of the lease for one additional 60‑month period. During 2018, the landlord made certain improvements to the facility. As of December 31, 2018, the Company recorded a deferred lease liability of approximately $176,000 for the improvements funded by the landlord in deferred rent current and deferred rent, long-term on the consolidated balance sheet for which we amortized the deferred liability as a reduction to rent expense in the consolidated statement of operations over the term of the lease.

For fiscal year 2018, rent expense was recognized on a straight-line basis and accordingly the difference between the recorded rent expense and the actual cash payments had been recorded as deferred rent current and deferred rent, long-term as of each balance sheet date on the consolidated balance sheet. As of December 31, 2018, the Lease Liability was measured at the present value of the lease payments to be made over the lease term. Lease payments comprise of fixed and variable payments to be made by the Company to the Lessor during the lease term minus any incentives or rebates or abatements receivable by the Company from the Lessor or owner. Payments for non-lease components did not form part of lease payments. The lease term calculation included renewal options only in the case if these options are specified in the lease agreement and if failure to exercise the renewal option imposes a significant economic penalty. As there are no such significant economic penalties in the HQ Lease and renewal cannot be reasonably assured, the valuation of the HQ Lease does not include any renewal options. The Company has not entered into any leases with related parties.

Under the HQ Lease, the Company will pay monthly fixed rent based on approximate rate per rentable square foot which ranges between approximately $12,400 to $13,600 over the lease period. In addition, the Company received certain rent abatements and lease incentives subject to the limitations in the HQ Lease. The HQ Lease’s net ROU asset and ROU lease liability are approximately $364,000 and ($552,000),  respectively, as of September 30, 2019 and rental expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 is approximately $85,000.

On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted ASC 842 using the modified retrospective method for all material leases that existed at or commenced after January 1, 2019 and elected to apply the practical expedients in ASC 842‑10‑65‑1 (f) and (gg) to the HQ Lease. The Company accounts for short-term leases (i.e., lease term of 12 months or less) by making the short-term lease policy election and will not apply the recognition and measurement requirements of ASC 842. As a result of the immaterial financial impact, the Company will not apply ASC 842’s extensive calculation and reporting requirement against the leases that individually have total lease payments of less than $100,000 over their life of service to the Company. The adoption of ASC 842 did not have a material net impact on the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations as of the effective date. See Note 1 for additional details.

Discount Rate

The Company has determined the interest rate implicit in the lease considering factors such as Company’s credit rating, borrowing terms offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration, amount of lease payments, quality of collateral and alignment of the borrowing term and lease term. The Company considers 10% per annum as reasonable to use as the incremental borrowing rate for purposes of the calculation of lease liabilities.

Maturity Analysis of Short-Term and Operating Leases

The following table presents future minimum lease payments, excluding reimbursements under noncancelable operating leases at December 31, 2018 under ASC 840 and is being presented for comparative purposes:

 

The following table approximates the dollar maturity of the Company’s undiscounted payments for its short-term leases and operating lease liabilities as of September 30, 2019: