MICROSTRATEGY Inc
For the period ended Dec 31, 2024. Filed Feb 18, 2025.
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FY2024 · Filed Feb 18, 2025
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Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Report of Independent Regist ered Public Accounting Firm
To the Stockholders and Board of Directors
MicroStrategy Incorporated:
Opinion on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
We have audited MicroStrategy Incorporated and subsidiaries' (the Company) internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated balance sheets of the Company as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive (loss) income, stockholders’ equity (deficit), and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2024, and the related notes and the financial statement schedule, Schedule II, Valuation and Qualifying Accounts (collectively, the consolidated financial statements), and our report dated February 18, 2025 expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial statements.
Basis for Opinion
The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audit also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
/s/ KPMG LLP
McLean, Virginia
February 18, 2025
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Stockholders and Board of Directors
MicroStrategy Incorporated:
Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of MicroStrategy Incorporated and subsidiaries (the Company) as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive (loss) income, stockholders’ equity (deficit), and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2024, and the related notes and financial statement schedule, Schedule II, Valuation and Qualifying Accounts, (collectively, the consolidated financial statements). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2024, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, and our report dated February 18, 2025 expressed an unqualified opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
Basis for Opinion
These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Critical Audit Matters
The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.
Evaluation of audit evidence pertaining to the existence and control of the digital assets
As discussed in Notes 2(g) and 4 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company accounts for its digital assets as indefinite-lived intangible assets. The digital assets are recorded at cost, net of any impairment losses incurred since acquisition. As of December 31, 2024, the carrying value of the Company’s digital assets was $23.909 billion, net of $4.059 billion in cumulative impairments.
We identified the evaluation of audit evidence pertaining to the existence of the digital assets and whether the Company controls the digital assets as a critical audit matter. Especially subjective auditor judgment was involved in determining the nature and extent of evidence required to assess the existence of the digital assets and whether the Company controls the digital assets, as control over the digital assets is provided through private cryptographic keys stored using third-party custodial services at multiple locations that are geographically dispersed. In addition, information technology (IT) professionals with specialized skills and knowledge in blockchain technology were needed to assist in the evaluation of the sufficiency of certain audit procedures.
The following are the primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter. We evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of certain internal controls over the digital assets process, including a control over the comparison of the Company’s records of digital assets held to the custodial records. We involved IT professionals with specialized skills and knowledge in blockchain technology, who assisted in evaluating certain internal controls over the digital assets process performed at the custodial locations, related specifically to the generation of the private cryptographic keys, the storing of these keys, and the reconciliation of digital assets per the custodial service ledgers to the public blockchain. We obtained confirmation of the Company’s digital assets in custody as of December 31, 2024 and compared the total digital assets confirmed to the Company’s record of digital asset holdings. We also compared the Company’s record of digital asset transactions to the records on the public blockchain using a software audit tool. We applied auditor judgment in determining the nature and extent of audit evidence required, especially related to assessing the existence of the digital assets and whether the Company controls the digital assets. We evaluated the sufficiency and appropriateness of audit evidence obtained by assessing the results of procedures performed over the digital assets.
Evaluation of standalone selling price for standard product support
As discussed in Note 2(n) to the consolidated financial statements, the Company typically sells its software licenses (product licenses) together with technical support services and rights to when-and-if available software upgrades (standard product support). Product license revenue is recognized at the point when control to the license is transferred to the customer while standard product support revenue is recognized ratably over the term of the product support period. The accounting for revenue from contracts with multiple performance obligations requires the transaction price to be allocated to each distinct performance obligation based on their respective relative standalone selling price (SSP). Because product licenses are not sold on a standalone basis and because pricing is highly variable, the Company establishes SSP of product licenses using a residual approach after first establishing the SSP of standard product support based on observable standalone sales with pricing within a narrow range as a percentage of the net license fee.
We identified the evaluation of the SSP for standard product support as a critical audit matter. Especially subjective auditor judgment was required in evaluating the range of prices used to establish the SSP for standard product support which directly affects the amount of product license revenue recognized using a residual approach. Changes to the product support fee range could have a significant impact on the determination of the SSP for standard product support, impacting the amount and timing of revenues recognized.
The following are the primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter. We evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of certain internal controls over the Company’s revenue process, including controls over the methodology used to determine the standard product support SSP and controls over the Company’s validation of the underlying data used in the SSP analysis. We assessed the range of prices based on observable inputs the Company used to determine SSP of standard product support by comparing them to the selling prices of standalone renewals for standard product support and evaluating whether the standalone prices were sufficiently clustered within a narrow range.
/s/ KPMG LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2013.
McLean, Virginia
February 18, 2025
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