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EXP World Holdings Inc

For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Feb 22, 2024.

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A company's yearly report to the SEC, with audited financial statements. It is the fullest account a company gives of its business, its finances and the risks it sees.

FY2023 · Filed Feb 22, 2024

AGNT$2.90-10.0%Stored close · as of Nov 10, 2026

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Contents

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the stockholders and the Board of Directors of eXp World Holdings, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of eXp World Holdings, Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company") as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the related consolidated statements of comprehensive (loss) income, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows, for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the "financial statements"). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We have also 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, 2023, based on criteria established inInternal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated February 22, 2024, expressed an unqualified opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.

Commissions and Other Agent-Related Costs – Revenue share expenses– Refer to Note 2 to the financial statements

Critical Audit Matter Description

The Company has a revenue sharing plan where agents and brokers may receive a commission from real estate transactions consummated by agents and brokers they have attracted to the Company. Agents and brokers are eligible for revenue share based on the number of Front-Line Qualifying Active (FLQA) agents they have attracted to the Company. An FLQA agent is an agent or broker that an agent or broker has personally attracted to the Company who has met specific sales transaction volume requirements. These additional commissions are earned on a multitiered basis by FLQA agents and brokers for real estate transactions within their downstream brokerage network. For the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company incurred $4.0 billion of commissions and other agent-related costs, which includes commissions paid to agents and brokers under the revenue sharing plan.

We identified the revenue sharing plan as a critical audit matter because the plan has a complex multi-tiered compensation structure involving highly automated system calculations to determine the commissions paid to agents and brokers. This required an increased extent of audit effort to audit and evaluate the accuracy of commissions paid under the revenue share plan.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures performed related to the testing of the accuracy of expenses under the revenue sharing plan included the following, among others:

●We tested the effectiveness of controls over the revenue share expenses, including management’s controls over the calculation of commissions under the revenue sharing plan.
●With the assistance of our IT specialists, we:
oIdentified the significant system used to process revenue share transactions and tested the general IT controls over the system, including testing of user access controls, change management controls, and IT operations controls.
oPerformed testing of automated controls for the system calculation of revenue share and the system determination of number of FLQA agents.
●We selected samples of commissions paid to agents and brokers under the revenue sharing plan and recalculated the commissions amount based on the terms of the respective independent contractor agreements.
●For the samples selected:
oWe tested the mathematical accuracy of the recorded commissions by recalculating the revenue sharing allocation in accordance with the independent contractor agreements and traced the underlying transactions to third party documents including settlement statements, purchase agreements and bank statements.
oWe tested the accuracy of the FLQA count for agents and brokers by reading independent contractor agreements and obtained evidence of agents and brokers reaching the required sales transaction volume, including settlement statements.

Commitments and Contingencies — Refer to Note 13 to the financial statements.

Critical Audit Matter Description

The Company is among several defendants in numerous putative class action lawsuits alleging that the Company participated in a system that resulted in sellers of residential property paying inflated buyer broker commissions in violation of U.S. federal and state antitrust laws, as well as a case brought in Canada (“antitrust litigation”). The Company reviews loss contingencies to determine the likelihood of loss and to assess whether a reasonable estimate of the loss or range of loss can be made. The Company recognizes expenses for legal claims when a loss is considered probable and reasonably estimable. If it is reasonably possible that a loss may have been incurred and the effect on the financial statements could be material, the Company discloses an estimate of the possible loss or range of loss or a statement that such an estimate cannot be made within the notes to the financial statements. The Company has determined that it is reasonably possible that a loss associated with the antitrust litigation has occurred; however, the loss or range of loss is not reasonably estimable and no provision for loss was recorded as of December 31, 2023.

We identified the antitrust litigation as a critical audit matter because of the challenges in auditing management's judgments applied in determining the likelihood of loss related to the resolution of such litigation, as well as the judgment in determining whether potential loss associated with the antitrust litigation is reasonably estimable. Specifically, auditing management's determination of whether any contingent loss arising from the antitrust litigation is probable, reasonably possible, or remote, and the related disclosures, is subjective and requires significant judgment due to the uncertainties involved, together with the novelty and complexity of the issues.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures performed related to antitrust litigation and claims included the following, among others:

●We obtained an understanding, evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of controls over management’s evaluation of the antitrust litigation, including controls related to the Company's assessment of the accounting and related disclosures based on the most recent facts and circumstances.
●We inquired of the Company's internal and external legal counsel, as well as executives and other members of management, to understand the basis for the Company's accounting conclusions related to the antitrust litigation.
●We requested and received written responses from internal and external legal counsel.
●We evaluated management's analysis of antitrust litigation.
●We examined Board of Directors meeting minutes, including relevant sub-committee meeting minutes, and compared to written responses received from internal and external counsel.
●We made inquiries of management and the audit committee to evaluate and corroborate our understanding obtained through inquiries of internal and external legal counsel. We also performed public domain searches for evidence contrary to management's analysis.
●We compared the Company's assessment of this matter to relevant history of similar legal contingencies that have been settled or otherwise resolved to evaluate the consistency of the Company's assessment of antitrust litigation.
●We consulted with our accounting experts to assist in our evaluation of the case facts and the Company's related accounting treatment for the antitrust litigation.
●We obtained written representations from executives of the Company.
●We obtained and reviewed the class action complaints, relevant court rulings, and terms related to other settlements of similar or related antitrust litigation.
●We evaluated the Company's financial statement disclosure for consistency with the audit evidence obtained on the antitrust litigation matter.
●We evaluated events subsequent to December 31, 2023, that might impact our evaluation of the antitrust litigation, including any related accrual or disclosure.

/s/Deloitte & Touche LLP

San Francisco, California

February 22, 2024

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2019.

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