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Intercontinental Exchange Inc

For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Feb 8, 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 8, 2024

ICE$176.36+1.3%Stored close · as of Nov 10, 2026

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Contents

Report of Management on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for the preparation and integrity of the consolidated financial statements appearing in our Annual Report on Form 10-K. The financial statements were prepared in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles appropriate in the circumstances and, accordingly, include certain amounts based on our best judgments and estimates.

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) and 15d-a5(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”). Our internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of the consolidated financial statements. Our internal control over financial reporting is supported by a program of internal audits and appropriate reviews by management, written policies and guidelines, careful selection and training of qualified personnel and a written Global Code of Business Conduct adopted by our Board of Directors, applicable to all of our directors and all officers and all of our employees.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements and even when determined to be effective, can only provide reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation. 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.

Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”) in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013 framework). Based on our assessment, management believes that we maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023.

Our assessment of and conclusion on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting did not include the internal controls over the operations of Black Knight, Inc., or Black Knight, which is included in our 2023 consolidated financial statements and constituted $14.6 billion and $13.2 billion of our total and net assets, respectively, as of December 31, 2023, and $363 million and ($214 million) of revenues, less transaction-based expenses and net income, respectively, for the year then ended.

Our independent auditors, Ernst & Young LLP, a registered public accounting firm, are appointed by the Audit Committee, subject to ratification by our stockholders. Ernst & Young LLP has audited and reported on our consolidated financial statements and the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. The reports of our independent registered public accounting firm are contained in this Annual Report.

/s/ Jeffrey C. Sprecher/s/ A. Warren Gardiner
Jeffrey C. SprecherA. Warren Gardiner
Chair and Chief Executive OfficerChief Financial Officer
February 8, 2024February 8, 2024

ON INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING

To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.

Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and Subsidiaries’ internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and Subsidiaries (the Company) maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on the COSO criteria.

As indicated in the accompanying Report of Management on Internal Control over Financial Reporting, management’s assessment of and conclusion on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting did not include the internal controls of Black Knight, Inc. (Black Knight), which is included in the 2023 consolidated financial statements of the Company and constituted $14.6 billion and $13.2 billion of total and net assets, respectively as of December 31, 2023 and $363 million and ($214 million) of revenues, less transaction-based expenses and net income, respectively, for the year then ended. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting of the Company also did not include an evaluation of the internal control over financial reporting of Black Knight.

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, 2023 and 2022, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, changes in equity and redeemable non-controlling interest, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, and the related notes, and our report dated February 8, 2024 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

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 “Report of Management 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 included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and 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/Ernst & Young LLP

New York, New York

February 8, 2024

ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and Subsidiaries (the Company) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, changes in equity and redeemable non-controlling interest, 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 “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at 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 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, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework), and our report dated February 8, 2024 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

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 the 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.

Accounting for Business Combinations

Description of the Matter As discussed in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements, during 2023, the Company completed its acquisition of Black Knight, Inc. (Black Knight) for aggregate consideration of $11.8 billion. This transaction was accounted for as a business combination.

Auditing the Company's accounting for its acquisition of Black Knight was complex due to the significant estimation in the Company’s determination of fair value of identified intangible assets of $4.9 billion, which principally consisted of customer relationships, trademark/tradenames, developed technology, data and databases and in-process research and development (collectively referred to as the identified intangibles). The significant estimation was primarily due to sensitivity of the fair value to underlying assumptions about future performance of the acquired business in the Company’s discounted cash flow models used to measure the identified intangibles. The most significant of these assumptions included the revenue and margin growth rates that form the basis of the forecasted results and the discount rate.

How We Addressed the

Matter in Our Audit 0000 We obtained an understanding, evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of the Company's controls that address the risk of material misstatement relating to the Company's accounting for the acquisition, including the estimated fair value of identified intangible assets. For example, we tested controls over management’s review of significant assumptions used in its respective valuation models of the identified intangibles.

To test the estimated fair value of the identified intangibles, we performed audit procedures that included, among others, evaluating the valuation methodology and significant assumptions used by the Company's valuation specialist, and evaluating the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data supporting the estimated fair value. We involved our valuation specialists to assist with our assessment of the appropriateness of the valuation methodology applied by the Company and significant assumptions included in the fair value estimate, including testing the revenue and margin growth rates that form the basis of the forecasted results and the discount rate. For example, we compared these significant assumptions to current industry, market and economic trends, assumptions used to value similar assets in other acquisitions, historical results of the acquired business, and the Company’s budgets and forecasts. In addition, we performed sensitivity analysis over those assumptions. We also evaluated the adequacy of the Company’s disclosures included in Note 3 in relation to these acquisition matters.

Accounting for Income Taxes

Description of the Matter As discussed in Note 13 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company operates globally and files income tax returns in the U.S. and in various state, local and foreign jurisdictions. Uncertainty in a tax position may arise because tax laws and rulings are subject to interpretation in each jurisdiction. The Company uses significant judgment to (1) determine whether, based on the technical merits, a tax position is more likely than not to be sustained and (2) measure the amount of tax benefit that qualifies for recognition. As of December 31, 2023, the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits was $268 million, of which $228 million, if recognized, would impact the Company's effective tax rate.

Auditing management's analysis of the Company's uncertain tax positions and the related unrecognized tax benefits was challenging as the analysis involved significant judgment due to the complex interpretations and application of tax laws and rulings.

How We Addressed the

Matter in Our Audit We obtained an understanding, evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of the controls related to management's accounting for uncertain tax positions. For example, we tested controls relating to the completeness of management’s identification of uncertain tax positions and the application of the recognition and measurement principles, including management's review of the inputs and calculations of unrecognized tax benefits.

Our audit procedures included, among others, testing management's assessment of which uncertain tax positions are more likely than not to be sustained and the measurement of the amount of tax benefit that is more likely than not to be realized. To test management's assessment, we performed procedures that included, among others, evaluating management's analysis by jurisdiction, including any communications with taxing authorities, tax controversy and litigation trends, and the technical merits of the uncertain tax positions. We involved our tax professionals with specialized skill and knowledge to evaluate the recognition of the uncertain tax positions and the measurement of the unrecognized tax benefit based on the relevant tax laws, rulings and guidance issued by taxing authorities, as well as their experience with the taxing authorities. We also evaluated the adequacy of the Company’s disclosures included in Note 13 in relation to these tax matters.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2002.

New York, New York

February 8, 2024

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