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Shift4 Payments Inc

For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Feb 29, 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 29, 2024

FOUR$43.73-2.8%Stored close · as of Nov 10, 2026

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Contents

Item 8. Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Shift4 Payments, Inc.

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Shift4 Payments, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the related consolidated statements of operations, of comprehensive income (loss), of changes in stockholders’ equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, including the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above 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. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.

Change in Accounting Principle

As discussed in Note 11 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed the manner in which it accounts for convertible instruments and contracts in an entity’s own equity in 2021.

Basis for Opinions

The Company's management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (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 audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements 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. 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 audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

As described in Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting, management has excluded Focus POS Systems (“Focus”), SpotOn Technologies, Inc.’s sports and entertainment division, formerly known as Appetize (“Appetize”), and Credorax, Inc. d/b/a Finaro (“Finaro”) from its assessment of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, because they were acquired by the Company in purchase business combinations during 2023. We have also excluded Focus, Appetize and Finaro from our audit of internal control over financial reporting. These entities, each of which is wholly-owned, comprised, in the aggregate, total assets and total revenues excluded from management’s assessment and our audit of internal control over financial reporting of approximately 15% and 5% of consolidated total assets and consolidated total revenues, respectively, as of and for the year ended December 31, 2023. Finaro represents 14% and 3% of the related consolidated financial statement amounts, respectively.

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 (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) 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 (iii) 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.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) 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 matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Acquisition of Finaro - Valuation of Acquired Technology

As described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, on October 26, 2023, the Company completed the acquisition of Finaro for $330.8 million of total purchase consideration, net of cash acquired. Of the acquired intangible assets, $130.0 million of acquired technology was recorded. The fair value of this intangible asset was estimated by management using the multi-period excess earnings method. Management’s estimate of fair value was based upon assumptions related to projected revenues, earnings before interest income, interest expense, income taxes, and depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margins, research and development addback, obsolescence rate, and discount rate.

The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to the valuation of acquired technology in the acquisition of Finaro is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management when developing the fair value estimate of the acquired technology; (ii) a high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity, and effort in performing procedures and evaluating management’s significant assumptions related to projected revenues, EBITDA margins, research and development addback, obsolescence rate, and discount rate; and (iii) the audit effort involved the use of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge.

Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included testing the effectiveness of controls relating to the acquisition accounting, including controls over management’s valuation of the acquired technology. These procedures also included, among others (i) reading the purchase agreement; (ii) testing management’s process for developing the fair value estimate of the acquired technology; (iii) evaluating the appropriateness of the multi-period excess earnings method; (iv) testing the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data used in the multi-period excess earnings method; and (v) evaluating the reasonableness of the significant assumptions used by management related to projected revenues, EBITDA margins, research and development addback, obsolescence rate, and discount rate. Evaluating management’s assumptions related to projected revenues, EBITDA margins and the research and development addback involved considering (i) the current and past performance of the Finaro business; (ii) the consistency with external market and industry data; and (iii) whether the assumptions were consistent with evidence obtained in other areas of the audit. Professionals with specialized skill and knowledge were used to assist in evaluating (i) the appropriateness of the multi-period excess earnings method and (ii) the reasonableness of the obsolescence rate and discount rate assumptions.

/s/PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

February 29, 2024

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2016.

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