The preparation of consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Management determines the appropriate classification of its investments in certificates of deposit and debt and equity securities at the time of purchase and re-evaluates such determinations each reporting period.

Certificates of deposit and debt securities are classified as held-to-maturity when the Company has the positive intent and ability to hold the securities to maturity. The Company has $1,428,000 of investments classified as held-to-maturity at February 28, 2018, which represent certificates of deposit and a U.S. Treasury note with maturity dates after February 28, 2019. Securities that the Company does not have the positive intent or ability to hold to maturity, including certificates of deposit, debt securities and any investments in equity securities, are classified as available-for-sale. Securities classified as available-for-sale are marked-to-market at each reporting period. Changes in value of such securities are recorded as a component of Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). The cost of securities sold is based on the specific identification method. The Company’s certificates of deposit and treasury securities mature at various dates through March 2019.

The Company disaggregates revenue by major product line as reported on the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss).

Comparative results for the three and six months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017 differ due to the adoption by the Company of ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), as of September 1, 2017. Prior to the adoption of ASU 2014-09, proceeds from tap fees and construction fees were deferred upon receipt and recognized in income either upon completion of construction of infrastructure or ratably over time, depending on whether the Company owned the infrastructure constructed with the proceeds or a customer owned the infrastructure constructed with the proceeds. Tap and construction fees derived from agreements in which the Company would not own the assets constructed with the fees were recognized as revenue using the percentage-of-completion method. Tap and construction fees derived from agreements for which the Company would own the infrastructure were recognized as revenues ratably over the estimated accounting service life of the facilities constructed, starting at completion of construction, which could be in excess of 30 years.

As described in Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements below, the Company has completed its review of the adoption of ASU 2014-09 and the related impact on each of the Company’s revenue streams (water and wastewater usage fees, consulting fees, tap fees, special facility or construction fees, and oil and gas revenues). Upon completion of the Company’s evaluation of the standard, the Company determined to early adopt the new revenue recognition standard beginning September 1, 2017, in accordance with the transition provisions in ASU 2014-09, utilizing the modified retrospective method. The Company’s analysis concluded that the adoption did have a material impact on the 2018 financial statements.

The Company recognized the cumulative effect of initially applying the new revenue standard as an adjustment to the opening balance of accumulated deficit. The comparative information has not been restated and continues to be reported under the accounting standards in effect for those periods. The most significant impact of the standard relates to the Company’ accounting for tap fees and special facility or construction fees, which revenues are expected to be recognized in earlier periods under the new revenue standard. Revenue recognition related to the Company’s water and wastewater usage fees, consulting fees and oil and gas royalty or lease payments will remain substantially unchanged.

Wholesale Water and Wastewater Fees – Monthly wholesale water usage charges are assessed to the Company’s customers based on actual metered usage each month plus a base monthly service fee. The Company recognizes wholesale water usage revenues upon delivering water to its customers or its governmental customer’s end-use customers, as applicable. Sales of Export Water are invoiced directly by the Company, and revenues recognized by the Company are shown gross of royalties to the State of Colorado Board of Land Commissioners (the “Land Board”). Sales of water on the “Lowry Range” (described in Note 4 – Water and Land Assets under “Rangeview Water Supply and Water System” of the 2017 Annual Report) are invoiced directly by the Rangeview District, and the Rangeview District pays a percentage of such collections to the Company. Water revenues recognized from sales on the Lowry Range are shown net of royalties paid to the Land Board and amounts retained by the Rangeview District. The Company recognized $804,800 and $190,700 of metered water usage revenues during the three months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The Company recognized $1,726,400 and $331,800 of metered water usage revenues during the six months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

The Company recognizes wastewater treatment fees monthly based on usage. The monthly wastewater treatment fees are shown net of amounts retained by Rangeview. The Company recognized $9,300 and $11,200 of wastewater treatment fees during the three months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The Company recognized $20,500 and $23,500 of wastewater treatment fees during the six months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Costs of delivering water and providing wastewater services to customers are recognized as incurred.

Tap Fees – The Company has various water and wastewater service agreements, components of which may include tap fees. A tap fee constitutes a right to connect to the Company’s wholesale water and wastewater systems through a service line to a residential or commercial building or property, and once granted, the customer may make a physical tap into the wholesale line(s) to connect its property for water and/or wastewater service. Once connected to the water and/or wastewater systems, the customer has live service to receive metered water deliveries and send wastewater. Thus, the customer has full control of the connection right as it has the ability to obtain all of the benefits from this right. As such, management has determined that tap fees are separate and distinct performance obligations.

The Company recognizes water tap fees as revenue at the time the Company grants a right for the customer to tap into the water service line to obtain water service. The Company recognized $0 and $3,600 of water tap fee revenues during the three months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The Company recognized $49,900 and $7,100 of water tap fee revenues during the six months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The water tap fees recognized during these periods are net of the royalty payments to the Land Board and amounts paid to third parties pursuant to the CAA as further described in Note 4 – Long-Term Obligations and Operating Lease below.

The Company recognizes construction fees, including fees received to construct “Special Facilities” (defined in Part I, Item 1 of the 2017 Annual Report), on a percentage-of-completion basis as the construction is completed. Special Facilities are facilities that enable water to be delivered to a single customer. Management has determined that Special Facilities are separate and distinct performance obligations. The Company recognized $10,400 and $20,800 of Special Facilities funding as revenue during the three and six months ended February 28, 2017, respectively. No Special Facilities revenue has been recognized during the three or six months ended February 28, 2018. The 2017 amounts are the ratable portion of the Special Facilities funding, or construction fees, received from water agreements as more fully described in Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in Part II, Item 8 of the 2017 Annual Report.

As of February 28, 2018, and August 31, 2017, the Company has deferred recognition of approximately $0 and $1,055,500, respectively, of water tap and construction fee revenue.

Consulting Fees – Consulting fees are fees the Company receives, typically on a monthly basis, from municipalities and area water providers along the I-70 corridor, for contract operations services. Consulting fees are recognized monthly based on a flat monthly fee plus charges for additional work performed. The Company recognized $31,600 and $21,200 of consulting fees during the three months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The Company recognized $58,000 and $53,000 of consulting fees during the six months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Lot Sales – The Company owns 931 acres of land zoned as a Master Planned Community along the I-70 corridor east of Denver, Colorado, known as Sky Ranch. We have entered into purchase and sale agreements with three separate home builders pursuant to which the Company agreed to sell, and each builder agreed to purchase, residential lots at the property. The Company began construction of lots on March 1, 2018 and will segment its reporting of the activity relating to the costs and revenues from the construction and sale of lots at Sky Ranch. The Company did not recognize any lot sales during the six months ended February 28, 2018.

The Company sells lots at Sky Ranch pursuant to distinct agreements with each builder. These agreements follow one of two formats. One format is the sale of a finished lot, whereby the purchaser pays for a finished lot which is ready to build and the payment is a lump-sum payment upon completion of the finished lot. The Company will recognize revenues from the sale of finished lots at the time of sale as the transaction cycle will be complete with the delivery of a finished lot and the Company will have no further obligations.

The Company's second format for the sale of lots is pursuant to a development agreement with builders, whereby the Company will recognize revenues in stages that include (i) payment upon the delivery of platted lots (which requires the Company to deliver deeded title to individual lots), (ii) a second payment at the completion of certain infrastructure milestones, and (iii) final payment at the delivery of the finished lot. Under the development agreement format, the Company will defer the receipt of revenues from the first two milestones and recognize the full revenue from the sale of the lot once the Company completes all contractual commitments concurrent with the final delivery of the finished lot.

As further described in Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in Part II, Item 8 of the 2017 Annual Report, in March 2011, the Company entered into a Paid-Up Oil and Gas Lease and a Surface Use and Damage Agreement that were subsequently purchased by a wholly owned subsidiary of ConocoPhillips Company. Two wells were drilled within the Company’s mineral interest and in March 2015 were placed into service and began producing oil and gas and accruing royalties to the Company. During the three months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, the Company received $49,800 and $71,300 net of taxes, respectively, in royalties attributable to these two wells. During the six months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, the Company received $91,500 and $139,400 net of taxes, respectively, in royalties attributable to these two wells. The Company classifies income from oil and gas lease and royalty payments as Other Income in the statement of operations and comprehensive income (loss) as the Company does not consider these arrangements to be an operating business activity.

On October 5, 2017, the Company entered into a Paid-Up Oil and Gas Lease with Bison Oil and Gas, LLP, for the purpose of exploring for, developing, producing, and marketing oil and gas on the 40 acres of mineral estate the Company owns adjacent to the Lowry Range (the “Bison Lease”). Pursuant to the Bison Lease, the Company received an up-front payment of $167,200, which will be recognized as income on a straight-line basis over three years (the term of the Bison Lease). The Company recognized $13,900 and $23,200 during the three and six months ended February 28, 2018, respectively, of lease income related to the up-front payment received pursuant to the Bison Lease. As of February 28, 2018, the Company has deferred recognition of $144,000 of income related to the Bison Lease which will be recognized into income ratably through September 2020.

Costs to construct water and wastewater systems that meet the Company’s capitalization criteria are capitalized as incurred, including interest, and depreciated on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives of up to 30 years. The Company capitalizes design and construction costs related to construction activities, and it capitalizes certain legal, engineering and permitting costs relating to the adjudication and improvement of its water assets. The Company depletes its groundwater assets that are being utilized on the basis of units produced (i.e., thousands of gallons sold) divided by the total volume of water adjudicated in the water decrees.

The Company maintains a stock option plan for the benefit of its employees and non-employee directors. The Company records share-based compensation costs as expense over the applicable vesting period of the stock award using the straight-line method. The compensation costs to be expensed are measured at the grant date based on the fair value of the award. The Company has adopted the alternative transition method for calculating the tax effects of share-based compensation, which allows for a simplified method of calculating the tax effects of employee share-based compensation. Because the Company has a full valuation allowance on its deferred tax assets, the granting and exercise of stock options has no impact on the income tax provisions. The Company recognized $77,400 and $64,500 of share-based compensation expense during the three months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $157,600 and $104,500 of share-based compensation expense during the six months ended February 28, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

In August 2015, the Company sold substantially all of its Arkansas River water and land properties. Pursuant to the terms of the purchase and sale agreement, the Company continued to manage and receive the lease income associated with such properties until December 31, 2015. The operating results and the assets and liabilities of the discontinued operations, which formerly comprised the agricultural segment, are presented separately in the Company’s consolidated financial statements. Summarized financial information for the discontinued agricultural business is shown below. Prior period balances have been reclassified to present the operations of the agricultural business as a discontinued operation.

The Company anticipates continued expenses through calendar 2018 related to the discontinued operations. The Company will continue to incur expenses (including property taxes) related to the remaining agricultural land the Company continues to own and for the purpose of collecting outstanding receivables.

The individual assets and liabilities of the discontinued agricultural business are combined in the captions “Assets of discontinued operations held for sale” and “Liabilities of discontinued operations” in the consolidated balance sheet. The carrying amounts of the major classes of assets and liabilities included as part of the discontinued business are presented in the following table:

 (*) Land Held for Sale. During the fiscal quarter ended November 30, 2015, the Company purchased three farms totaling 700 acres for approximately $450,600. The farms were acquired in order to correct dry-up covenant issues related to water only farms in order to obtain the release of the escrow funds related to the Company’s farm sale to Arkansas River Farms, LLC. The Company intends to sell the farms in due course and has classified the farms as long-term assets.

The Company continually assesses any new accounting pronouncements to determine their applicability. When it is determined that a new accounting pronouncement affects the Company’s financial reporting, the Company undertakes a study to determine the consequence of the change to its consolidated financial statements and ensure that there are proper controls in place to ascertain that the Company’s consolidated financial statements properly reflect the change. New pronouncements assessed by the Company recently are discussed below:

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842). ASU 2016-02 provides guidance on the recognition, measurement, presentation, and disclosure of leases. The new standard supersedes the present GAAP standard on leases and requires substantially all leases to be reported on the balance sheet as right-of-use assets and lease obligations. This standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2016-02.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-01, Financial Instruments - Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities (Topic 825). ASU No. 2016-01 revises the classification and measurement of investments in certain equity investments and the presentation of certain fair value changes for certain financial liabilities measured at fair value. ASU No. 2016-01 requires the change in fair value of many equity investments to be recognized in net income. This standard is effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2017, with early adoption permitted.  Adopting ASU No. 2016-01 will result in an adjustment for any unrealized gains and losses on available-for-sale securities that are equity instruments as of the beginning of the year of adoption.

In August 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-15, Presentation of Financial Statements - Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40): Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern. ASU 2014-15 describes how an entity’s management should assess, considering both quantitative and qualitative factors, whether there are conditions and events that raise substantial doubt about an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued, which represents a change from the existing literature that requires consideration about an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the balance sheet date. The standard was effective for the Company on September 1, 2017. The adoption of ASU 2014-15 did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), that requires recognition of revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which a company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The FASB has also issued several updates to ASU 2014-09. The standard supersedes ASU No. 2009-13, Revenue Recognition (Topic 605) (“ASC 605”) and requires the use of more estimates and judgments than do the present standards. It also requires additional disclosures. The Company has completed its review of the adoption of ASU 2014-09 and the related impact on each of the Company’s revenue streams (water and wastewater usage fees, consulting fees, tap fees, special facility or construction fees, and oil and gas revenues). Upon completion of the Company’s evaluation of the standard, the Company determined to early adopt the new revenue recognition standard beginning September 1, 2017, in accordance with the transition provisions in ASU 2014-09, utilizing the modified retrospective method. The Company concluded that the adoption did have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

The Company recognized the cumulative effect of initially applying the new revenue standard as an adjustment to the opening balance of accumulated deficit. The comparative information has not been restated and continues to be reported under the accounting standards in effect for those periods.

The cumulative effect of the changes made to the Company’s consolidated September 1, 2017 balance sheet for the adoption of ASU 2014-09 were as follows:

In accordance with the new revenue standard requirements, the disclosure of the impact of adoption on the Company’s consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss) and balance sheet was as follows:

Revenue recognition related to the Company’s water and wastewater usage, consulting revenues and oil and gas revenues will remain substantially unchanged. The most significant impact of the standard relates to the Company’s accounting for water and wastewater tap fees and special facility/construction fees, which revenues will be recognized in earlier periods when performance obligations are complete under the new revenue standard.