1. Nature of Operations and Going Concern
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Mar. 31, 2013
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1. Nature of Operations and Going Concern |
Overview
ÌÒÖÓ°Ôº, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, the Company or Aspen) was founded in Colorado in 1987 as the International School of Information Management. On September 30, 2004, it was acquired by Higher Education Management Group, Inc. (HEMG) and changed its name to Aspen University Inc. On May 13, 2011, the Company formed a Colorado subsidiary, Aspen University Marketing, LLC, which was inactive and was formally dissolved on November 20, 2012. On March 13, 2012, the Company was recapitalized in a reverse merger (See Note 10). All references to the Company or Aspen before March 13, 2012 are to Aspen University Inc.
On April 5, 2013, the Company gave 120-day notice to CLS 123, LLC of its intent to terminate the agreement between the Company and CLS 123, LLC dated November 9, 2011. Moreover, at the end of the 120-day period, the Company shall no longer be offering the Certificate in Information Technology with a specialization in Smart Home Integration program. Accordingly, the activities related to CLS (or the Smart Home Integration Certificate program) are treated as discontinued operations. As this component of the business was not sold, there was no gain or loss on the disposition of this component (see below Basis of Presentation).
Aspens mission is to become an institution of choice for adult learners by offering cost-effective, comprehensive, and relevant online education. One of the key differences between Aspen and other publicly-traded, exclusively online, for-profit universities is that approximately 87% of our full-time degree-seeking students (as of March 31, 2013) were enrolled in graduate degree programs (Master or Doctorate degree program). Since 1993, we have been nationally accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), a national accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (the DOE).
Basis of Presentation
1. Interim Financial Statements
The interim condensed consolidated financial statements included herein have been prepared by the Company, without audit, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). In the opinion of the Companys management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments and reclassifications and non-recurring adjustments) necessary to present fairly our results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, our cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, and our financial position as of March 31, 2013 have been made. The results of operations for such interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the operating results to be expected for the full year.
Certain information and disclosures normally included in the notes to the annual consolidated financial statements have been condensed or omitted from these interim consolidated financial statements. Accordingly, these interim condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in our Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, as filed with the SEC on March 18, 2013. The December 31, 2012 balance sheet is derived from those statements and it has been updated to reflect the discontinued operations for the CLS component.
2. Discontinued Operations
As of March 31, 2013, the Company decided to discontinue business activities related to its Certificate in Information Technology with a specialization in Smart Home Integration program so that it may focus on growing its full-time, degree-seeking student programs, which have higher gross margins. On April 5, 2013, the Company gave 120-day notice to CLS 123, LLC of its intent to terminate the agreement between the Company and CLS 123, LLC dated November 9, 2011. Thus, as of August 3, 2013, the Company shall no longer be offering the Certificate in Information Technology with a specialization in Smart Home Integration program. The termination of the Smart Home Integration Certificate program qualifies as a discontinued operation and accordingly the Company has excluded results for this component from its continuing operations in the condensed consolidated statements of operations for all periods presented. The following table shows the results of the Smart Home Integration Certificate program component included in the income (loss) from discontinued operations:
The major classes of assets and liabilities of discontinued operations on the balance sheets are as follows:
Going Concern
The Company had a net loss of $948,871 and negative cash flows from operations of $598,772 for the three months ended March 31, 2013. While management expects operating trends to improve over the course of 2013, if the realization of the expected improvement fails to occur, it is possible the Companys ability to continue as a going concern may be contingent on securing additional debt or equity financing from outside investors. These matters raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern.
Management has continued to implement its business plan and funded operations by raising additional capital through the issuance of equity securities. During the three months ended March 31, 2013, the Company raised $565,000 in gross funding from Units (consisting of common shares and warrants) (See Note 10). To aid the fund-raising process, the Company on March 14, 2013, engaged Laidlaw & Company to raise up to $770,000 through the sale of additional Units. Subsequent to March 31, 2013, the Company raised an additional $600,328 in gross funding from the sale of Units (consisting of common stock and warrants). This concluded the raise of $4,637,328 of gross proceeds from September 2012 to April 2013. By discontinuing the Company's CLS component, which had low gross margins, management will concentrate its efforts on expanding its full-time, degree-seeking student programs, which have higher gross margins.
The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recovery of the recorded assets or the classification of the liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern.
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