Asure Software Inc (ASUR) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

I would now like to introduce your speaker, Pat Goepel. Your line is now open.

我現在想介紹一下您的演講者 Pat Goepel。您的線路現已開通。

This is Pat Goepel, CEO and Chairman of Asure Software. We have a technical delay. We are going to give the earnings announcement or an update at 4:00 Central time. So it's 3/31 right now. We appreciate your interest in Asure, and we anticipate that at 4:00 Central time we would go ahead with the earnings announcement and release and that the technical issue will be resolved. But needless to say, if it's not, we will give an update at 4:00. We thank you for your interest and your patience and look forward to talking to you soon. Thank you. The conference will begin shortly.

我是 Asure Software 的首席執行官兼董事長 Pat Goepel。我們有一個技術延遲。我們將在中部時間 4:00 發布收益公告或更新。所以現在是 3/31。感謝您對 Asure 的關注，我們預計在中部時間 4:00，我們將繼續發布收益公告，技術問題將得到解決。但不用說，如果不是，我們將在 4:00 提供更新。我們感謝您的興趣和耐心，期待盡快與您交談。謝謝。會議將很快開始。

Good afternoon, and welcome to Asure's First Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. Joining us for today's call are Asure's Chairman and CEO, Patrick Goepel -- pardon me, Asure's Chief Financial Officer, John Pence, and the Head of Investor Relations, Randal Rudniski. Following the prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer sessio for the analysts and investors.

下午好，歡迎來到 Asure 的 2022 年第一季度收益電話會議。與我們一起參加今天的電話會議的有 Asure 的董事長兼首席執行官 Patrick Goepel - 不好意思，Asure 的首席財務官 John Pence 和投資者關係主管 Randal Rudniski。在準備好的發言之後，將有分析師和投資者的問答環節。

I would now like to turn the call over to Randal Rudniski for introductory remarks. Please go ahead.

我現在想把電話轉給 Randal Rudniski 做介紹性發言。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Asure's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Earnings Call. Following the close of markets, we've released our financial results. The earnings release is available on the SEC's website and our Investor Relations website at investor.asuresoftware.com, where you can also find the investor presentation.

謝謝你，運營商。大家下午好，感謝您加入我們參加 Asure 的第四季度和 2022 年全年收益電話會議。市場收盤後，我們發布了財務業績。收益發布可在 SEC 網站和我們的投資者關係網站 investor.asuresoftware.com 上獲取，您還可以在此處找到投資者介紹。

During our call today, we will reference non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe to be useful to investors and exclude the impact of certain items. A description and timing of these items along with a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release. Today's call will also contain forward-looking statements that refer to future events and as such, involve some risks. We use words such as expects, believes and may to indicate forward-looking statements, and we encourage you to review our filings with the SEC for additional information on factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations.

在我們今天的電話會議中，我們將參考非 GAAP 財務指標，我們認為這些指標對投資者有用，並且排除了某些項目的影響。在我們的收益發布中可以找到這些項目的描述和時間安排，以及非 GAAP 措施與最可比的 GAAP 措施的調節。今天的電話會議還將包含涉及未來事件的前瞻性陳述，因此涉及一些風險。我們使用預期、相信和可能等詞語來表示前瞻性陳述，我們鼓勵您查看我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，以獲取有關可能導致實際結果與我們當前預期存在重大差異的因素的更多信息。

Finally, I'd like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded, and it will be made available for replay via a link available on the Investor Relations section of our website.

最後，我想提醒大家，這個電話正在錄音中，可以通過我們網站投資者關係部分的鏈接進行重播。

With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Pat Goepel, Chairman and CEO. Pat?

有了這個，我現在想把電話轉給董事長兼首席執行官 Pat Goepel。拍？

Thank you, Randal, and welcome, everyone, to Asure Software's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Earnings Call. I will begin today's presentation with an update on our business highlights and strategy, and then we'll turn the call over to our CFO, John Pence; for a more detailed review of our financial results and outlook for 2023. We will then conclude the session with time to answer your questions.

謝謝 Randal，歡迎大家參加 Asure Software 的第四季度和 2022 年全年收益電話會議。我將以我們的業務亮點和戰略的最新情況開始今天的演講，然後我們將把電話轉給我們的首席財務官 John Pence；更詳細地回顧我們的財務業績和 2023 年展望。然後我們將在會議結束時回答您的問題。

We are very pleased with the performance of the business in the fourth quarter and in 2022. We made meaningful enhancements to our HR compliance and tax solutions while introducing asure marketplace and more effectively leveraging client funds to drive interest revenues. Collectively, these businesses contributed significantly to our revenue gains in the quarter and in the year. We also had a strong contribution to revenues from processing of employee retention tax credits in '22 on behalf of our clients. This government stimulus program, which is part of the CARES Act is expected to be active to 2025, and we have leveraged our differentiated tax filing processing capabilities to tap into this segment on a very efficient basis.

我們對第四季度和 2022 年的業務表現感到非常滿意。我們對人力資源合規性和稅務解決方案進行了有意義的改進，同時引入了可靠的市場，並更有效地利用客戶資金來推動利息收入。總的來說，這些業務為我們在本季度和本年度的收入增長做出了重大貢獻。我們還代表我們的客戶在 22 年通過處理員工保留稅收抵免對收入做出了巨大貢獻。這項政府刺激計劃是 CARES 法案的一部分，預計將持續到 2025 年，我們已經利用我們差異化的稅務申報處理能力在非常有效的基礎上進入這一領域。

Strength in those areas drove 39% annual growth in revenues in the fourth quarter, virtually all of which is organic. It also resulted in an improved net loss of $1.1 million versus a net loss of $4.3 million prior year and improved EBITDA of $5 million relative to $1.5 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA grew 159% in the quarter to $6 million for a margin of 20.5%. Notably, we converted 45% of each incremental dollar of revenues into adjusted EBITDA in the quarter relative to prior year's quarter.

這些領域的實力推動第四季度收入年增長率達到 39%，幾乎所有增長都是有機的。它還導致淨虧損減少 110 萬美元，而上一年為淨虧損 430 萬美元，EBITDA 相對於上一年的 150 萬美元減少了 500 萬美元。本季度調整後的 EBITDA 增長 159% 至 600 萬美元，利潤率為 20.5%。值得注意的是，與去年同期相比，我們在本季度將每一美元收入增量的 45% 轉換為調整後的 EBITDA。

This high flow-through is the direct result of enhanced automation within our systems, improved efficiencies via consolidation and increased penetration from high-margin revenue segments. I am pleased with this performance, and it gives us confidence going into 2023. Business momentum accelerated through 2022, resulting in strong fourth quarter finish with new sales bookings achieving a 234% growth rate relative to the prior year and net revenue retention improving to 93%. This gives us a great starting point for 2023.

這種高流量是我們系統內自動化增強、通過整合提高效率以及提高高利潤收入部門滲透率的直接結果。我對這種表現感到滿意，它讓我們有信心進入 2023 年。到 2022 年，業務勢頭加速，導致第四季度業績強勁，新銷售預訂量比上年增長 234%，淨收入保留率提高到 93 %。這為我們 2023 年提供了一個很好的起點。

I would also like to take a moment to note that we've enhanced the disclosures in our press release this quarter, by providing additional GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations. John will talk more about that in his remarks. We have refreshed our IR presentation on our website to reflect our current views on the business and the direction of our future.

我還想花點時間指出，我們通過為非 GAAP 調節提供額外的 GAAP，加強了本季度新聞稿中的披露。約翰將在他的發言中更多地談論這一點。我們更新了我們網站上的 IR 演示文稿，以反映我們當前對業務的看法和我們未來的方向。

Turning now to sales development in 2022. We focused our sales activities on bundled offerings as well as new products to drive value and additional revenue streams. As previously discussed, A large portion of these activities was geared towards the introduction of Asure marketplace enhancements to our tax platform, that also facilitates ERTC processing and our new HR compliance suite of solutions. With this increased number of solutions available to our clients, we leverage our ability to bundle products which ultimately played a key role in our revenue's success. We will continue this focus in 2023 with further enhancements to our payroll solutions and Asure marketplace.

現在轉向 2022 年的銷售發展。我們將銷售活動的重點放在捆綁產品和新產品上，以推動價值和額外的收入流。如前所述，這些活動的很大一部分是為了向我們的稅務平台引入 Asure 市場增強功能，這也促進了 ERTC 處理和我們新的 HR 合規解決方案套件。隨著我們客戶可用解決方案數量的增加，我們利用我們捆綁產品的能力，這最終在我們的收入成功中發揮了關鍵作用。我們將在 2023 年繼續關注這一點，進一步增強我們的薪資解決方案和 Asure 市場。

Another key initiative that we've been working on is strategic enhancements to our tax platform to capitalize on our unique position in the marketplace. Efforts in this area include consolidating to a single tax engine, introducing a new tax portal and improving technology to facilitate integrations, including ERTC processing. Overall, our Tax Solutions also had strong performance in 2022, and we believe that we'll see this performance continue into 2023. Our HR compliance solutions were focused in 2022, and we leveraged our ability to bundle solutions to drive excellent performance in this segment.

我們一直致力於的另一項重要舉措是對我們的稅務平台進行戰略性改進，以利用我們在市場中的獨特地位。這方面的努力包括整合到一個單一的稅務引擎、引入一個新的稅務門戶網站和改進技術以促進整合，包括 ERTC 處理。總體而言，我們的稅務解決方案在 2022 年也表現強勁，我們相信這種表現將持續到 2023 年。我們的 HR 合規解決方案專注於 2022 年，我們利用我們捆綁解決方案的能力來推動這一領域的卓越表現.

Our revenues nearly doubled relative to prior year in the fourth quarter, and bundling has been a big part of that success. So far, I focused on sales and revenue achievement, but I don't want to lose sight of our enterprise efficiency initiatives that have also been top of the mind of our organization. We are executing against our strategic growth initiatives and are achieving the milestones that are expected to deliver $5 million in annual savings once the plan is fully complete by year-end.

第四季度，我們的收入與去年同期相比幾乎翻了一番，而捆綁銷售是這一成功的重要組成部分。到目前為止，我專注於銷售和收入成就，但我不想忽視我們的企業效率計劃，這也是我們組織的首要任務。我們正在執行我們的戰略增長計劃，並正在實現里程碑，一旦該計劃在年底前完全完成，預計每年將節省 500 萬美元。

We are enhancing our standardization and centralizing our operations to bring all of our assets into a unified operating platform. There are obvious cost benefits to this structure, and we expect to improve our service delivery and revenue retention from these initiatives, which we believe will create long-term value for our clients and our stakeholders.

我們正在加強標準化和集中運營，將我們所有的資產整合到一個統一的運營平台中。這種結構有明顯的成本效益，我們希望通過這些舉措改善我們的服務交付和收入保留，我們相信這將為我們的客戶和利益相關者創造長期價值。

Project streams for our centralization efforts include: first, developing a single HCM platform to deliver state-of-the-art solutions and accelerate product development; second, enhancing automation through robotics to gain efficiency; third, standardizing processes and data to give us greater flexibility and reduce cost; and finally, upgrading our communications infrastructure.

我們集中化工作的項目流包括：首先，開發單一 HCM 平台以提供最先進的解決方案並加速產品開發；第二，通過機器人技術加強自動化以提高效率；第三，標準化流程和數據，使我們具有更大的靈活性並降低成本；最後，升級我們的通信基礎設施。

These efforts have produced efficiency gains that have enabled us to flow through a higher proportion of revenues to EBITDA and to grow the business with a clear sight into higher margins. I'll give you a very tangible example of what that means to our business. In 2022, we grew revenue by 26%, and we ended the year with fewer employees than we started the year. The performance was made possible by our focus on high-margin revenue streams and our standardization and centralization efforts.

這些努力產生了效率提升，使我們能夠將更高比例的收入流向 EBITDA，並在業務增長的同時清晰地看到更高的利潤率。我會給你一個非常具體的例子，說明這對我們的業務意味著什麼。 2022 年，我們的收入增長了 26%，年底的員工人數比年初少。由於我們專注於高利潤收入流以及我們的標準化和集中化努力，因此業績成為可能。

As we look into 2023 and beyond, we believe we've built a foundation that will drive continued success. Here, I want to highlight the Asure marketplace, which has the potential to transform our business in a very significant and positive way. Asure marketplace enables businesses to communicate seamlessly to support a wide range of business to business and business to consumer applications, business applications can include income verification, tax preparation, retirement solutions and earn wage access. We're also developing consumer applications that expect those to be part of the Asure marketplace in the future.

展望 2023 年及以後，我們相信我們已經打下了推動持續成功的基礎。在這裡，我想強調 Asure 市場，它有可能以非常重要和積極的方式改變我們的業務。 Asure marketplace 使企業能夠無縫通信以支持廣泛的企業對企業和企業對消費者應用程序，業務應用程序可以包括收入驗證、稅務準備、退休解決方案和賺取工資。我們還在開發消費者應用程序，希望這些應用程序將來成為 Asure 市場的一部分。

Asure marketplace leverages the vast amount of data in our domain and allows us to explore, test and create new revenue streams. One of those new revenue streams is the integration with Equifax to help power their work number solution. We work with Equifax to provide data to help consumers with their mortgage applications, car loans, government benefits and other end uses.

Asure marketplace 利用我們領域中的大量數據，讓我們能夠探索、測試和創造新的收入來源。這些新的收入來源之一是與 Equifax 的集成，以幫助支持他們的工作號碼解決方案。我們與 Equifax 合作提供數據，幫助消費者處理抵押貸款申請、汽車貸款、政府福利和其他最終用途。

In addition to simplifying processes for our clients, it brings value to business by eliminating manual processes, ultimately saving time for management and reducing verification risk. This is a true win-win for employers and employees. We have several additional integrations in development that will be released in the quarters and years to come.

除了為我們的客戶簡化流程外，它還通過消除手動流程為業務帶來價值，最終節省管理時間並降低驗證風險。這對雇主和僱員來說是真正的雙贏。我們還有幾個額外的開發集成，將在未來幾個季度和幾年內發布。

I would also like to highlight our announcement last week about our partnership with ZayZoon to allow customers to offer their employees earned wage access, earned wage access provides employers with the flexibility to pay their employees in real time as small businesses continue to compete for talent, applications such as earned wage access, enable them to differentiate themselves with the workforce and attract and retain talent.

我還想強調一下我們上周宣布的關於我們與 ZayZoon 的合作夥伴關係，以允許客戶為他們的員工提供賺取工資的機會，賺取工資的機會為雇主提供了實時支付員工工資的靈活性，因為小企業繼續爭奪人才，工資訪問等應用程序使他們能夠在勞動力中脫穎而出，吸引和留住人才。

For employees, it offers access to their hard-earned wages while promoting financial wellness and reducing financial stress. We are very excited to offer earned wage access to our small businesses throughout the United States. This application has great potential, and we believe it will be an important component to our service and product offering.

對於員工來說，它提供了獲得辛苦賺來的工資的機會，同時促進了財務健康並減輕了財務壓力。我們很高興能為全美國的小型企業提供賺取工資的機會。該應用程序具有巨大的潛力，我們相信它將成為我們服務和產品的重要組成部分。

We launched Marketplace in 2022 on the belief that data and automation would play important roles in generating high-margin revenue streams for our business. In the fourth quarter, marketplace lived up to that expectation through its contribution to our revenue and EBITDA performance. Moving forward, we believe Asure marketplace could represent upwards of 30% to 40% of our overall revenues over time.

我們相信數據和自動化將在為我們的業務創造高利潤收入流方面發揮重要作用，因此我們於 2022 年推出了 Marketplace。在第四季度，marketplace 通過對我們的收入和 EBITDA 業績的貢獻達到了這一預期。展望未來，我們相信隨著時間的推移，Asure 市場可能占我們總收入的 30% 至 40% 以上。

In addition to driving the Asure marketplace, HR compliance and tax solutions, our 2023 efforts will include a moderate expansion of our sales force and refined selling and marketing strategies. These initiatives are designed to drive reoccurring revenues with a continued focus on high-margin revenue streams. We are expanding and accelerating our technology development efforts to further enhance automation and build a single human capital management platform that supports our solution. We will also continue to focus on our consolidation and standardization program that is in the final phase of implementation. You could see the impact of these initiatives on our revised higher 2023 guidance.

除了推動 Asure 市場、人力資源合規和稅務解決方案之外，我們 2023 年的努力將包括適度擴大我們的銷售隊伍以及改進銷售和營銷策略。這些舉措旨在通過持續關注高利潤收入流來推動經常性收入。我們正在擴大和加速我們的技術開發工作，以進一步增強自動化並構建支持我們解決方案的單一人力資本管理平台。我們還將繼續關注處於實施最後階段的整合和標準化計劃。您可以看到這些舉措對我們修訂後的更高 2023 年指南的影響。

We're now guiding for revenues of $105 million to $107 million and adjusted EBITDA margin of 15% to 17%. Our previous guidance was revenues of $98 million to $102 million, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 14% to 16%. Our 2023 guidance reflects our organic performance and does not include acquisitions. We're also introducing first quarter 2023 guidance for revenues of $29 million to $30 million, which is approximately 20% higher than the first quarter of 2022, all of which is expected to be organic growth. We're guiding for adjusted EBITDA between $6 million and $6.5 million in the first quarter, which means margins are expected to hit 20% again in the first quarter. The first quarter of each year is our seasonally strongest period from both a revenue and margin perspective, owing a bit to the timing of W-2s and year-end fees.

我們現在的指導收入為 1.05 億美元至 1.07 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 15% 至 17%。我們之前的指導是收入在 9800 萬美元到 1.02 億美元之間，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 14% 到 16%。我們的 2023 年指引反映了我們的有機表現，不包括收購。我們還推出了 2023 年第一季度收入 2900 萬至 3000 萬美元的指導，比 2022 年第一季度高出約 20%，預計所有這些都將實現有機增長。我們指導第一季度調整後的 EBITDA 在 600 萬美元至 650 萬美元之間，這意味著第一季度的利潤率預計將再次達到 20%。從收入和利潤率的角度來看，每年第一季度都是我們季節性最強的時期，這在一定程度上是由於 W-2 和年終費用的時間安排。

Our performance in 2022 has laid the framework for what we expect to be a record year in 2023, while macroeconomic complexities continue to be on our radar. Labor market trends have been supportive of our business so far in 2023 and the revenue gains we expect to achieve from our enhanced solutions are anticipated to partially insulate us to some degree from the broader economy.

我們在 2022 年的表現為我們預計 2023 年創紀錄的一年奠定了框架，而宏觀經濟的複雜性繼續受到我們的關注。到目前為止，勞動力市場趨勢一直支持我們在 2023 年的業務，我們預計通過增強的解決方案實現的收入增長預計將在一定程度上使我們與更廣泛的經濟部分隔離。

Now I would like to hand off to John to discuss financial results in more detail. John?

現在我想請約翰更詳細地討論財務結果。約翰？

Thanks, Pat. As Randal mentioned at the beginning of this call, several of the financial figures discussed today are given on a non-GAAP or adjusted basis. You will find a description of these GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations in the earnings release that was made available earlier today. This quarter, we have updated our non-GAAP reconciliations to provide additional information that we hope will be useful to investors and analysts. We are providing reconciliations for each operating expense line item. We have also adjusted our definition of one-time items. The reconciliation in the press release have been updated for the current and prior quarters that you have comparable basis to look at our results.

謝謝，帕特。正如 Randal 在本次電話會議開始時提到的，今天討論的一些財務數據是在非 GAAP 或調整後的基礎上給出的。您將在今天早些時候發布的收益報告中找到對這些 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調節的描述。本季度，我們更新了我們的非 GAAP 調節表，以提供我們希望對投資者和分析師有用的額外信息。我們正在為每個運營費用項目提供對賬。我們還調整了一次性項目的定義。新聞稿中的對賬已針對當前和之前的季度進行了更新，您可以根據可比的基礎來查看我們的結果。

The reconciliations themselves are also included in our most recent investor presentation posted in the Investor Relations section of our website at investor.asuresoftware.com.

調節本身也包含在我們最新的投資者介紹中，該介紹發佈在我們網站 investor.asuresoftware.com 的投資者關係部分。

So with that, now on to the fourth quarter and full year results. Revenues reached $29.3 million in the fourth quarter, rising by 39% relative to prior year, almost all of which was organic. Recurring revenues rose 25% relative to prior year, while nonrecurring revenues rose by 93%. Our revenue improvement this quarter was driven by continued strength and our recurring HR compliance business, which has seen success in their differentiated solution as well as being bundled with our ERTC offerings. Increased interest revenues with average client balances exceeding $200 million.

因此，現在進入第四季度和全年業績。第四季度收入達到 2930 萬美元，比去年同期增長 39%，幾乎所有收入都是有機收入。經常性收入較上年增長 25%，而非經常性收入增長 93%。本季度我們的收入增長是由持續的實力和我們經常性的人力資源合規業務推動的，該業務在差異化解決方案以及與我們的 ERTC 產品捆綁在一起方面取得了成功。利息收入增加，平均客戶餘額超過 2 億美元。

The fourth quarter also represent the first full quarter of Asure's marketplace, which was initially introduced in the third quarter. Finally, we also experienced a nice uplift generating revenues from processing of earned retention tax credits. For the full year, revenues reached $95.8 million, a 26% increase relative to prior year with growth being relatively balanced between organic and inorganic.

第四季度也是 Asure 市場的第一個完整季度，該市場最初於第三季度推出。最後，我們還經歷了通過處理賺取的保留稅收抵免產生的收入的良好提升。全年收入達到 9580 萬美元，比上年增長 26%，有機增長和無機增長相對平衡。

Net loss for the quarter was $1.1 million, a $3.2 million improvement over prior year's quarter loss of $4.3 million. Full year net loss came in at $14.5 million versus prior year at $3.2 million of net income. I would like to remind everyone that in 2021, Asure recognized $18.8 million in extraordinary gains related to the CARES Act. Absent these gains, 2021's net loss would have been $15.7 million.

本季度淨虧損為 110 萬美元，比去年同期虧損 430 萬美元減少了 320 萬美元。全年淨虧損為 1450 萬美元，而上一年的淨收入為 320 萬美元。我想提醒大家，在 2021 年，Asure 確認了與 CARES 法案相關的 1880 萬美元的特別收益。如果沒有這些收益，2021 年的淨虧損將達到 1570 萬美元。

Gross margins rose by 9 percentage points to 72% in the fourth quarter, while non-GAAP gross margins rose 8 percentage points to 76%. This reflects our strong revenue gains the high margin mix of the growth and the impact of our standardization and consolidation efforts. EBITDA for the quarter was $5 million, a $3.5 million improvement from prior year's quarter of $1.5 million.

第四季度毛利率上升 9 個百分點至 72%，而非 GAAP 毛利率上升 8 個百分點至 76%。這反映了我們強勁的收入收益、增長的高利潤率組合以及我們標準化和整合工作的影響。本季度的 EBITDA 為 500 萬美元，比去年同期的 150 萬美元增加了 350 萬美元。

Full year EBITDA came in at $8.8 million versus $22.3 million a year earlier. Excluding the extraordinary gains just discussed, 2021 EBITDA would have been $3.4 million. Adjusted EBITDA rose by $3.7 million relative to prior year to $6 million, and our adjusted EBITDA margin reached 20.1% in the quarter compared with 11% in the prior year. Margin expansion was driven by growing high-margin revenue streams, continued progress with our efficiency initiatives and scale benefits from our growth.

全年 EBITDA 為 880 萬美元，而去年同期為 2230 萬美元。排除剛剛討論的超常收益，2021 年的 EBITDA 將為 340 萬美元。調整後的 EBITDA 較上年同期增長 370 萬美元，達到 600 萬美元，本季度調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率達到 20.1%，上年同期為 11%。利潤率的增長是由不斷增長的高利潤收入流、我們的效率計劃的持續進展以及我們的增長帶來的規模效益推動的。

These gains more than offset the investments we are making in the expansion of our sales and marketing activities as well as the technology development to drive revenue success. We are encouraged by this proof point in our operating model as it demonstrates the long-term potential scalability of the business. We ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of $17 million, we also had $34.9 million of debt, which is comprised of $30 million drawn under our senior credit facility, with the remainder made up of [seller] notes from acquisitions.

這些收益遠遠抵消了我們在擴大銷售和營銷活動以及推動收入成功的技術開發方面的投資。我們對運營模型中的這一證明點感到鼓舞，因為它證明了業務的長期潛在可擴展性。年底，我們的現金和現金等價物為 1700 萬美元，我們還有 3490 萬美元的債務，其中包括在我們的高級信貸額度下提取的 3000 萬美元，其餘部分由收購的 [賣方] 票據組成。

As Pat and I said earlier, the fourth quarter results, we have made some changes to the presentation of our non-GAAP and adjusted disclosures. First, we are providing a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP expenses for each operating expense grouping. In our conversations with analysts and investors, they have expressed the desire to see more detail in our non-GAAP operating expenses. And we are providing a view that is similar to how we have previously provided GAAP to non-GAAP gross profit.

正如帕特和我早些時候所說，第四季度的結果，我們對我們的非公認會計原則和調整後的披露進行了一些更改。首先，我們為每個運營費用分組提供 GAAP 與非 GAAP 費用的對賬。在我們與分析師和投資者的對話中，他們表示希望看到我們的非 GAAP 運營費用的更多細節。我們提供的觀點類似於我們之前為非 GAAP 毛利潤提供 GAAP 的方式。

Secondly, we have revised our definition of one-time expenses. For comparability to current and future period presentations and guidance, we removed from prior period presentations, specific expenses that at the time, we believe would be onetime in nature but are likely to recur given our recent internal forecasting. We have included a GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation for net income to facilitate the comparison to our 2022 guidance. However, going forward, we do not intend to give guidance or report on this metric.

其次，我們修改了一次性費用的定義。為了與當前和未來期間的演示文稿和指導進行比較，我們從前期演示文稿中刪除了當時的特定費用，我們認為這些費用本質上是一次性的，但根據我們最近的內部預測，這些費用可能會再次發生。我們已將 GAAP 與非 GAAP 淨收入對賬納入其中，以方便與我們的 2022 年指南進行比較。但是，展望未來，我們不打算就此指標提供指導或報告。

Turning now to guidance for the first quarter and full year of 2023. Our guidance is offered with a backdrop of continued economic uncertainty and a dynamic labor market. It's also important to keep in mind that the first quarters are seasonally strong as recurring year-end W-2 and ACA revenue is recognized in this period. We are raising our full year 2023 revenue guidance to a range of $105 million to $107 million and adjusted EBITDA margin to a range of 15% to 17%. We are also introducing guidance for the first quarter revenues of $29 million to $30 million and adjusted EBITDA of $6 million to $6.5 million.

現在轉向 2023 年第一季度和全年的指導。我們的指導是在經濟持續不確定和勞動力市場充滿活力的背景下提供的。同樣重要的是要記住，第一季度季節性強勁，因為在此期間確認了經常性的年終 W-2 和 ACA 收入。我們將 2023 年全年收入指引上調至 1.05 億美元至 1.07 億美元，並將 EBITDA 利潤率調整至 15% 至 17%。我們還為第一季度收入 2900 萬至 3000 萬美元和調整後的 EBITDA 600 萬至 650 萬美元引入指導。

Our 2023 guidance does not include any acquisitions. However, we will continue to evaluate those as we always do. Consistent with our historical performance, we expect the first quarter's 2023 results will benefit from revenue generated by annual preparation of federal reporting regarding employee employer reporting of W-2 Income and ACA compliance. Our revenue expansion across multiple categories was excellent in the fourth quarter, and we are encouraged by this momentum continuing into 2023. We have been very successful with building our HR compliance and tax processing solutions. Between our multi-tiered HR offerings and our automated ERTC filing capabilities, we believe we are setting the industry standard for compliance.

我們的 2023 年指南不包括任何收購。但是，我們將一如既往地繼續評估這些。與我們的歷史表現一致，我們預計 2023 年第一季度的業績將受益於每年準備聯邦報告所產生的收入，這些報告涉及僱員雇主報告 W-2 收入和 ACA 合規性。我們在第四季度跨多個類別的收入擴張非常出色，這種勢頭將持續到 2023 年，我們對此感到鼓舞。我們在構建人力資源合規性和稅務處理解決方案方面非常成功。在我們的多層人力資源產品和我們的自動化 ERTC 歸檔功能之間，我們相信我們正在為合規性設定行業標準。

Asure's marketplace is also expected to be an important driver in 2023. We are growing our list of partners and expect strong momentum from this solution. This opportunity is a result of dedicated effort to enhance our technology and to leverage the data we have in our business.

預計 Asure 的市場也將成為 2023 年的重要驅動力。我們正在增加合作夥伴名單，並期待該解決方案的強勁勢頭。這個機會是致力於增強我們的技術和利用我們在業務中擁有的數據的結果。

Further projects are anticipated to go live in the coming quarters. And regarding float, we enjoyed our best quarter yet with float as our consolidation efforts have enabled us to take full advantage of rising rates. We believe float revenues will be a strong contributor to our revenue performance in 2023. We are also continuing to move forward with our standardization and centralization initiatives and anticipate achieving additional operating savings. While nothing is imminent, as we've stated before, we will continue to be opportunistic in evaluating acquisitions and we'll execute if the right opportunity arises to create value for our shareholders.

預計未來幾個季度將有更多項目上線。關於浮動，我們享受了迄今為止最好的浮動季度，因為我們的整合努力使我們能夠充分利用利率上升的優勢。我們相信浮動收入將對我們 2023 年的收入表現做出重要貢獻。我們還將繼續推進標準化和集中化計劃，並預計將實現額外的運營節省。正如我們之前所說，雖然沒有什麼是迫在眉睫的，但我們將繼續在評估收購時投機取巧，如果出現合適的機會為我們的股東創造價值，我們將執行。

With that, I will turn the call back to Pat for closing remarks.

有了這個，我會把電話轉回給帕特，讓他發表結束語。

Thanks, John. I'd like to conclude by saying that 2022 was a busy and successful year at Asure. And I'm very excited about the foundation we have built to drive growth and value creation for the future.

謝謝，約翰。最後，我想說 2022 年是 Asure 忙碌而成功的一年。我對我們為推動未來增長和價值創造而建立的基礎感到非常興奮。

In 2022, we invested in sales and marketing to drive higher demand for our solutions. We invested in product and technology, resulting in enhancements to our HR compliance and tax solutions with greater automation to support new applications such as the Asure marketplace. These investments produced accelerating demand throughout 2022 with Q4 new sales bookings growing 234% year-over-year.

2022 年，我們投資於銷售和營銷，以推動對我們解決方案的更高需求。我們投資於產品和技術，從而增強了我們的人力資源合規性和稅務解決方案，提高了自動化程度，以支持 Asure 市場等新應用程序。這些投資在整個 2022 年產生了加速需求，第四季度新銷售預訂量同比增長 234%。

And with fourth quarter organic revenue growth accelerating as we said it would. We also continue to improve our cost structure and efficiencies by pursuing consolidation and standardization initiatives designed to save $5 million annually when fully complete. We are really excited about the progress we made in 2022 and anticipate following it up with a strong performance again in 2023.

正如我們所說的那樣，第四季度有機收入增長加速。我們還通過推行整合和標準化計劃來繼續改善我們的成本結構和效率，這些計劃旨在在完全完成後每年節省 500 萬美元。我們對我們在 2022 年取得的進展感到非常興奮，並預計在 2023 年再次取得強勁表現。

In 2023, we anticipate delivering double-digit organic revenue growth and strong adjusted EBITDA margin gains. Our revenue guidance anticipates solid momentum with our HR compliance and tax solutions, reflecting the upgrades we have made. Revenue contribution is expected to come from new revenue solutions such as the Asure marketplace.

2023 年，我們預計實現兩位數的有機收入增長和強勁的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率收益。我們的收入指南預計我們的人力資源合規性和稅務解決方案將取得強勁勢頭，反映出我們所做的升級。收入貢獻預計將來自新的收入解決方案，例如 Asure 市場。

Interest revenues are also anticipated to increase meaningfully due to the rise in rates and investable balances. We'll continue to pursue our consolidation and standardization initiatives while simultaneously investing in technology development and sales expansion to support long-term success. We are excited about the foundation that we have laid, which we expect to drive double-digit revenue growth and increasing margins. We look forward to updating you on our progress next quarter or during one of the several conferences we'll be participating in over the next couple of months.

由於利率和可投資餘額的上升，預計利息收入也將大幅增加。我們將繼續推行我們的整合和標準化計劃，同時投資於技術開發和銷售擴張以支持長期成功。我們對已經奠定的基礎感到興奮，我們預計這將推動兩位數的收入增長和利潤率的增加。我們期待在下個季度或在接下來幾個月我們將參加的幾個會議之一期間向您通報我們的進展情況。

So with that, I'll send the call back to the operator for the Q&A session. Operator?

因此，我會將電話發送回接線員進行問答環節。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from Barry Bergin from Cowen.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Cowen 的 Barry Bergin。

Wanted to start here on demand drivers. So is it possible you can quantify some of the larger contributors to that strong bookings performance, the 200% plus in 4Q? And how have you seen that strong level of demand? Has it continued into the early part here through January and into February?

想從這裡開始點播司機。那麼，您是否有可能量化一些對預訂表現強勁的貢獻者，即第四季度的 200% 以上？您如何看待如此強勁的需求？它是否一直持續到一月和二月的早期？

Yes. Bryan, thanks for the question. First of all, the marketplace, if you think about how we started in April, we announced the Equifax deal, we've announced in Q1 and Q2 -- or excuse me, Q1 and Q4, whether the H&R Block or Intuit recently, ZayZoon. So clearly, the marketplace has a ton of focus. HR compliance offering has really picked up steam, especially in the second half of the year, and there's no reason to think that it won't continue. Our tax filing solutions have done really well. We did bring some tax partners on in the fourth quarter. and there was some accelerated demand on backlog of processing ERTC or in addition to some of the tax deals that we also announced. So what I would say is Q4 and Q1 feel real good. There's a continuation of those -- primarily those 4 product lines that have really accelerated in the second half of 2022, and we anticipate them to continue in 2023.

是的。布萊恩，謝謝你的提問。首先，市場，如果你想想我們在 4 月份是如何開始的，我們宣布了 Equifax 交易，我們在第一季度和第二季度宣布了——或者對不起，第一季度和第四季度，無論是最近的 H&R Block 還是 Intuit，ZayZoon .很明顯，市場有很多焦點。人力資源合規服務確實在加速發展，尤其是在今年下半年，而且沒有理由認為它不會繼續下去。我們的報稅解決方案做得非常好。我們確實在第四季度引入了一些稅務合作夥伴。對處理 ERTC 積壓的需求有所增加，或者除了我們還宣布的一些稅收協議之外。所以我要說的是 Q4 和 Q1 感覺真的很好。這些還在繼續——主要是在 2022 年下半年真正加速的那 4 個產品線，我們預計它們將在 2023 年繼續。

Okay. That's good to hear. And then just on float revenue. So I know you sold it sounds like you're through the consolidation there in the accounts -- can you give us a sense on what the float was in 4Q and how you're forecasting that into 2023, just so we can kind of keep that out when we think about operating margin expansion ex float?

好的。聽起來還不錯。然後只是浮動收入。所以我知道你賣掉了，聽起來你正在通過賬戶中的整合——你能告訴我們第四季度的浮動情況以及你如何預測到 2023 年，這樣我們就可以保持當我們考慮浮動營業利潤率擴張時？

Yes, I'll give you a little bit of sense, just to give you some rough numbers again. Average balances were pretty consistent throughout the quarter of a little over $200 million. I'd say we entered the quarter at probably 2% on that $200 million. And with the rising rates, we probably ended the quarter around 3%. And let me kind of explain you how that's composed. Roughly $60 million is laddered. And so there's always some money coming off and that's getting reinvested at higher rates, but it's potentially a little bit lower than the current Fed funds rates. Where we're really seeing the upside is in that short-term money because we're getting pretty close with most of our banking partners the Fed funds rate. So that gives you some sense in terms of modeling, but yes, it's definitely going to be a positive in terms of the compares for the balance of '23, at least that's what we expect.

是的，我給你一點意義，只是再給你一些粗略的數字。整個季度的平均餘額非常穩定，略高於 2 億美元。我想說我們進入本季度的那 2 億美元可能是 2%。隨著利率上升，我們可能在本季度結束時達到 3% 左右。讓我向您解釋一下它是如何組成的。大約有 6000 萬美元。因此，總會有一些資金流出，並以更高的利率進行再投資，但可能略低於當前的聯邦基金利率。我們真正看到好處的地方是短期資金，因為我們與大多數銀行合作夥伴的聯邦基金利率非常接近。所以這在建模方面給了你一些意義，但是，是的，就 23 年的平衡而言，這肯定是積極的，至少這是我們所期望的。

Okay. And if I could squeeze just one more in here. So I understand the outlook here is all organic. Just how are you guys thinking about M&A? Anything here imminent on the recall front?

好的。如果我能在這裡再擠一個。所以我明白這裡的前景都是有機的。你們如何看待併購？召回方面有什麼迫在眉睫的事情嗎？

Yes, Bryan. From my perspective, one of the things that the teams worked hard on is popping out the model because we believe we got it, and we believe the model has a lot of momentum. What we wanted to do is pop out that model, and we'll continue to do that in the first half of the year. I would say the second half of the year, we'll evaluate and really look at being more aggressive in acquisitions.

是的，布萊恩。從我的角度來看，團隊努力工作的其中一件事就是彈出模型，因為我們相信我們得到了它，並且我們相信該模型有很大的動力。我們想做的是彈出該模型，我們將在今年上半年繼續這樣做。我會說今年下半年，我們將評估並真正考慮在收購方面更加積極。

We think we have the luxury with the reseller network to -- that there are some folks that are raising their hands. As you may know, the debt market is a bit of a mess right now. What we want to do is be real thoughtful on keeping the momentum that we have, both organic and with margin expansion. And then we'll start to revisit layering acquisitions in because we do think that's an important part of the model. But I would look more midyear, second half of 2023.

我們認為我們擁有經銷商網絡的奢侈品 - 有些人正在舉手。如您所知，債務市場現在有點亂。我們想要做的是真正深思熟慮地保持我們擁有的勢頭，包括有機增長和利潤率擴張。然後我們將開始重新審視分層收購，因為我們確實認為這是模型的重要組成部分。但我會更多地關注年中，即 2023 年下半年。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question comes from Joshua Reilly from Needham & Company.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Needham & Company 的 Joshua Reilly。

Nice job on the strong results here in the quarter are pretty impressive. If you yes, if you look at the Pro services revenue in Q4, it was quite above -- a bit above what we were modeling. How should we think about that mix in 2023? And is there anything there to call out in terms of one-time projects or anything there in Q4 that drove that higher than normal?

本季度的強勁業績令人印象深刻。如果你是的話，如果你看一下第四季度的專業服務收入，它會高於——略高於我們建模的水平。我們應該如何考慮 2023 年的這種組合？就一次性項目或第四季度的任何推動高於正常水平的項目而言，是否有什麼值得一提的？

Josh, thanks for the question. On Pro Services, some of the quarters were probably $1 million and change. In the fourth quarter, we had signed up some partners around ERTC and some tax-related products. And if you think about some of those partners because we can get it done a lot faster from a processing perspective because the calculation engine is already built, and then we had some streamlined processes that make it easier we were able to work off some onetime for them. They had some backlog. We were able to help them push that backlog through.

喬希，謝謝你的提問。在 Pro Services 上，有些季度可能是 100 萬美元，並且有變化。四季度，我們圍繞ERTC和一些涉稅產品簽約了一些合作夥伴。如果你考慮其中一些合作夥伴，因為我們可以從處理的角度更快地完成它，因為計算引擎已經構建，然後我們有一些簡化的流程，使我們能夠更輕鬆地一次性完成工作他們。他們有一些積壓。我們能夠幫助他們解決積壓的問題。

I would anticipate that we'll have some project revenue or ERTC revenue in 2023. We haven't modeled a ton of it in because we do believe we are working off backlog at a big rate in Q4 and then it will normalize in 2023, but there could be upside to the plan, but we're not going to forecast that as we go.

我預計我們將在 2023 年獲得一些項目收入或 ERTC 收入。我們沒有對其進行大量建模，因為我們確實相信我們在第四季度大量處理積壓工作，然後它將在 2023 年正常化，但該計劃可能有上行空間，但我們不會在進行時進行預測。

Okay. So if we're looking at the Q1 revenue guidance, there's going to be some reversion in the mix, I assume backed (inaudible).

好的。因此，如果我們查看第一季度的收入指引，組合中會有一些逆轉，我假設支持（聽不清）。

What you'll find, Josh, is seasonally, we're very strong in W-2 revenue, et cetera, in the first quarter, some of the onetime revenue in the fourth quarter may not come back, but it gives us confidence on 29% to 30%. Now as we do see some project revenue with ERTC, we may be guiding conservatively, but we don't want to kind of declare it before we revenue it. So that will be some conservative to the plan.

你會發現，Josh，是季節性的，我們在第一季度的 W-2 收入等方面非常強勁，第四季度的一些一次性收入可能不會回來，但這讓我們對29% 到 30%。現在我們確實看到了 ERTC 的一些項目收入，我們可能會保守地指導，但我們不想在我們獲得收入之前宣布它。所以這對計劃來說會有些保守。

Got it. That's helpful. And then if you look at the gross margin improvement year-over-year, obviously, very impressive. Can you just give us a sense of how much of that is due to the higher interest income versus the business mix with the marketplace revenue. It sounds like that's starting to ramp? Or is there anything else there to call out on gross margin in Q4?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後，如果你看一下毛利率同比增長，顯然非常令人印象深刻。您能否告訴我們其中有多少是由於較高的利息收入與業務組合與市場收入有關。好像要開始漲價了？或者在第四季度的毛利率方面還有什麼值得關注的嗎？

I think some of that is also in the processing that Pat was referring to. I mean because of the technology that the teams put in place, it's pretty high-margin business when it's all said and done. So I think the combination of the HR compliance that Pat mentioned, the float the tax processing, I think that's all combined are pretty high margin and obviously, the marketplace, too. So I think it's pretty exciting for us. look, we're not going to necessarily have that same combination every quarter, but it kind of shows you what the business plan and what the business model can look like at that scale. So I don't think if we can continue to add those revenue streams at this high margins, this is what the business can produce longer term.

我認為其中一些也在 Pat 所指的處理過程中。我的意思是，由於團隊採用的技術，總而言之，這是一項利潤率相當高的業務。因此，我認為 Pat 提到的人力資源合規性、浮動稅務處理的結合，我認為所有這些結合起來都是相當高的利潤率，顯然，市場也是如此。所以我認為這對我們來說非常令人興奮。看，我們不一定每個季度都有相同的組合，但它會向您展示業務計劃和業務模型在這種規模下的樣子。因此，我認為如果我們能夠繼續以如此高的利潤率增加這些收入流，那麼這就是企業可以長期產生的。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question comes from Richard Baldry from ROTH Capital.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 ROTH Capital 的 Richard Baldry。

Congrats on the quarter. It looks like the partner revenue structures, I'd be curious if you could dig into a little bit. It looks like some of them come on sort of the step function because they're sort of very recurring oriented what the services you're dealing with them. Others would be a bit more seasonal and take some time to ramp into their customer bases. So how do you think about those in terms of how you layer those on to your 2023 outlook, there's any seasonality that we should be thinking about?

祝賀這個季度。它看起來像合作夥伴的收入結構，我很好奇你是否可以深入了解一下。看起來他們中的一些人出現了某種階梯功能，因為他們在某種程度上非常重複地面向您正在處理的服務。其他人會更具季節性，需要一些時間才能進入他們的客戶群。那麼，您如何根據 2023 年的展望來考慮這些因素，我們應該考慮哪些季節性因素？

Yes, Rich, good question. Around the marketplace, there will be -- how we look at it, in general, is as you think about kind of the needs of employees and employers, one of the example that we recently announced, Earn wage access, which if somebody is punching in and they don't get paid for 2 or 3 weeks, giving them access to money that they've worked prior to received we think it's going to be probably a everyday occurrence or won't be seasonal. W-2s, for example, with the Intuit and with the H&R Block primarily, it will be around a first quarter kind of revenue initiatives. So we kind of contemplated that in our guidance. I think you will see more announcements throughout the year of marketplace.

是的，Rich，問得好。圍繞市場，一般來說，我們如何看待它，就像您考慮僱員和雇主的需求一樣，這是我們最近宣布的例子之一，賺取工資，如果有人正在打孔並且他們在 2 或 3 週內沒有得到報酬，這讓他們可以獲得他們在收到之前已經工作過的錢，我們認為這可能是每天都會發生的事情，或者不會是季節性的。例如，W-2s，主要是 Intuit 和 H&R Block，它將圍繞第一季度的收入計劃。所以我們在我們的指南中考慮到了這一點。我認為您會在市場全年看到更多公告。

When I look at the Equifax deal it took from announcement, I believe, in April to August 31, it took us somewhere around 6 months to get started. So -- we're still in the early days. We think we have a lot of potential. We're probably not as refined yet to have the seasonality of the marketplace. But we will give guidance each quarter throughout the year. And what we see in the first quarter, we feel real comfortable with.

當我查看從公告到 Equifax 的交易時，我相信從 4 月到 8 月 31 日，我們花了大約 6 個月的時間才開始。所以 - 我們仍處於早期階段。我們認為我們有很大的潛力。我們可能還沒有那麼精緻，還不具備市場的季節性。但是我們會在全年的每個季度給出指導。我們在第一季度看到的，我們感到非常舒服。

Okay. My second one, you talk a bit about the sales team you have to start this year? Maybe contrast it to last year in terms of tenure, capacity or the pipelines they have, how they've been able to build those and just sort of to give us an idea of how that strength in organic can continue on the sort of per employee per month baseline business?

好的。我的第二個，你談談你今年必須開始的銷售團隊？也許將其與去年在任期、能力或他們擁有的管道方面進行對比，他們如何能夠建立這些，只是讓我們了解有機的優勢如何在每個員工身上繼續存在每月基線業務？

Yes. No, I appreciate it, Rich. And I'm going to give a shout out and we'll get them on a future earnings call. But Eyal Goldstein, our President has done just a wonderful job of really building out the sales team and really adding kind of an art and a science, and we just came off about a month ago, our sales kickoff meeting. But really enthused. I think the biggest difference is, one, just by numbers. We're close to 90 sales reps now. And there's sales reps we want, and they want us and we're excited about. I think the retention of the sales force this year and they're having success that second and third year of tenure leads to big productivity improvements.

是的。不，我很感激，里奇。我要大聲疾呼，我們會讓他們參加未來的財報電話會議。但是 Eyal Goldstein，我們的總裁在真正建立銷售團隊並真正增加一種藝術和科學方面做得非常出色，我們大約一個月前剛剛結束了我們的銷售啟動會議。但是真的很心動。我認為最大的區別是，第一，只是數字。我們現在接近 90 名銷售代表。還有我們想要的銷售代表，他們想要我們，我們對此感到興奮。我認為今年保留銷售人員並且他們在任期的第二年和第三年取得成功會導致生產率大幅提高。

Obviously, some of the products in the bag, I alluded to tax filing and ERTC processing, HR compliance, the marketplace we've gotten some big kind of productivity gains based on those areas. So when I refer year-over-year, to me, it's the tenure of the sales force, more products in the bag, more technology enhancements. And then as I look for pipeline where we had a really strong fourth quarter and pipeline is not slowing down. We'll have difficult compares compared to the previous year, but we have a lot of momentum going on in the sales organization.

顯然，包裡的一些產品，我提到了稅務申報和 ERTC 處理、人力資源合規性，我們在這些領域的基礎上獲得了一些巨大的生產力收益。因此，當我逐年提及時，對我來說，這是銷售人員的任期，更多的產品，更多的技術改進。然後當我尋找管道時，我們在第四季度表現非常強勁，管道並沒有放緩。與前一年相比，我們會有困難的比較，但我們在銷售組織中有很大的發展勢頭。

Yes. And I would add, Rich, just one other thing. You'll see it in our IR deck, and we're going to be out at different conferences over the next few months. But I think it's a pretty big refresh in terms of the way we're kind of explaining the business. I think it's -- we've been prophesizing it, but we've got it now kind of better in the deck. I mean we're not just a traditional ECM service rendering anymore. I think we're trying to obviously continue to do that, but really, really start to talk about biz dev and some of these different opportunities that add revenue streams. So if you take a -- take a look at it, we're happy to follow up with you and talk about that deck, but we spent some decent amount of time kind of really rebuilding the story. So I think that -- if you focus on that, that might also help.

是的。我要補充一點，里奇，還有一件事。你會在我們的 IR 平台上看到它，我們將在接下來的幾個月裡參加不同的會議。但我認為，就我們解釋業務的方式而言，這是一個相當大的更新。我認為這是——我們一直在預言它，但我們現在已經有了更好的準備。我的意思是我們不再只是傳統的 ECM 服務渲染。我認為我們顯然正在努力繼續這樣做，但實際上，真的開始談論業務開發和其中一些增加收入流的不同機會。所以如果你看一看，我們很樂意跟進你並談論那個套牌，但我們花了相當多的時間來真正重建這個故事。所以我認為 - 如果你專注於此，那可能也會有所幫助。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question comes from Eric Martinuzzi from Lake Street Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Lake Street Capital Markets 的 Eric Martinuzzi。

Yes. I wanted to better understand the uplift in the 2023 guide. We're up $6 million at the midpoint versus where we were 90 days ago. I know you've had success pretty much across the product line from HR compliance to tax filing to ERTC in the marketplace. But the lift in the full year outlook, can you pin that down to 1 or 2 capabilities that you got?

是的。我想更好地了解 2023 年指南中的提升。與 90 天前相比，我們在中點增加了 600 萬美元。我知道你在市場上從 HR 合規到稅務申報再到 ERTC 的整個產品線都取得了很大的成功。但是，全年前景的提升，您能否將其歸因於您獲得的 1 或 2 個能力？

My perspective, it's the same things we keep talking about, Rich. I mean, Eric, the float back when we gave that guide, Fed funds continue to go up as an example, I think we continue to see strength in the marketplace that we were a very early stages when we get that initial guide and we feel like it's really starting to kick in. So I mean those are just 2 examples of things that we've gotten better confidence in since the last time we gave guidance.

我的觀點是，我們一直在談論同樣的事情，Rich。我的意思是，埃里克，當我們給出該指南時，聯邦基金繼續上漲就是一個例子，我認為我們繼續看到市場的力量，我們在獲得初始指南時處於非常早期的階段，我們覺得就像它真的開始發揮作用一樣。所以我的意思是，自上次我們提供指導以來，這些只是我們變得更有信心的事情的兩個例子。

Okay. And then...

好的。進而...

And then, Eric -- Just lastly, Eric, I think the sales momentum, I didn't forecast 234% year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter. So that gives us comfort that we have a higher jumping off point. So -- but good momentum. I think it will continue. I think we're early days on some of these initiatives, and we thought it warranted that uptick.

然後，埃里克——最後，埃里克，我認為銷售勢頭，我沒有預測第四季度同比增長 234%。所以這讓我們感到安慰，因為我們有一個更高的起點。所以 - 但勢頭良好。我認為它會繼續下去。我認為我們在其中一些舉措上還處於早期階段，我們認為這有理由提高。

Yes. No, I'm not going to complain about a guide up for the year. The other thing, I just wanted to get a layer deeper on the investments you talked about because at the same time, you're talking about $5 million in efficiencies. You're also talking about investing in the business. You had mentioned the sales headcount of about 90 reps coming out of 2022. Where do you expect that to be at the end of 2023?

是的。不，我不會抱怨年度指南。另一件事，我只是想更深入地了解你談到的投資，因為與此同時，你正在談論 500 萬美元的效率。你也在談論投資業務。您曾提到到 2022 年將有大約 90 名銷售代表。您預計到 2023 年底會達到多少？

Probably slightly over 100 or so from a sales rep perspective. We're also investing in engineers and development resources. We feel that, that product and extension of the product is really important. And if you think about the marketplace, we're going to add partners each quarter throughout the year. So we're investing in some of that work as well. And then you take that and then you balance it with operational efficiency as we're building a national business.

從銷售代表的角度來看，可能略高於 100 個左右。我們還投資於工程師和開發資源。我們認為，產品和產品的擴展非常重要。如果你考慮市場，我們將在全年每個季度增加合作夥伴。所以我們也在投資其中的一些工作。然後你接受它，然後在我們建立全國性業務時平衡它與運營效率。

Some of the initiatives we talked about, SKUs are going from 2,000 to 200 bank accounts, 125 to less than 20, instances of our payroll platforms in AWS have been standardized and in the process of standardizing. Phone systems with chat features and a national system no matter where you are, are all things that we're getting efficiencies.

我們談到的一些舉措，SKU 正在從 2,000 個銀行賬戶增加到 200 個，從 125 個減少到不到 20 個，我們在 AWS 中的薪資平台實例已經標準化並且正在標準化過程中。具有聊天功能的電話系統和無論您身在何處的國家系統，都是我們正在提高效率的東西。

And then one thing that I'd point out, and it really manifests itself in the fourth quarter is September 30, 2021, we made 2 acquisitions. I believe at the time, we're somewhere around 544 employees or so. And I think we ended the year something like 501 according to our 10-K. So when you look at that, those efficiencies came in, but the beauty of that is we're not slowing down the investments in the front of business or development side of the business.

然後我要指出的一件事，它真正體現在第四季度是 2021 年 9 月 30 日，我們進行了 2 次收購。我相信當時我們大約有 544 名員工。我認為根據我們的 10-K，我們今年結束時大約是 501。因此，當您看到這一點時，這些效率就來了，但其中的美妙之處在於我們並沒有放慢對業務前端或業務開發方面的投資。

We're just getting better and more efficient at what we do. And then I'd remind you, 7 years ago, we weren't even in this business. So to build what we're looking at is $106 million, I would say, 20% adjusted EBITDA by 2024. We're just getting more and more confidence that the model is starting to get hardened, and we think we have the opportunity to continue to grow again.

我們只是在我們所做的事情上變得更好、更有效率。然後我會提醒你，7 年前，我們甚至不從事這項業務。因此，要建立我們正在尋找的是 1.06 億美元，我想說，到 2024 年調整後的 EBITDA 達到 20%。我們越來越有信心模型開始變得穩固，我們認為我們有機會繼續生長。

Got it. Congrats on the quarter and the outlook.

知道了。祝賀本季度和前景。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question comes from Jeff Van Rhee from Craig-Hallum.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Craig-Hallum 的 Jeff Van Rhee。

Great. Just exceptional performance, you guys congrats. So a couple for me. I guess on the upside, Pat, would you contrast the momentum and particularly the upside relative to expectations you saw along the lines of whether more or less of it came through licensees versus direct business. Do you see a meaningful difference in the momentum in the different channels?

偉大的。只是出色的表現，你們恭喜。所以一對對我來說。我想從好的方面來看，帕特，你會比較勢頭，特別是相對於你所看到的預期的上行空間，即它是更多還是更少來自被許可人與直接業務。您是否看到不同渠道的勢頭存在顯著差異？

I think some of the channel business around some of the onetime revenue probably was good momentum from CPA firms and some market firms around earned retention tax credit. So that obviously was good momentum, and the volume of the backlog probably was a little bit unexpected coming into the quarter. So very pleased with the performance in that area. And then the direct sales force, really with the product lines that we talked about, their ability to execute and deliver revenue in the quarter.

我認為圍繞一些一次性收入的一些渠道業務可能是註冊會計師公司和一些市場公司圍繞賺取保留稅收抵免的良好勢頭。因此，這顯然是一個良好的勢頭，進入本季度時積壓的數量可能有點出乎意料。對該領域的表現非常滿意。然後是直銷人員，實際上是我們談到的產品線，他們在本季度執行和交付收入的能力。

Clearly, we were happy with that. We guided to a double-digit repetitive revenue and to surpass that in both the indirect and direct side was positive but the direct side on a repetitive side was very, very encouraging to see. And that helped us in the 2023 guide to guide up.

顯然，我們對此很滿意。我們引導了兩位數的重複收入，並且在間接和直接方面都超過了這一點是積極的，但在重複方面的直接方面非常非常令人鼓舞。這幫助我們在 2023 年的指南中向上引導。

And the new customer momentum, where are you seeing greater new customer momentum on the licensees or your own direct efforts?

以及新客戶的動力，你在哪裡看到被許可人或你自己的直接努力帶來更大的新客戶動力？

I would tell you, I think the cross-sell component in the licensee area has gained a lot of momentum, and we'll continue to gain momentum in 2023. And from the direct side, new logos have done really, really well. And in some of our partnerships around the new logos, that feed the direct business have done really well or we anticipate we'll do very well in 2023. So we made a lot of tax announcements including Workday and PRISM and those things, we've had a lot of marketing work on behalf of those partnerships, we anticipate those to be very, very strong.

我會告訴你，我認為被許可人領域的交叉銷售部分已經獲得了很大的勢頭，我們將在 2023 年繼續獲得勢頭。從直接方面來看，新標識做得非常非常好。在我們圍繞新徽標的一些合作夥伴關係中，直接業務做得非常好，或者我們預計我們會在 2023 年做得很好。所以我們發布了很多稅務公告，包括 Workday 和 PRISM 等等，我們'我們為這些合作夥伴關係做了很多營銷工作，我們預計這些合作夥伴關係會非常非常強大。

And then HR compliance on the direct side, the bundles are really working, especially in the second half of the year. We anticipate that, that momentum will continue and feel really good about that as well.

然後是直接方面的人力資源合規性，這些捆綁包確實有效，尤其是在下半年。我們預計，這種勢頭將繼續下去，並且對此感覺非常好。

Maybe one last if I could sneak it in, then just update us on your macro thinking versus 90 days. 90 days ago? How has it changed?

也許最後一次，如果我能偷偷摸摸的話，然後向我們更新你的宏觀思維與 90 天的對比。 90 天前？它是如何改變的？

John, I don't know if you want to comment and then I'll comment.

約翰，我不知道你是否想發表評論，然後我會發表評論。

Yes. I mean I don't think it's really changed. Again, what we're seeing from our perspective is this is not a main street recession. There's still -- where we see the jobs being shed are in the bigger tech firms and the bigger firms. Obviously, that's not our client base. And so we're not seeing a lot of degradation right now and knock on wood, hopefully, there's no contagion effect, but I don't think it's really changed much since the last time we got to give you guys an update on that perspective.

是的。我的意思是我不認為它真的改變了。同樣，從我們的角度來看，這不是主要的經濟衰退。仍然 - 我們看到正在裁員的工作是在更大的科技公司和更大的公司。顯然，那不是我們的客戶群。所以我們現在沒有看到很多退化和敲木頭，希望沒有傳染效應，但我認為自上次我們向你們介紹這個觀點以來，情況並沒有真正改變.

Yes, Jeff, very similar. But what I would say a couple of things. interest rates, probably there's maybe a raise in interest rates more or 1 or 2 in the forecast prior to 90 days ago, that's only good for us as we sit on over $200 million average daily balance. So that's a slight positive. And then what John said, I don't think a mild recession would hurt us. When I think back to the Main Street. There's still the businesses that we serve, they can't hire enough people.

是的，傑夫，非常相似。但我想說幾件事。利率，在 90 天前的預測中可能會加息 1 次或 2 次，這對我們有利，因為我們的日均餘額超過 2 億美元。所以這是一個輕微的積極因素。然後約翰說，我認為溫和的衰退不會傷害我們。當我回想起大街時。我們服務的企業仍然存在，他們招不到足夠的人。

And then if you think about some of the marketplace, we're rolling out like earn wage access, what that will be able to do is an employer can confidently say, hey, work today, get paid today. So we think that, that will be good. And then when I think of the effects of COVID pick your number, pick your source, but the bottom line is, it is people who dropped out at a workplace and they haven't come back. We believe that if we have a mild recession and your 401(k) becomes a 301(k), it might kind of drive people back to the workforce. And if it does, in Main Street America, that's really good for Asure Software.

然後，如果你考慮一些市場，我們正在推出像賺取工資的機會，雇主可以自信地說，嘿，今天工作，今天就得到報酬。所以我們認為，那會很好。然後，當我想到 COVID 的影響時，請選擇你的號碼，選擇你的來源，但歸根結底，是那些在工作場所輟學並且沒有回來的人。我們相信，如果經濟出現溫和衰退，而您的 401(k) 變為 301(k)，這可能會促使人們重返工作崗位。如果確實如此，在美國大街上，這對 Asure Software 來說真的很好。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question comes from Vincent Colicchio from Barrington Research.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Barrington Research 的 Vincent Colicchio。

Yes, Pat, a terrific quarter. On the growth side,what was the contribution of acquisitions? I know it was small, but -- and also, curious what portion of the organic growth was driven by the improvement in float income?

是的，帕特，一個了不起的季度。在增長方面，收購的貢獻是什麼？我知道它很小，但是——而且，好奇浮動收入的改善推動了有機增長的哪一部分？

Yes. So Vince, first of all, always a pleasure to talk to you. Our acquisition revenue was about $250,000 in the fourth quarter. So we had done a small deal in January. And the fourth quarter, that was about the contribution of revenue. So really, everything else was organic. And then as far as float, I don't think we broke out that small acquisition on float, but it's safe to say all but, let's say, 1% was organic revenue growth, and we're very pleased with that.

是的。所以文斯，首先，很高興和你交談。我們第四季度的收購收入約為 250,000 美元。所以我們在一月份做了一筆小交易。第四季度，這是關於收入的貢獻。所以真的，其他一切都是有機的。然後就浮動而言，我認為我們沒有在浮動上進行小規模收購，但可以肯定地說，1% 是有機收入增長，我們對此感到非常滿意。

And the marketplace, what type of contribution can we expect in '23? Is it a meaningful number?

而市場，我們可以在 23 年期待什麼樣的貢獻？是有意義的數字嗎？

I think it will be a accelerating number over time. If you think about it in the fourth quarter, Equifax was the primary vehicle in the marketplace. Recently, we announced H&R Block, and we announced the Intuit. We also announced a ZayZoon. I think you'll see more announcements to come. We haven't broken out marketplace revenue and simply put, relatively new product line or business for us. We look at the Equifax deal, and we thought we executed that well, but we went from start to finish on beginning revenue for about 6 months. So we'll continue and kind of in 2023, I think you'll see more announcements around the marketplace. And then you'll see more refined guidance that as these revenue streams become more and more predictable. But make no mistake about it, we anticipate some big things multiyear over the marketplace.

我認為隨著時間的推移，這將是一個加速的數字。如果您在第四季度考慮一下，Equifax 是市場上的主要工具。最近，我們發布了 H&R Block，並發布了 Intuit。我們還發布了 ZayZoon。我想你會看到更多的公告。我們沒有打破市場收入，簡單地說，我們的產品線或業務相對較新。我們看看 Equifax 的交易，我們認為我們執行得很好，但我們從開始到結束的收入大約持續了 6 個月。所以我們會在 2023 年繼續，我想你會在市場上看到更多的公告。然後你會看到更精細的指導，因為這些收入流變得越來越可預測。但請不要誤會，我們預計市場上會出現多年的重大事件。

And one more for me. The acquisition environment, any improvement in pricing?

還有一個給我。收購環境，定價有何改善？

For us, Vince, I think it's interesting. We've been really working on the model, and the team has done a really nice job of whether it's technology, whether it's operations, sales and marketing, finance and administration, everybody's gotten more efficient. Our objective was to pop out the model, get over $100 million, build a national business get kind of 20% by 2024, margins and then continue to grow. What we'll do is that first half of this year as we pop out the model, we've already had some conversations for the second half of 2023.

對我們來說，文斯，我認為這很有趣。我們一直在努力研究模型，團隊在技術、運營、銷售和營銷、財務和管理方面都做得非常好，每個人都變得更有效率。我們的目標是推出模型，獲得超過 1 億美元，建立一個到 2024 年達到 20% 利潤率的全國性業務，然後繼續增長。我們要做的是在今年上半年推出模型時，我們已經就 2023 年下半年進行了一些對話。

And we anticipate we'll add to the model because now we can add to it in a way where when we were building a business, it was all about size. Now it's all about scale. And we feel like we -- as evidenced by our 2021 acquisitions, what we can do is add those acquisitions with scale and profitability for Asure. So we're through the fixed -- high fixed cost nature of the business. We're starting to get into really good organic growth. really good line of sight to profitability, and then we'll do more and more acquisitions in the model. So I think we'll start to accelerate. But right now, we're joining -- really enjoying the organic nature of popping out the model.

我們預計我們會添加到模型中，因為現在我們可以以一種方式添加到模型中，在我們建立業務時，一切都與規模有關。現在一切都與規模有關。我們覺得我們——正如我們 2021 年的收購所證明的那樣，我們能做的就是為 Asure 添加具有規模和盈利能力的收購。所以我們通過了固定的——高固定成本的業務。我們開始進入非常好的有機增長。盈利能力真的很好，然後我們將在模型中進行越來越多的收購。所以我認為我們會開始加速。但現在，我們加入了——真正享受彈出模型的有機本質。

And I'm showing no further questions. I would now like to turn the call back over to Pat for closing remarks.

我沒有再提出任何問題。我現在想將電話轉回給 Pat 以作結束語。

Yes. Really excited about the business. I think hats off to the employees of Asure. You performed your jobs in a wonderful way. You're committed, really appreciate each and every one of you. Some of our investors that have been with us a long time. I appreciate you hanging in there with us, and we had a dream and a vision, and we're starting to execute on that, and it's good to see that you're being rewarded. From a client perspective, we have great clients and they stay with us a long time, and it's fun to grow with them, and it's fun to give them enhancements that will continue that growth for years to come.

是的。對這項業務真的很興奮。我想向 Asure 的員工致敬。你以出色的方式完成了你的工作。你很投入，真的很感激你們每一個人。我們的一些投資者已經和我們在一起很長時間了。我很感激你和我們在一起，我們有一個夢想和願景，我們開始執行它，很高興看到你得到回報。從客戶的角度來看，我們有很棒的客戶，他們和我們在一起很長時間了，和他們一起成長很有趣，給他們提供可以在未來幾年繼續增長的增強功能也很有趣。

So The best days of Asure are ahead of us and really excited about the progress. Thank you for your time joining on the call or the web and look forward to talking to you soon. We are going to be at several conferences here in their first quarter, second quarter. So, hopefully, we can catch you along the way at one of those conferences, and have a great day. Thank you.

因此，Asure 最好的日子就在我們前面，我們對取得的進展感到非常興奮。感謝您抽出時間加入電話會議或網絡，期待盡快與您交談。我們將在他們的第一季度、第二季度參加幾個會議。所以，希望我們能在其中一個會議上遇到你，祝你有美好的一天。謝謝。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。