Cash America 2015 Annual Report Download - page 29

a violation of applicable privacy and other laws, significant legal and financial exposure, damage to the Company’s
reputation, and a loss of confidence in the Company’s security measures, which could harm its business. In addition,
most of the Company’s customers provide personal information, including bank account information when applying
for consumer loans. The Company relies on secure transmission protocols and access control technology licensed
from third parties to provide the security and authentication to effectively secure transmission of confidential
information, including customer bank account and other personal information. Advances in computer capabilities,
new discoveries in the field of cryptography or other developments may result in the technology used by the
Company to protect transaction data being breached or compromised. Data breaches can also occur as a result of
non-technical issues.
The Company’s servers are also vulnerable to computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, and
similar disruptions, including “denial-of-service” type attacks. The Company may need to expend significant
resources to address problems caused by breaches. Security breaches, including any breach of the Company or of
persons with whom it has commercial relationships that result in the unauthorized release of its customers’ personal
information, could damage the Company’s reputation and expose it to a risk of loss or litigation and possible
liability. In addition, many of the third parties who provide products, services or support to the Company could also
experience any of the above cyber risks or security breaches, which could impact the Company’s customers and the
Company’s business and could result in a loss of customers, suppliers or revenue.
Any of these events could result in a loss of revenue and could have a Material Adverse Effect.
The failure of third parties who provide products, services or support to the Company to maintain their products,
services or support could disrupt Company operations or result in a loss of revenue.
The Company offers certain products and services that are provided by various third parties, and if a third-
party provider fails to provide its products or services, makes material changes to such products and services or does
not maintain its quality and consistency or fails to have the ability to provide its products and services, the Company
could lose customers and related revenue from those products or services. For example, the Company’s consumer
loan revenue depends in part on the willingness and ability of unaffiliated third-party lenders, through the CSO
programs, to make loans to customers and other third parties to provide services to facilitate lending, loan
underwriting and payment processing. The loss of the relationship with any of these third parties, and an inability to
replace them or the failure of these third parties to maintain quality and consistency in their programs or services or
to have the ability to provide their products and services, could cause the Company to lose customers and
substantially decrease the revenue and earnings of its consumer loan business. The Company’s revenue and earnings
from its consumer loan business could also be adversely affected if any of those third-party providers make material
changes to products or services that the Company relies on. The Company also uses third parties to support and
maintain certain of its communication systems and computerized point-of-sale and information systems. The failure
of such third parties to fulfill their support and maintenance obligations could disrupt the Company’s operations.
Any of these events could significantly disrupt the Company’s operations and could result in a loss of revenue.
The Company’s reported results require the judgment of management, and the Company could be subject to risks
associated with these judgments or could be adversely affected by the implementation of new, or the
interpretation of existing, accounting principles or financial reporting requirements.
The preparation of the Company’s financial statements 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 dates of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses
during the reporting periods. In addition, the Company prepares its financial statements in accordance with
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”), and GAAP and its interpretations are subject to change over
time. The Company may also encounter conflicting rules or guidance under GAAP, which could affect its
accounting for certain matters or its ability to timely file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If
new rules or interpretations of existing rules require the Company to change its financial reporting or cause a delay
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