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Exceed World, Inc. - Annual Report: 2022 (Form 10-K)

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-K

 

[X] ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934.

 

FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED September 30, 2022

OR

 

[   ] TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the transition period from to

COMMISSION FILE NUMBER: 000-55377

 

Exceed World, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

  Delaware 47-3002566  
 

(State or other jurisdiction

of incorporation or organization)

(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)  
       
 

1-23-38-6F, Esakacho, Suita-shi,

Osaka, Japan

 564-0063  
   (Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)  

 

Securities to be registered under Section 12(b) of the Act: None 

Securities to be registered under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act: 

 

  Title of each class  

Name of each exchange on

which our shares are traded

 
  Common Stock, $0.0001   OTC Markets  

 


 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

[ ] Yes [X] No

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.

[ ] Yes [X] No

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

[X] Yes [ ] No

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).

[X] Yes [ ] No

 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.

[ ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filer     Accelerated filer     Non-accelerated filer  
Smaller reporting company     Emerging growth company      

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. [  ]

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

[  ] Yes [X] No

 

As of March 31, 2022, the aggregate market value of the voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant (without admitting that any person whose shares are not included in such calculation is an affiliate) was approximately $2,746,800 based on a market price per share of $1.20.

 

As of January 9, 2023, there were 32,700,000 shares of the Registrant’s common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, issued and outstanding. As of the same date there were no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding.

 


 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Exceed World, Inc.

 

PART I     PAGE
Item 1 Business   1
Item 1A Risk Factors   4
Item 1B Unresolved Staff Comments   4
Item 2 Properties   4
Item 3 Legal Proceedings   4
Item 4 Mine Safety Disclosures   4
       
PART II      
Item 5 Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities   5
Item 6 Selected Financial Data   5
Item 7 Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations   5
Item 7A Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk   5
Item 8 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data   F1-F10
Item 9 Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure   6
Item 9A Controls and Procedures   6
Item 9B Other Information   6
       
PART III      
Item 10 Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance   7
Item 11 Executive Compensation   8
Item 12 Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters   9
Item 13 Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence   9
Item 14 Principal Accounting Fees and Services   9
       
PART IV      
Item 15 Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules   10
  Signatures   10

 


Table of Contents

  

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. We use words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “plan”, “expect”, “future”, “intend”, and similar expressions to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors should be aware that all forward-looking statements contained within this filing are good faith estimates of management as of the date of this filing. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements for many reasons, including the risks faced by us as described in the “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

PART I

 

Item 1. Business.

 

Corporate History

 

The Company was originally incorporated with the name Brilliant Acquisition, Inc., under the laws of the State of Delaware on November 25, 2014, with an objective to acquire, or merge with, an operating business. On January 12, 2016, Thomas DeNunzio of 780 Reservoir Avenue, #123, Cranston, RI 02910, the sole shareholder of the Company, entered into a Share Purchase Agreement with e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd., a Japan corporation (“e-Learning”). Pursuant to the Agreement, Mr. DeNunzio transferred to e-Learning, 20,000,000 shares of our common stock which represents all of our issued and outstanding shares. Following the closing of the share purchase transaction, e-Learning gained a 100% interest in the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock and became the controlling shareholder of the Company.

 

On January 12, 2016, the Company changed its name to Exceed World, Inc. and filed with the Delaware Secretary of State, a Certificate of Amendment. On January 12, 2016, Mr. Thomas DeNunzio resigned as our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President, Director, Secretary, and Treasurer. Also, on January 12, 2016, Mr. Tomoo Yoshida was appointed as our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President, Director, Secretary, and Treasurer.

 

On February 29, 2016, the Company entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement with Tomoo Yoshida, our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President, Director, Secretary, and Treasurer. Pursuant to this Agreement, Tomoo Yoshida transferred to Exceed World, Inc., 10 shares of the common stock of E&F Co., Ltd., a Japan corporation (“E&F”), which represents all of its issued and outstanding shares in consideration of $4,835 (JPY 500,000). Following the effective date of the share purchase transaction on February 29, 2016, Exceed World, Inc. gained a 100% interest in the issued and outstanding shares of E&F’s common stock and E&F became a wholly owned subsidiary of Exceed World. On August 4, 2016, the E&F changed its name to School TV Co., Ltd (“School TV”) and filed with the Legal Affairs Bureau in Osaka, Japan.

 

On April 1, 2016, e-Learning entered into stock purchase agreements with 7 Japanese individuals. Pursuant to these agreements, e-Learning sold 140,000 shares of common stock in total to these individuals and received $270 as aggregate consideration. Each paid JPY0.215 per share. At the time of purchase the price paid per share by each was the equivalent of about $0.002. This sale of shares was exempt from registration in accordance with Regulation S of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("Regulation S") because the above sales of the stock were made to non-U.S. persons as defined under Rule 902 section (k)(2)(i) of Regulation S, pursuant to offshore transactions, and no directed selling efforts were made in the United States by the issuer, a distributor, any of their respective affiliates, or any person acting on behalf of any of the foregoing.

 

On August 1, 2016, the Company changed its fiscal year end from November 30 to September 30.

 

On August 9, 2016, e-Learning entered into stock purchase agreements with 33 Japanese individuals. Pursuant to these agreements, e-Learning sold 3,300 shares of common stock in total to these individuals and received $330 as aggregate consideration. Each paid JPY10 per share. At the time of purchase the price paid per share by each shareholder was the equivalent to about $0.1. These shares were sold pursuant to the Company’s effective S-1 Registration Statement deemed effective on July 20, 2016 at 4pm EST.

 

On October 28, 2016, the Company, with the approval of its board of directors and its majority shareholders by written consent in lieu of a meeting, authorized the cancellation of shares owned by e-Learning. e-Learning consented to the cancellation of shares. The total number of shares cancelled was 19,000,000 shares which was comprised of 16,500,000 restricted common shares and 2,500,000 free trading shares.

 

On October 28, 2016, every one (1) share of common stock, par value $.0001 per share, of the Company issued and outstanding was automatically reclassified and changed into twenty (20) shares fully paid and non-assessable shares of common stock of the Company, par value $.0001 per share. (“20-for-1 Forward Stock Split”) No fractional shares were issued. The authorized number of shares, and par value per share, of common stock are not affected by the 20-for-1 Forward Stock Split.

 

During July 2017 and August 2017, e-Learning entered into stock purchase agreements with 24 Japanese individuals. Pursuant to these agreements, e-Learning sold 2,240,000 shares of its common stock in total to these individuals and received $38,263 as aggregate consideration.

 

On September 26, 2018, Force Internationale Limited, a Cayman Island limited company (“Force Internationale”) entered into a Share Purchase Agreement with its wholly owned subsidiary, e-Learning and 74.5% owner of the Company. Under this Share Purchase Agreement, e-Learning transferred its 74.5% interest in the Company to Force Internationale. As consideration for this transfer, Force Internationale paid $26,000.00 to e-Learning. Immediately subsequent, the Company entered into a Share Purchase Agreement with Force Internationale, to acquire 100% of Force Holdings and 100% direct owner of e-Learning. In consideration of this agreement, the Company issued 12,700,000 common shares to Force Internationale. The result of these transaction is that Force Internationale is a 84.4% owner of the Company, the Company is a 100% owner of Force Holdings, and Force Holdings is a 100% owner of e-Learning. Prior to the Share Purchase Agreements, Force Internationale was an indirect owner of 74.5% of the Company and subsequent to the Share Purchase Agreements, Force Internationale is a direct owner of 84.4% of the Company. The Share Purchase Agreements were approved by the boards of directors of each of the Company, Force Internationale, Force Holdings, and e-Learning.

 

On December 6, 2018, the Company entered into a share contribution agreement (the “Contribution Agreement”) with Force Internationale. Under this Agreement, the Company transferred 100% of the equity interest of School TV to Force Internationale without consideration. This Contribution Agreement was approved by the board of directors of the Company, Force Internationale and School TV. Upon the completion of the disposal, School TV was deconsolidated from the Company's consolidated financial statements.

 

Overview

 

Our principal executive offices are located at 1-1-36, 1-2-38-6F, Esakacho, Suita-shi, Osaka 564-0063, Japan. Our phone number is +81-6-6339-4177.

 

The Company has elected September 30th as its fiscal year end.

 

Currently, we own the following wholly owned affiliated entities:

  

Name of Subsidiary State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization
   
Force International Holdings Limited Hong Kong
e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd. Japan
e-Communications Co., Ltd. Japan

 

* The following chart illustrates the structure of our consolidated affiliated entities:

 

 

Currently, the number of the employees of the Company is 37. 

 

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Table of Contents

 

e-Learning Business

 

With the completion of the Company’s acquisition of Force Holdings and its subsidiaries (Hereinafter, collectively referred to as the “Group”), we are in the business of providing education services.

 

The Company is an education service provider in Japan and it offers a range of e-learning education programs as well as supporting services to complement such education programs through an internet platform named “Force Club” (“Force Club”), which was launched in 2007. The Company has offered e-learning programs through “Force Club”, all of which were procured from independent third-party software developers, including pre-school learning resources, learning resources supplementing elementary school, junior high school and senior high school curriculum, preparation courses for university entrance examinations and professional qualification examinations, and English learning, appealing to a diverse customer base from pre-school children to students and adult learners. A list of the Company’s e-learning programs, target customer group and release date are set out below. The e-learning programs of Force Club mainly serve as supplemental learning resources and self-learning tools for students and adult learners.

 

No. Content Name Target Compatible Devices Release Date
1 ENGLISH MONSTERS Primary school students iOS smartphone / tablet 2013
Android smartphone / tablet
2 Romantic English Conversation - London Ver. Age 18 and over iOS smartphone / tablet 2013
Android smartphone / tablet
3 Romantic English Conversation - College Life Ver. Age 18 and over iOS smartphone / tablet 2013
Android smartphone / tablet
4 ENGLISH MONSTERS AR Primary school students iOS smartphone / tablet 2013
Android smartphone / tablet
5 The Blue Danube Infants iOS smartphone / tablet 2012
Android smartphone / tablet 2014
6 The Nutcracker Infants iOS smartphone / tablet 2012
Android smartphone / tablet 2014
7 Peter & the Wolf Infants iOS smartphone / tablet 2012
Android smartphone / tablet 2014
8 The Four Seasons Infants iOS smartphone / tablet 2012
Android smartphone / tablet 2014
9 The Carnival of the Animals Infants iOS smartphone / tablet 2012
Android smartphone / tablet 2014
10 Play A,B,C on the Keyboard Infants iOS smartphone / tablet 2012
Android smartphone / tablet 2014
11 Say Hello to English Words! Infants iOS smartphone / tablet 2012
Android smartphone / tablet 2014
12 Force Paint Infants iOS smartphone / tablet 2012
Android smartphone / tablet 2014
13 Force Musician Infants iOS smartphone / tablet 2012
14 Sign Language Course Adults PC 2014
15 University Entrance Exam Preparation Course High school students/  PC 2008
Those who prepare for entrance exam Android smartphone / tablet 2014
16 High School Student-oriented e-learning High school students PC 2009
Android smartphone / tablet 2014
17 Folstar Adults

iOS smartphone

Android smartphone

2008
18 School TV Primary school students / Middle school students PC 2015
iOS smartphone / tablet
Android smartphone / tablet
19 English Monsters app Main: High school students / College students

iOS smartphone / tablet

Android smartphone / tablet

2015
(However, primary school students, middle school students, and adults are also included as targets.)
20 ForceMart Force Club Members PC 2017 
iOS smartphone / tablet
Android smartphone / tablet
21 Japanese Words Dictionary   From primary school students to adults PC 2021
iOS smartphone / tablet
Android smartphone / tablet

 

 

The Company’s e-learning programs are offered to its customers who have to be first registered as a member of Force Club. Since 2002, the Company began to offer its e-learning programs to its customers in CD-ROMs with pre-loaded learning content until 2007. Due to the popular trend for internet, starting from 2007, the Company has made its e-learning programs available on its website for its customers, and the customers need to pay a monthly fee in order to access and view the most up-to-date content on the website of the Company. At the advent of digital technology in recent years and in view of the increasing popularity of tablet devices, the Company has released its e-learning programs on smartphones and tablet devices for customer use since 2012 to cater for the popular demand of young learners and users in rural areas of Japan. The e-learning programs of Force Club are targeted at residents of Japan, and thus the e-learning programs are presented in Japanese only and no translated version is available. Since 2015, in addition to e-learning, the Company has started offline business which attracts public attentions such as Abacus School and Robot Programming School. The Company also opened “ixi After School” in Tokyo, which provides after school care services to children. Through these offline businesses, the Company has provided services to general users.

 

The Company regularly updates its e-learning materials and programs. In particular, the learning resources supplementing elementary school, junior high school and senior high school curriculum would be overhauled to correspond to any revision in school curriculum, which generally takes place once in a four-year period. In addition, most of preparation courses for the university entrance examinations and professional qualification examinations would be revised at one to two year intervals to cater for any changes to the examination syllabus. The website of the Company is updated from time to time to reflect the updates and changes to the learning materials and programs and for users with smartphones and tablet devices, these updates can also be downloaded from the website of the Company.

 

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Table of Contents

 

Business Model

 

Apart from using a conventional direct sales marketing strategy, the Company has also adopted multilevel marketing (“MLM”), via the Premium Membership in the Force Club, in operating its businesses.

 

Since 2002, the Company has adopted a direct sales marketing strategy to market its e-learning programs. Subsequently, in 2007, the Company gradually changed its marketing strategy from direct sales to MLM for the purposes of (i) establishing its brand name and penetrating into the rural areas of Japan; (ii) promoting its products to wider customer groups through premium members; and (iii) incentivizing premium members to recruit new members to join Force Club in order to increase the sales of its products and maximize profits for the Company. Currently, the Company has no retail shops or other point-of-sale for its products (e-learning courses).

 

MLM was adopted by the Company in order to expand the sales of its e-learning programs through its Force Club members. There are two tiers of Force Club members, namely standard members and premium members. Among Force Club members, premium members get a tablet device which entitles the premium members to life-time access of all of the Company’s e-learning educational content. Since the Company’s e-learning education programs are distributed in the form of online downloads, it can be used both online and offline.

 

Force Club Membership

 

Force Club members are those who intend to use products and services the Company offers. There are three tiers of Force Club members, namely standard members, support members and premium members. Premium members are those who wish to engage in recruiting new members (“Premium Members”).

 

Premium Members have to join a premium plan under which members are given rights to use all products and services of the Company, and engage in activities to recruit new Force Club members and obtain monetary rewards and bonuses (special income or commissions) from such activities. The Company enters into a contract (the “Premium Member Contract”) with each of its Premium Members. The salient terms of the Premium Member Contract are as follows:

 

Eligibility - the following individuals/corporations are eligible to register as the Company’s Premium Members:

 

(i) Individuals (other than students) who are 20 years old or above and are residents of Japan; and

(ii) Corporations established in Japan.

 

Applicants are required to provide proof of identity, such as driver’s license, passport or resident card for individual members or a certified copy of the commercial registration for corporate members.

 

Payments – an applicant who wishes to be a Force Club Premium Member has to join the premium plan and pay an initial payment of JPY420,000 (exclusive of sales tax), comprising:

 

(i) The one-off registration fee of JPY10,000;

(ii) The premium package fee of JPY390,000; and

(iii)An advanced payment of monthly membership fees for the initial two months amounting to JPY20,000.

 

Support members pay a lower fee for the access to educational content and will receive promotional materials which is substantially lesser in scale as compared to that to a premium member. The support member has the choice to become a premium member by making relevant premium member registration and purchasing the upgrade pack from the Company.

 

Standard members pay the same registration fee, but a reduced monthly rate and no premium package fee. Monthly membership fees payable from the third month onwards will be automatically transmitted from a member’s bank account until termination of membership.

 

Based on provisions described fully in the Premium Member Contract there are fees related to, but not exclusively limited to, cancellation of membership and other stipulations pursuant to certain actions. If a Premium Member does not pay the monthly membership fee before the prescribed due date, such Premium Member will be disqualified and will not be paid any commission with respect to his/her recruitment performance in the preceding month, and Force Club services for such Premium Member will be suspended in the following month. The commission and Force Club services for such Premium Member will be resumed in the subsequent month if the monthly membership fee is paid within three months from the due date. Otherwise, the Premium Member is deemed to have withdrawn from his membership if the monthly membership fee is not paid for three consecutive months after the payment due date.

 

In addition, the Premium Member Contract sets out the rules of conduct required to be observed by Premium Members in recruiting new members to join Force Club. The Company is entitled to suspend a Premium Member’s business activities, suspend his or her commission, demand return of commission(s), remove his or her title, or terminate his or her membership if such Premium Member violates or infringes the rules of conduct or other related laws or regulations, and/or acts in a way that is offensive to public order and morals.

 

Upon registration as Force Club members, applicants will be given a user ID to gain access to the e-learning programs through Force Club platform. Force Club members will be given additional four user IDs after registration so that they can use a total of five user IDs for accessing e-learning content through Force Club platform.

 

The number of Force Club members has increased from approximately 3,989 as of September 30, 2008 to approximately 15,314 as of the date of this report.

 

Competition

 

We believe that our main competitors are those provide similar e-learning product offerings in Japan. Specifically, we believe our biggest competitors at present are Recruit Marketing Partners Co., Ltd., which provides "Study Supplements", JustSystem Corporation, which provides "Smile Zemi", Benesse Corporation which provides "Challenge Touch" and SuRaLa Net Co., Ltd. which provides "SuRaLa", whose product offerings are also consistent of e-learning programs and services.

 

Current Advertising

 

Our advertising expenses are primarily comprised of, but not limited to, sales events hosted for sales agents, exhibitions to promote and display company product offerings, signboards, and public relations activities.

 

Future Plans

 

During the year under review, economic activity in Japan gradually returned to normal as the coronavirus disease (“Covid-19”) pandemic situation has become under control and social distancing measures were eased. Due to the relaxation of these restrictions, the Company was able to resume conducting its business activities, resulting in a significant increase in the number of members and a growth in sales and profit.

 

Over the next twelve months, the Company intends to focus on expanding its sales network to strengthen its business activities. Since the year under review has led to an increased number of members, we expect a stable growth in monthly membership fee income for the coming financial year.

 

Employees

 

The number of the employees of the Company, and all subsidiaries, as of the filing date is thirty-seven. All thirty-seven employees are considered full-time employees. We do not presently have pension, health, annuity, insurance, stock options, profit sharing, or similar benefit plans; however, we may adopt plans in the future. There are presently no personal benefits available to our officers/or directors and or employees.

 

Government Regulations

 

Companies in Japan are regulated by the “Act on Specified Commercial Transactions in Japan.” The Company believes it is fully in compliance with this Act, which outlines the rules and regulation regarding transactions arising from door-to-door sales, mail order sales, telemarketing sales, and multilevel marketing transactions, among other transactions defined in the Act.

 

The Company has legal counsel in Japan who provides instruction, direction, and reviews Company activities to ensure, to the best of Legal Counsel’s knowledge, that the Company is in compliance with the aforementioned Act.

 

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Table of Contents

 

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

 

As a smaller reporting company, as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act, we are not required to provide the information called for by this Item.

  

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

 

None.

 

Item 2. Properties.

 

Exceed World, Inc. is provided office space rent free from e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd. at the address of 1-23-38-6F, Esakacho, Suita-shi.

 

e-Communications Co., Ltd., a Japan corporation, is a wholly owned subsidiary of e-Learning Laboratory Co, Ltd., a Japan corporation.

 

e-Communications Co., Ltd. sub-leases (rents) office space from its parent company, e-Learning Laboratory Co, Ltd., a Japan corporation at the following addresses:

 

1-23-38-1F, Esakacho, Suita-shi, Osaka Japan 1-23-38-6F, Esakacho, Suita-shi, Osaka Japan 1-23-38-8F, Esakacho, Suita-shi, Osaka Japan 1-8-40-1F, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan. The aforementioned office spaces are shared by both e-Communications Co., Ltd. and e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd.

 

The following table details the terms of the lease agreements for various properties leased by e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd.

 

Workspace Address Lessee Lessor Monthly Rent Term (Expiration of Lease)
Esaka, Osaka, 1st floor 1-23-38-1F, Esakacho, Suita-shi, Osaka Japan e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd. F&M Co., Ltd. JPY662,200 May 31, 2023
($6,158)
Esaka, Osaka, 6th floor 1-23-38-6F, Esakacho, Suita-shi, Osaka Japan e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd. F&M Co., Ltd. JPY 1,102,500 June 30, 2024
($10,252)
Esaka, Osaka, 8th floor 1-23-38-8F, Esakacho, Suita-shi, Osaka Japan e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd. F&M Co., Ltd. JPY614,935 October 31, 2024
($5,718)
Tokyo 1-8-40-1F, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd. Tokyu Community Corp. JPY 1,834,921 August 31, 2023
($17,063)

 

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

 

For the year ended September 30, 2022, the Company has settled eighteen legal cases in total amount of approximately JPY51.4 million (approximately $413,000) related to the cancellation of contracts. As of the filing date, the Company had eight pending legal cases, claiming a damage of approximately JPY161.4 million (approximately $1.1 million) under the same nature. Our legal counsel estimated a probable settlement of these cases with total settlement amount of approximately JPY64.6 million (approximately $446,000). The Company has recorded JPY64.6 million (approximately $446,000) as contingency liability as of September 30, 2022, representing cases not yet settled as of September 30, 2022.

 

During the past ten (10) years, none of our directors, persons nominated to become directors, executive officers, promoters or control persons was involved in any of the legal proceedings listen in Item 401 (f) of Regulation S-K.

  

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

 

Not applicable.

 

-4- 


Table of Contents

 

PART II

 

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

 

Market Information

 

We are currently quoted on the OTC Marketplace. Our ticker symbol is EXDW.

 

Holders

 

Currently, as of the date of this report, and as of our fiscal year end, there are approximately 60 shareholders of record of our common stock and 32,700,000 shares of common stock deemed issued and outstanding.

 

Dividends and Share Repurchases

 

We have not paid any dividends to our shareholder. There are no restrictions which would limit our ability to pay dividends on common equity or that are likely to do so in the future.

 

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

 

None.

 

Equity Compensation Plan Information

 

Not applicable.

 

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Uses of Proceeds from Registered Securities

 

None.

 

Item 6. Selected Financial Data. 

 

No applicable because the Company is a smaller reporting company. 

 

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

 

Liquidity and Capital Resources 

 

As of September 30, 2022 and September 30, 2021, we had cash in the amount of $23,822,217 and $23,056,242, respectively. The increase in cash is mainly attributed to increase in net income from operation and accounts payable. The accounts payable were mainly unpaid commissions to the Force Club premium members and these payments were completed as of the date of this report. Currently, our cash balance is sufficient to fund our operations without the need for additional funding.

 

Revenues

 

We recorded revenue of $34,690,411 for the year ended September 30, 2022 as opposed to $28,433,822 for the year ended September 30, 2021. The increase in revenue, in our opinion, is attributed to an increase in recruitment activities of the Force Club premium members.

 

Net income

 

We recorded net income of $4,138,347 for the year ended September 30, 2022 as opposed to $3,074,544 for the year ended September 30, 2021. The increase in net income is attributed to an increase in revenue.

 

Cash flow

 

For the year ended September 30, 2022, we had cash flows from operations in the amount of $6,759,449 as opposed to $5,257,817 for the year ended September 30, 2021. The increase in operating cash flow, in our opinion, is mainly attributed to an increase in net income, adjusted by changes in accrued expenses and other payables, account payable and income tax payable, offset by the cash outflow resulting from changes in fair value of marketable securities and inventories.

 

Working capital

 

As of September 30, 2022 and 2021, we had working capital of $15,273,484 and $15,695,158, respectively.

 

Advertising

 

Advertising costs are expensed as incurred and included in selling and distributions expenses. Advertising expenses were $1,493,824 and $736,195 for the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

 

Advertising expenses were comprised of, but not limited to, sales events hosted for sales agents, exhibitions to promote and display company product offerings, signboards, and public relations activities.

 

Future Plans

 

During the year under review, economic activity in Japan gradually returned to normal as the coronavirus disease (“Covid-19”) pandemic situation has become under control and social distancing measures were eased. Due to the relaxation of these restrictions, the Company was able to resume conducting its business activities, resulting in a significant increase in the number of members and a growth in sales and profit.

 

Over the next twelve months, the Company intends to focus on expanding its sales network to strengthen its business activities. Since the year under review has led to an increased number of members, we expect a stable growth in monthly membership fee income for the coming financial year.

 

Impact of COVID-19

 

It is expected that Japan's economy will recover and the Company will be able to continue conducting its business activities without restrictions. However, due to the high uncertainty of the evolving situation, the Company has limited visibility on the full impact brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the related financial impact to future periods cannot be estimated at this time.

 

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.

 

As a “smaller reporting company”, we are not required to provide the information required by this Item.

 

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Table of Contents

 

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

 

Exceed World, Inc.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

    Pages
     
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB FIRM ID 206)   F2
     
Consolidated Balance Sheets   F3
     
Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss)   F4
     
Consolidated Statements of Changes in Shareholders' Equity   F5
     
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows   F6
     
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements   F7-F10

 

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

 

To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of

Exceed World, Inc.

 

Opinion on the Financial Statements

 

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Exceed World, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”) as of September 30, 2022 and 2021, and the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss), shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for the years then ended, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of September 30, 2022 and 2021, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the years then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

 

Basis for Opinion

 

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements 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 audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

 

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the 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 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 financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

 

Critical Audit Matters

 

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. We determined that there are no critical audit matters.

 

 

/s/ MaloneBailey, LLP

www.malonebailey.com

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2019.

Houston, Texas

January 9, 2023

 

 

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EXCEED WORLD, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

 

      As of   As of
      September 30, 2022   September 30, 2021
           
ASSETS         
Current Assets        
  Cash $ 23,822,217 $ 23,056,242
  Marketable securities     -     522,555
  Accounts receivable          48,860          67,073 
  Prepaid expenses          119,999          55,337
  Inventories     1,396,622      912,037
  Other current assets        1,751       1,319
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS   25,389,449   24,614,563
           
Non-current Assets        
  Property, plant and equipment, net        385,941        491,358
  Software, net        380,046       782,288
  Operating lease right-of-use assets, net        436,407       875,457
  Other intangible assets, net        127,293        170,728
  Long-term prepaid expenses          38,018          52,107
  Deferred tax assets        132,853        163,872
  Insurance funds        1,023,069   1,051,349
  Security deposits   196,152   253,795
TOTAL NON-CURRENT ASSETS     2,719,779     3,840,954
           
TOTAL ASSETS $ 28,109,228 $ 28,455,517
           
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY        
Current Liabilities        
  Accounts payable $      2,910,407 $   1,925,654
  Accrued expenses and other payables        905,271        437,825
  Contingency liability        445,846        771,480
  Income tax payable        1,843,214        813,628
  Deferred income     866,916     1,515,284
  Finance lease obligations, current          22,781          28,661
  Operating lease liabilities, current        296,359    440, 177
  Due to related parties        1,398,781       1,200,972
  Due to director        741,248        741,248
  Other current liabilities        685,142       1,044,476
TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES     10,115,965     8,919,405
 
Non-current Liabilities
  Deferred tax liabilities   82,380   82,636
  Finance lease obligations, non-current         32,945          72,101
  Operating lease liabilities, non-current   110,944   397,623
TOTAL NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES        226,269        552,360
           
TOTAL LIABILITIES     10,342,234     9,471,765
           
Shareholders' Equity        
  Preferred stock ($0.0001 par value, 20,000,000 shares authorized, 0 issued and outstanding as of September 30, 2022 and 2021)                    -                    -
  Common stock ($0.0001 par value, 500,000,000 shares authorized, 32,700,000 shares issued and outstanding as of September 30, 2022 and 2021)            3,270            3,270
  Additional paid-in capital        103,840        103,840
  Retained earnings   23,014,895   18,876,548
  Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)     (5,355,011)        94
TOTAL SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY   17,766,994   18,983,752
           
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY $ 28,109,228 $ 28,455,517
             

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

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EXCEED WORLD, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)

 

      Year Ended   Year Ended
      September 30, 2022   September 30, 2021
           
Revenues $           34,690,411 $           28,433,822
Cost of revenues             17,306,860             13,696,281
Gross profit             17,383,551             14,737,541
           
Operating expenses        
  Selling and distribution expenses               1,493,824               736,195
  Administrative expenses             9,482,020   9,696,903
Total operating expenses             10,975,844   10,433,098
           
Income from operations   6,407,707                4,304,443
           
Other income (expenses)        
  Other income                  196,498               221,785
  Change in fair value of marketable securities                  60,851                  (558,018)
  Interest expenses                    (2,785)                    (1,776)
Total other income (expenses)                254,564                  (338,009)
           
Net income before tax             6,662,271                  3,966,434
Income tax expense                  2,523,924                  891,890
Net income $              4,138,347 $              3,074,544
           
Comprehensive income (loss)        
Net income $                4,138,347 $ 3,074,544
Other comprehensive income (loss)        
  Foreign currency translation adjustment                  (5,355,105)                  (1,213,931)
           
Total comprehensive income (loss) $              (1,216,758) $                1,860,613
           
Income per common share        
  Basic $                    0.13 $                    0.09
  Diluted $                    0.13 $                    0.09
           
Weighted average common shares outstanding        
  Basic             32,700,000             32,700,000
  Diluted             32,700,000             32,700,000
           
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

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EXCEED WORLD, INC.

STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY 

 

              ACCUMULATED          
  COMMON STOCK   ADDITIONAL PAID-IN   OTHER COMPREHENSIVE   RETAINED      
  NUMBER   AMOUNT   CAPITAL   INCOME (LOSS)   EARNINGS    TOTAL  
                         
Balance - September 30, 2020 32,700,000 $   3,270 $ 103,840 $  1,214,025 $ 15,802,004 $ 17,123,139  
Net income -   -                   -                   -     3,074,544   3,074,544  
Foreign currency translation -   -                   -     (1,213,931)                   -   (1,213,931)  
Balance - September 30, 2021 32,700,000 $ 3,270  $ 103,840  $                      94  $  18,876,548  $ 18,983,752  
Net income -   -                   -                   -    4,138,347   4,138,347  
Foreign currency translation -   -                   -     (5,355,105)                   -   (5,355,105)  
Balance - September 30, 2022 32,700,000 $ 3,270  $ 103,840  $  (5,355,011)  $ 23,014,895  $ 17,766,994  
                           

  The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

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EXCEED WORLD, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

 

      Year Ended   Year Ended
      September 30, 2022   September 30, 2021
           
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES        
  Net income $  4,138,347 $   3,074,544
  Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:        
  Depreciation and amortization   358,586        547,925
  Loss (gain) on disposal of property, plant and equipment        6,461   (2,084)
  Change in fair value of marketable securities       (60,852)        558,018
  Gain on company owned life insurance policies    (7,166)     (621,539)
  Deferred income taxes   14,322   45,124
  Non-cash lease expense   393,583   449,767
  Changes in operating assets and liabilities:        
  Accounts receivable        3,466         (3,042)
  Income tax recoverable   -      137,991
  Prepaid expenses     (88,593)   2,914
  Inventories   (804,576)   269,883
  Other current assets       (852)          38,392
  Long-term prepaid expenses           2,691            3,115
  Accounts payable    1,654,112     1,196,639
  Contingency liability   (174,948)   239,582
  Accrued expenses and other payables   801,827        401,428
  Income tax payable      1,412,487        845,464
  Deferred income   (353,836)    (1,925,308)
  Operating lease liabilities   (393,583)   (449,767)
  Other current liabilities      (142,027)        448,771
  Net cash provided by operating activities   6,759,449     5,257,817
           
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES        
  Purchase of property, plant and equipment      (105,620)       (11,376)
  Proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment   -   42,268
  Purchase of company-owned life insurance policies    (237,683)      (275,168)
  Proceeds from sales of securities   525,952   -
  Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities    182,649   (244,276)
           
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES        
  Repayment of finance lease obligations      (23,175)        (65,414)
  Proceeds from related parties   50,416          51,281
  Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities      27,241   (14,133)
           
Net effect of exchange rate changes on cash   (6,203,364)    (1,313,252)
           
Net change in cash        
Cash - beginning of year    23,056,242   19,370,086
Net increase in cash    765,975     3,686,156
Cash - end of year $ 23,822,217 $ 23,056,242
           
NON-CASH INVESTING AND FINANCING TRANSACTIONS        
  Equipment obtained in connection with finance lease $       - $        48,354
  Remeasurement of the lease liabilities and right-of-use assets due to lease modification $ 114,185 $ 528,320
  Operating expense paid by related parties on behalf of the Company $     146,393 $      388,650
      Prepayment made by related parties on behalf of the Company $ 1,000   -
           
SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURES OF CASH FLOW INFORMATION        
Interest paid $         2,785 $          1,776
Income taxes paid $  1,097,116 $        1,953
 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

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EXCEED WORLD, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

AS OF SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

 

NOTE 1 ORGANIZATION, DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

 

Exceed World, Inc. (the “Company”), was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on November 25, 2014.

 

On September 26, 2018, e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd. (“e-Learning”), a direct wholly owned subsidiary of Force International Holdings Limited, which was incorporated in Hong Kong with limited liability (“Force Holdings”), entered into a share purchase agreement with Force Internationale Limited (“Force Internationale”), the holding company of Force Holdings, in which e-Learning agreed to sell and Force Internationale agreed to purchase 74.5% equity interest of the Company at a consideration of US$26,000.

 

On September 26, 2018, the same date, Force Internationale entered into a share purchase agreement with the Company, in which Force Internationale agreed to sell and the Company agreed to purchase 100% equity interest of Force Holdings. In consideration of the agreement, the Company issued 12,700,000 common stocks at US$1 each to Force Internationale. The results of these transactions are that Force Internationale is an 84.4% owner of the Company, and the Company is a 100% owner of Force Holdings (the “Reorganization”).

 

On December 6, 2018, the Company entered into a share contribution agreement (the “Agreement”) with Force Internationale. Under this Agreement, the Company transferred 100% of the equity interest of School TV Co., Ltd. ("School TV"), to Force Internationale without consideration. This Agreement was approved by the board of directors of the Company, Force Internationale and School TV. Upon the completion of the disposal, School TV was deconsolidated from the Company's consolidated financial statements.

 

As of September 30, 2022, the Company operates through our wholly owned subsidiaries, which are engaged in provision of the educational services through an internet platform called “Force Club”.

 

The Company has elected September 30th as its fiscal year end.

 

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”). When used in these notes, the terms "Company", "we", "us" or "our" mean the Company.

 

NOTE 2 SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

 

PRINCIPLES OF CONSOLIDATION 

 

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its subsidiaries. Inter-company accounts and transactions have been eliminated. The results of subsidiaries disposed during the respective periods are included in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss) up to the effective date of disposal.

 

Name of Subsidiary Place of Organization

Percentage of

Effective

Ownership

Force International Holdings Limited (“Force Holdings”) Hong Kong 100%
e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd. (“e-Learning”) Japan 100% (*1)
e-Communications Co., Ltd. (“e-Communications”) Japan 100% (*2)

 

(*1) Wholly owned subsidiary of Force Holdings

(*2) Wholly owned subsidiary of e-Learning

 

RECLASSIFICATIONS

 

Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation. These reclassifications had no impact on net earnings and financial position.

 

USE OF ESTIMATES 

 

The presentation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities as the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses reported in those financial statements. Certain significant accounting policies that contain subjective management estimates and assumptions include those related to write-down in value of inventory, useful lives and impairment of long-lived assets and legal contingencies. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic may directly or indirectly impact the business, financial condition, and results of operations is highly uncertain and subject to change. Due to the high uncertainty of the evolving situation, the Company has limited visibility on the full impact brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic and the related financial impact cannot be estimated at this time. Operating results in the future could vary from the amounts derived from management's estimates and assumptions. 

 

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTION

 

A related party is generally defined as (i) any person that holds 10% or more of the Company’s securities and their immediate families, (ii) the Company’s management, (iii) someone that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by or is under common control with the Company, or (iv) anyone who can significantly influence the financial and operating decisions of the Company. A transaction is considered to be a related party transaction when there is a transfer of resources or obligations between related parties.

 

Transactions involving related parties cannot be presumed to be carried out on an arm's-length basis, as the requisite conditions of competitive, free market dealings may not exist. Representations about transactions with related parties, if made, shall not imply that the related party transactions were consummated on terms equivalent to those that prevail in arm's-length transactions unless such representations can be substantiated.

 

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE AND ALLOWANCE

 

Accounts receivables are recognized and carried at the original invoice amount less allowance for any uncollectible amounts. An estimate for doubtful accounts is made when collection of the full amount is no longer probable. Bad debts are recorded corresponding to the allowance when identified.

 

INVESTMENTS

 

The Company's investments in marketable securities are accounted for pursuant to ASC 321 and reported at their readily determinable fair values as quoted by market exchanges in the consolidated balance sheets with changes in fair value recognized in earnings.

 

The Company also has investments in corporate-owned life insurance policies to insure its CEO and key employees. These insurance policies are recorded at their cash surrender values in the consolidated balance sheets with change in the cash surrender value during the period recorded in earnings.

 

INVENTORIES

 

Inventories, consisting of educational products accounted for using the weighted average, are valued at the lower of cost and market value.

 

For the year ended September 30, 2022, 100% of the inventories of educational products were purchased from supplier A.

 

PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

 

Property, plant and equipment are stated at cost less depreciation and impairment loss. Depreciation is calculated using the straight-line method or declining balance method at the following estimated useful life:

 

Building 47 years on straight-line method
Leasehold improvement 10 years on straight-line method
Equipment 2 to 15 years on declining balance method or straight-line method
Vehicle 6 years on straight-line method

 

Assets held under finance leases are depreciated over their expected useful lives on the same basis as owned assets.

 

INTANGIBLE ASSETS

 

Intangible assets consist of internal use software, membership and land.

 

The Company capitalizes certain costs related to obtaining or developing software for internal use. Costs incurred during the application development stage internally or externally are capitalized and amortized on a straight-line basis over the expected useful life of five years. The application development stage includes design of chosen path, software configuration and integration, coding, hardware installation and testing. Costs incurred during the preliminary project stage and post implementation-operation stage are expensed as incurred.

 

Membership and land have indefinite useful life, and the balance was $127,293 and $170,728 as of September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively, included in other intangible assets.

 

IMPAIRMENT OF LONG-LIVED ASSETS

 

The carrying value of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets subject to depreciation and amortization is evaluated whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the asset may not be recoverable. An impairment loss would be measured by the amount by which the carrying value of the asset exceeds the fair value of the asset.

 

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FOREIGN CURRENCY TRANSLATION 

 

The Company maintains its books and records in its local currencies, Japanese YEN (“JPY”) , Hong Kong Dollars (“HK$”) and United States Dollars (“US$” or “$”), which are the functional currencies as being the primary currencies of the economic environment in which their operations are conducted. Transactions denominated in currencies other than the functional currency are translated into the functional currency at the exchange rates prevailing at the dates of the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the functional currency are translated into the functional currency using the applicable exchange rates at the balance sheet dates. The resulting exchange differences are recorded in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

 

The reporting currency of the Company is US$ and the accompanying consolidated financial statements have been expressed in US$. In accordance with ASC Topic 830-30, Translation of Financial Statement, assets and liabilities of the Company whose functional currency is not US$ are translated into US$, using the exchange rate on the balance sheet date. Revenues and expenses are translated at average rates prevailing during the period. Shareholders’ equity is translated at historical exchange rate at the time of transaction. The gains and losses resulting from translation of financial statements are recorded as a separate component of accumulated other comprehensive income within the consolidated statements of shareholders’ equity.

 

Translation of amounts from the local currency of the Company into US$1 has been made at the following exchange rates:

 

  September 30, 2022   September 30, 2021
Current JPY: US$1 exchange rate 144.81   111.92
Average JPY: US$1 exchange rate 124.50   107.54
       
Current HK$: US$1 exchange rate 7.80   7.80
Average HK$: US$1 exchange rate 7.80   7.80

 

REVENUE RECOGNITION

 

The Company operates and manages multilevel marketing (“MLM”) in operating its businesses as the Force Club Membership and generates revenues primarily by providing the rights to access the Company’s educational content and to recruit new members.

 

The Company recognizes revenue by applying the following steps in accordance with ASC 606 - Revenue from contracts with Customers. The Company recognizes revenue upon transfer of control of promised products or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to receive in exchange for those products or services.

 

- Identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer

- Identification of the performance obligations in the contract

- Determination of the transaction price

- Allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract

- Recognition of revenue when (or as) we satisfy the performance obligation

 

Force Club Membership fee

 

Nature of operation

 

The revenue generated from Force Club Membership arrangements accounted for substantially all of revenues during the year ended September 30, 2022. Generally, the Company grants Force Club members the rights to access the Company’s educational content. There are three tiers of members, namely standard members, support members and premium members.

 

The premium members are granted full access to the Company’s educational content and the right to recruit prospect customers to become the Company’s members. Each premium member needs to purchase a premium pack, containing promotional materials aiding the recruiting process, from the Company. The standard members are granted limited access to the Company’s educational content.

 

To further promote the Company’s business, starting fiscal year 2021, the Company also offers its customers to subscribe and become a support member. Similar to a premium member, the support members are granted full access to the Company’s educational content and the right to recruit prospect customers to become the Company’s members, but the amount of commission entitled to the support member for each recruitment is lower than that to the premium members. The customers subscribing to support membership pay a lower fee for the access to educational content and will receive promotional materials which is substantially lesser in scale as compared to that to a premium member. For the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, the revenue generated from support member subscription is still immaterial.

 

The support member has the choice to become a premium member by making relevant premium member registration and purchasing the upgrade pack from the Company. The revenue from upgrade pack is accounted for in the same manner as the revenue from the premium pack as described below.

 

Revenue from the premium pack (including the upgrade pack) is recognized net of discounts and return allowances at a point in time upon delivery. Revenue from the right to access the Company’s educational content is recognized over a period of time ratably over the effective period. For sales of premium packs and upgrade packs with return conditions, the Company reasonably estimate the possibility of return based on historical experience. There were no liabilities for return allowances nor assets from the right to recover products from the associated return allowances recorded as of September 30, 2022 and 2021, as substantially all sales of premium packs (including the upgrade pack) during the years then ended have reached the end of the return periods.

 

The Company's chief operating decision maker reviews results analyzed by customers and the analysis is only presented at the revenue level with no allocation of direct or indirect costs. The Company determines that it has only one operating segment. Consequently, the Company does not disaggregate revenue recognized from contracts with customers. Substantially all of the Company’s revenue was generated in Japan.

 

Contract asset and liability

 

Deferred income is recorded when consideration is received from a member prior to the goods delivered or the access granted. As of September 30, 2022 and 2021, the Company's deferred income was $866,916 and $1,515,284, respectively. During the year ended September 30, 2022, the Company recognized $1,515,284 of deferred income in the opening balance.

 

The Company does not have any contract asset.

 

ADVERTISING

 

Advertising costs are expensed as incurred and included in selling and distributions expenses. Advertising expenses were $1,493,824 and $736,195 for the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

 

Advertising expenses were comprised of, but not limited to, sales events hosted for sales agents, exhibitions to promote and display company product offerings, signboards, and public relations activities.

 

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT EXPENSE

 

Research and development expenses consist primarily of expenses incurred related to the development activities for the Company’s internally-used software and are charged to operations as incurred as these costs do not qualify for capitalization. For the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, research and development expenses of $253,173 and $236,317 were included in general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss).

 

EARNINGS PER SHARE

 

The Company computes basic and diluted earnings per share in accordance with ASC Topic 260, Earnings per Share. Basic earnings per share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of common stock outstanding during the reporting period. Diluted earnings per share reflects the potential dilution that could occur if stock options and other commitments to issue common stock were exercised or equity awards vest resulting in the issuance of common stock that could share in the earnings of the Company.

 

The Company does not have any potentially dilutive instruments as of September 30, 2022 and 2021 and, thus, anti-dilution issues are not applicable.

 

INCOME TAXES

 

The provision for income taxes includes income taxes currently payable and those deferred as a result of temporary differences between the financial statements and the income tax basis of assets and liabilities. Deferred income tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted income tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect of a change in income tax rates on deferred income tax assets and liabilities is recognized in income or loss in the period that includes the enactment date. A valuation allowance is provided to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount of future tax benefit when it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Projected future taxable income and ongoing tax planning strategies are considered and evaluated when assessing the need for a valuation allowance. Any increase or decrease in a valuation allowance could have a material adverse or beneficial impact on the Company’s income tax provision and net income or loss in the period the determination is made.

 

The Company recognizes the tax benefit from an uncertain tax position claimed or expected to be claimed on a tax return only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized in the financial statements from such a position are measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than fifty percent likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. Penalties and interest incurred related to underpayment of these uncertain tax positions are classified as income tax expense in the period incurred. No such penalties and interest incurred during the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021.

 

LEASES

  

The Company accounts for leases in accordance with ASC 842 and determines if an arrangement is a lease at inception. Operating leases are included in operating lease right-of-use (“ROU”) assets. operating lease liabilities, current and operating lease liabilities, non-current in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets, and finance leases are included in property, plant and equipment, finance lease obligations, current and finance lease obligations, non-current in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. ROU assets and related lease liabilities from operating leases and finance leases are recognized at commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. When determining the lease term, the Company includes options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that it will exercise that option, if any. As the Company’s lease do not provide an implicit rate, the Company used an incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at commencement date in determining the present value of lease payments.

 

For leases with a term of 12 months or less, the Company makes an accounting policy election by class of underlying asset not to recognize lease assets and lease liabilities. The Company recognizes lease expenses for such leases on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

 

Modification to existing lease agreements, including changes to the lease term or payment amounts, are reviewed to determine whether they result in a sperate contract. For modifications that do not result in a separate contract, management reviews the lease classification and re-measures the related ROU assets and lease liabilities at the effective date of the modification.

  

RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

 

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, (collectively with amendments issued subsequently thereto, “ASC 326”). ASC 326 eliminates the probable recognition threshold for credit impairments. The new guidance broadens the information that an entity must consider in developing its expected credit loss estimate for assets measured either collectively or individually to include forecasted information, as well as past events and current conditions. There is no specified method for measuring expected credit losses, and an entity is allowed to apply methods that reasonably reflect its expectations of the credit loss estimate. ASU 2016-13 will be effective for the Company beginning on October 1, 2023. The Company does not expect the adoption to have a material impact to its consolidated financial statements.

 

 

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NOTE 3 FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENT

 

FASB ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, ("ASC 820") defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. ASC 820 also establishes a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs used in valuation methodologies into three levels:

 

Level 1:   Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.      

 

Level 2:   Significant other inputs that are directly or indirectly observable in the marketplace.    

 

Level 3:   Significant unobservable inputs which are supported by little or no market activity.

  

The Company considers the carrying amount of its financial assets and liabilities, which consist primarily of cash, accounts receivable, income tax recoverable, inventories, other current assets, accounts payable, income tax payable, contingency liabilities, accrued expenses and other payables, other current liabilities and current portion of operating and finance lease obligations approximate the fair value of the respective assets and liabilities as of September 30, 2022 and 2021 owing to their short-term or present value nature or present value of the assets and liabilities.

 

The following table presents information about the Company’s assets that are measured at fair value as of September 30, 2022 and 2021, and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation.

 

    Quoted Prices in
Active Markets
for Identical Assets
(Level 1)
  Significant Other
Observable
Inputs
(Level 2)
  Significant
Unobservable
Inputs
(Level 3)
  Total Balance
Marketable Securities:                
Publicly held equity securities                
As of September 30, 2022 $ -   -   -   -
As of September 30, 2021 $ 522,555   -   -   522,555

  

NOTE 4 INCOME TAXES

 

For the year ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, the provision of income tax expense was $2,523,924 and $891,890, consisting of current portion of $2,509,602 and $846,766, and deferred portion of $14,322 and $45,124, respectively.

 

Japan

 

The Company conducts its major businesses in Japan and e-Learning and e-Communications (“Japanese Subsidiaries”) are subject to tax in this jurisdiction. As a result of its business activities, Japanese Subsidiaries file tax returns that are subject to examination by the local tax authority.

 

Japanese Subsidiaries are subject to a number of income taxes, which, in aggregate, represent a statutory tax rate approximately as follows:

 

    Company’s assessable profit
For the years ended September 30,   Up to JPY 4 million   Up to JPY 8 million   Over JPY 8 million
2022   21.87%   23.74%   34.34%
2021   21.87%   23.74%   34.34%

 

Open tax years in Japan are five years. As of September 30, 2022, the Company’s earliest open tax year for Japanese income tax purposes is its fiscal year ended September 30, 2017. The Company's tax attributes from prior periods remain subject to adjustment.

 

The reconciliations of the Japanese statutory income tax rate and the Company’s effective income tax rate are as follows:

 

   

Year Ended

September 30, 2022

 

Year Ended

September 30, 2021

Japanese statutory tax rate        33.80%        33.80%
Income tax difference under different tax jurisdictions   0.94%                         2.94%
Effect of valuation allowance on deferred income tax assets   -   (15.24)%
Other adjustments                      3.14%                     1.00% 
Total       37.88%       22.50%

 

Hong Kong

 

Force Holdings, a direct wholly owned subsidiary of the Company in Hong Kong, is engaged in investment holding. Hong Kong profits tax has been provided at the rate of 16.5% on the estimated assessable profit arising in Hong Kong.

 

No provision for the Hong Kong profits tax has been made as Force Holdings did not generate any estimated assessable profits in Hong Kong during the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021.

 

Open tax year in Hong Kong is six years after the relevant year of assessment. This may be extended to ten years in the case of fraud of willful evasion of taxes. There are no provisions that govern the time limit for tax collection.

 

United States

 

Exceed World, Inc., which acts as a holding company on a non-consolidated basis, does not plan to engage any business activities and current or future loss will be fully allowed. For the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, Exceed World, Inc., as a holding company registered in the state of Delaware, has incurred net loss and, therefore, has no tax liability. The net deferred tax asset generated by the loss carry forward has been fully reserved.

 

The Company is a Delaware corporation that is subject to U.S. corporate income tax on its taxable income at a rate of up to 21% for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017. Recent U.S. federal tax legislation, commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “2017 Act”), was signed into law on December 22, 2017. The 2017 Act significantly modified the U.S. Internal Revenue Code by, among other things, reducing the statutory U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017; limiting and/or eliminating many business deductions; migrating the U.S. to a territorial tax system with a one-time transition tax on a mandatory deemed repatriation of previously deferred foreign earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries; subject to certain limitations, generally eliminating U.S. corporate income tax on dividends from foreign subsidiaries; and providing for new taxes on certain foreign earnings. Taxpayers may elect to pay the one-time transition tax over eight years or in a single lump sum.

 

The 2017 Act also includes provisions for a new tax on the Global Intangible Low-taxed Income (“GILTI”) effective for tax years of foreign corporations beginning after December 31, 2017. The GILTI provisions impose a tax on foreign income in excess of a deemed return on tangible assets of controlled foreign corporations (“CFCs”), subject to the possible use of foreign tax credits and a deduction equal to 50 percent to offset the income tax liability, subject to some limitations. The Company elected to account for GILTI tax in the period the tax is incurred, and no provision is made during the year ended September 30, 2022 and 2021.

 

To the extent that portions of the Company’s U.S. taxable income, such as Subpart F income or GILTI, are determined to be from sources outside of the U.S., subject to certain limitations, the Company may be able to claim foreign tax credits to offset its U.S. income tax liabilities. If dividends that the Company receives from its subsidiaries are determined to be from sources outside of the U.S., subject to certain limitations, the Company will generally not be required to pay U.S. corporate income tax on those dividends. Any liabilities for U.S. corporate income tax will be accrued in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss) and estimated tax payments will be made when required by U.S. law.

 

As of September 30, 2022, the Company’s earliest open tax year for U.S. federal income tax purposes is its fiscal year ended September 30, 2020. The Company's tax attributes from prior periods remain subject to adjustment. Open tax years in state and foreign jurisdictions generally range from three to six years.

 

Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes

 

The tax authority within the jurisdiction of each of the Company’s subsidiaries conducts periodic and ad hoc tax filing reviews on business enterprises operating within that jurisdiction after those enterprises complete their relevant tax filings. Therefore, the Company’s subsidiaries’ tax filings results are subject to change. It is therefore uncertain as to whether the tax authorities may take different views about the Company’s subsidiaries’ tax filings, which may lead to additional tax liabilities.

 

ASC 740 requires recognition and measurement of uncertain income tax positions using a “more-likely-than-not” approach. The management evaluated the Company’s tax positions and concluded that no provision for uncertainty in income taxes was necessary as of September 30, 2022 and 2021.

 

NOTE 5 DEFERRED TAX ASSETS AND DEFERRED TAX LIABILITIES

 

The Components of deferred tax assets and liabilities as of September 30, 2022 and 2021 were as follows:

 

    September 30, 2022   September 30, 2021
Deferred tax assets        
Inventories   19,208   -
Software          48,663          82,030
Expense                      151,053                      261,377
Deferred tax assets          218,924   343,407
Net deferred tax assets, non-current $ 218,924  $        343,407

 

    September 30, 2022   September 30, 2021
Deferred tax liabilities        
Insurance funds $          (168,451) $ (168,899)
Marketable securities   -   (93,273)
Deferred tax liabilities, non-current $          (168,451) $ (262,172)

 

For the purpose of presentation in the consolidated balance sheets, certain deferred income tax assets and liabilities have been offset. The following is the analysis of the deferred income tax balances for financial reporting purpose:

 

    September 30, 2022   September 30, 2021
Deferred tax assets $ 132,853  $ 163,872
Deferred tax liabilities $ 82,380  $      82,636

 

NOTE 6 RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS

 

Due to related parties and directors

 

As of September 30, 2022 and 2021, the Company’s due to related parties and directors were as follows:

 

    September 30, 2022   September 30, 2021
Due to director        
Tomoo Yoshida, CEO, CFO, sole director and a shareholder of the Company $ 741,248 $ 741,248
Total due to director $ 741,248 $ 741,248
         
Due to related parties        
Keiichi Koga, a shareholder of the Company and a director of certain subsidiaries of the Company $   47,635 $   47,635
Force Internationale, the Company’s majority shareholder. Tomoo Yoshida is a director of Force Internationale   1,351,146   1,153,337
Total due to related parties $ 1,398,781 $ 1,200,972

 

The payable balances are unsecured, due on demand, and bear no interest. From time to time, these related parties have advanced to the Company or paid expenses on behalf of the Company, and the Company has also made repayments.

 

Tomoo Yoshida provided guarantee for the Company’s office leases during the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021.

  

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Table of Contents

 

NOTE 7 PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

 

Property, plant and equipment consist of the following:

 

    September 30, 2022   September 30, 2021
Building $ 181,992  $ 235,474
Leasehold improvement                                     42,704                                     55,254
Equipment                      827,886                      983,641
Vehicles                           36,600                           47,355
                       1,089,182                      1,321,724
         
Accumulated depreciation                       (703,241)                       (830,366)
         
Total net book value $                       385,941  $                       491,358

 

The aggregate depreciation expense of property, plant and equipment was $91,969 and $119,551 for the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

 

NOTE 8 SOFTWARE

 

The book value of the Company’s software as of September 30, 2022 and 2021 was as follows:

 

    September 30, 2022   September 30, 2021
Software $ 1,136,510 $ 2,553,312
Accumulated amortization   (756,464)   (1,771,024)
Total net book value   380,046   782,288

 

The aggregate amortization expense related to the software was $261,198 and $428,374 for the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively, included in operating expenses. Fully-amortized software with an original cost of $1,416,802 was discarded in the year ended September 30, 2022, no gain or loss was recognized. 

 

The estimated future amortization expense of software as of September 30, 2022 is as follows:

  

Year ending September 30   Amount
2023   $ 184,101
2024     132,120
2025     63,825
2026     -
2027     -
Thereafter     -
Total   $ 380,046

 

NOTE 9 COMMITMENTS

 

As of September 30, 2022, the Company had four finance leases comprised of equipment and vehicle leases with a gross value of $77,453 and $36,600, respectively, included in property, plant and equipment. The Company also leases its offices under operating lease and short-term lease. The estimated effect of lease renewal and termination options, as applicable, was included in the consolidated financial statements in current period.

 

The components of lease expense were as follows:

  

    For the year ended September 30,
    2022
     
Operating lease cost $ 406,222
Short term lease cost   18,674
Finance lease cost:    
    Amortization of right-of-use assets   25,127
Interest on lease obligations   2,589
Total finance lease cost   27,716
Total lease cost $ 452,612

 

The following table presents the Company’s supplemental information related to operating and finance leases:

 

    For the year ended September 30,
    2022
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities    
Operating cash flows from finance leases $ 2,589
Operating cash flows from operating leases $ 406,222
Financing cash flows from finance leases $  23,175
     
Weighted Average Remaining Lease Term    
Operating leases   1.49 years
Finance leases   1.77 years
Weighted Average Discount Rate    
Operating leases   1.84%
Finance leases   3.39%

 

The future maturity of lease liabilities as of September 30, 2022 were as follows:

 

Year ending September 30   Finance lease   Operating lease
2023 $                                       26,546                                                305,614
2024                                         35,198                                                111,866
2025                                          1,755                                                            -
2026   -   -
2027   -   -
Thereafter                                                   -                                                              -
Total   63,499   417,480
Less imputed interest                                        (7,773)   (10,177)
Total lease liabilities                                         55,726   407,303
Less current portion                                      (22,781)   (296,359)
Long-term lease liabilities $                                       32,945 $                                                110,944

 

NOTE 10 CONTINGENCIES

 

The Company is subject to various claims and legal proceedings in the course of conducting the business related to Force Club Membership and, from time to time, the Company may become involved in additional claims and lawsuits incidental to the businesses. The Company’s legal counsel and the management routinely assess the likelihood of adverse judgments and outcomes to these matters, as well as ranges of probable losses; to the extent losses are reasonably estimable. Accruals are recorded for these matters to the extent that management concludes a loss is probable and the financial impact, should an adverse outcome occur, is reasonable estimable.

 

In the opinion of management, appropriate and adequate accruals for legal matters have been made, and management believes that the probability of a material loss beyond the amounts accrued is remote. Nevertheless, the Company cannot predict the impact of future developments affecting the Company’s pending or future claims and lawsuits. The Company expenses legal costs as incurred, and all recorded legal liabilities are adjusted as required as better information becomes available to the Company. The factors the Company considers when recording an accrual for contingencies include, among others: (i) the opinions and views of the Company’s legal counsel; (ii) the Company’s previous experience; and (iii) the decision of management as to how the Company intend to respond to the complaints.

 

 For the year ended September 30, 2022, the Company has settled eighteen legal cases in total amount of approximately JPY51.4 million (approximately $413,000) related to the cancellation of contracts. As of the filing date, the Company had eight pending legal cases, claiming a damage of approximately JPY161.4 million (approximately $1.1 million) under the same nature. Our legal counsel estimated a probable settlement of these cases with total settlement amount of approximately JPY64.6 million (approximately $446,000). The Company has recorded JPY64.6 million (approximately $446,000) as contingency liability as of September 30, 2022, representing cases not yet settled as of September 30, 2022.

 

NOTE 11 SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

 

The Company evaluated subsequent events through January 9, 2023, the date the financial statements were available to issue, and concluded that no subsequent events have occurred that would require recognition in the consolidated financial statements or disclosure in the notes to the consolidated financial statements.

 

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Table of Contents

 

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.

 

None.

 

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.

 

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

 

The Company has adopted and maintains disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in the reports filed under the Exchange Act, such as this annual report, is collected, recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules of the SEC.  The Company’s disclosure controls and procedures are also designed to ensure that such information is accumulated and communicated to management to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.  As required under Exchange Act Rule 13a-15, the Company’s management, including the Chief Executive Officer who also serves as our Chief Financial Officer, has conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this annual report.  Based on that evaluation, the Chief Executive Officer who also serves as our Chief Financial Officer concluded that the disclosure controls and procedures are ineffective.

 

Our Chief Executive Officer, Tomoo Yoshida, has reviewed the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) as of the end of the period covered by the report for the year ended September 30, 2022 and has concluded that (i) the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures are not effective to ensure that material information relating to the Company is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the Commission, and (ii) the Company’s controls and procedures have not been designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the Company's management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

 

Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

 

The Company’s management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f).  The Company’s internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance to the Company’s management and board of directors regarding the preparation and fair presentation of published financial statements.  Management conducted an assessment of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on the framework and criteria established by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in Internal Control – Integrated Framework.  Based on the assessment, management concluded that, as of September 30, 2022 the Company’s internal control over financial reporting is ineffective based on those criteria.

 

The Company’s management, including its Chief Executive Officer who also serves as our Chief Financial Officer, does not expect that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures and its internal control processes will prevent all error and all fraud.  A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met.  Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs.  Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of error or fraud, if any, within the Company have been detected.  These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty, and that the breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake.  Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the control.  The design of any system of controls also is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.  Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.  Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and may not be detected.  However, these inherent limitations are known features of the financial reporting process.  Therefore, it is possible to design into the process safeguards to reduce, though not eliminate, this risk.

 

The matters involving internal controls and procedures that our Chief Executive Officer considered to be material weaknesses under the standards of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of Treadway Commission were: domination of management by a single individual without adequate compensating controls, lack of a majority of outside directors on board of directors, inadequate segregation of duties consistent with control objectives, lack of well-established procedures to identify, approve and report related party transactions, and lack of an audit committee.

 

Management believes that the material weaknesses did not have an effect on our financial results. However, management believes that the lack of a functioning audit committee and inadequate segregation of duties results in ineffective oversight in the establishment and monitoring of required internal controls and procedures, which could result in a material misstatement in our financial statements in future periods.

 

Management recognizes that its controls and procedures would be substantially improved if we had an audit committee and two individuals serving as officers and as such is actively seeking to remediate this issue. 

 

Management’s Remediation Initiatives

 

In an effort to remediate the identified material weaknesses and other deficiencies and enhance our internal controls, we have initiated, or plan to initiate, the following series of measures:

 

We have increased our personnel resources and technical accounting expertise to remediate material weakness in internal control over financial reporting. We plan to appoint one or more outside directors to our board of directors who shall be appointed to an audit committee resulting in a fully functioning audit committee who will undertake the oversight in the establishment and monitoring of required internal controls and procedures such as reviewing and approving estimates and assumptions made by management when funds are available to us.

 

Management believes that the appointment of one or more outside directors, who shall be appointed to a fully functioning audit committee, will remedy the lack of a functioning audit committee and a lack of a majority of outside directors on our Board.

 

We will work as quickly as possible to implement these initiatives; however, the lack of adequate working capital and positive cash flow from operations will likely slow this implementation.

 

Changes in Internal Control

 

There have been no changes in internal controls over the financial reporting that occurred during the fiscal fourth quarter, that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect our internal controls over financial reporting.

 

This annual report does not include an attestation report of the Company’s registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting.  Management’s report was not subject to attestation by the Company’s registered public accounting firm pursuant to temporary rules of the SEC that permit the Company to provide only management’s report in this annual report.

 

Item 9B. Other Information.

 

None.

 

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Table of Contents

 

PART III

 

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.

 

Biographical information regarding the Officers and Directors of the Company, who will continue to serve as Officers and Directors of the Company are provided below.

 

Exceed World, Inc.

Name   Age   Position(s)
         
Tomoo Yoshida   60   Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President, Secretary, Treasurer and Director

 

Tomoo Yoshida

  

Mr. Yoshida graduated Osaka University of Commerce in 1986. Immediately after graduation, he joined Toyota Corolla Nankai Co. Ltd. and had been engaged in car sales for eight years. In 1997, Mr. Yoshida incorporated Dipro Data Service Co., Ltd., where he had a managerial role as well as served as an IT support consultant for five years. In 2002, Mr. Yoshida co-founded e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd., (“e-Learning”), a company that provides educational services and products. Currently, he is the president of e-Learning. In 2009, e-Communications Co., Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of e-Learning and a company offering educational services was incorporated, where Mr. Yoshida has been the president since its incorporation. In 2011, Mr. Yoshida founded Force Internationale Limited (“Force Internationale”), a holding company, and appointed as its director. In 2012, Force International Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Force Internationale was incorporated, where Mr. Yoshida has served as a director.

 

Corporate Governance

 

The Company promotes accountability for adherence to honest and ethical conduct; endeavors to provide full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable disclosure in reports and documents that the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and in other public communications made by the Company; and strives to be compliant with applicable governmental laws, rules and regulations. The Company has not formally adopted a written code of business conduct and ethics that governs the Company's employees, officers and directors as the Company is not required to do so.

 

In lieu of an Audit Committee, the Company's board of director(s) (the "Board of Directors" or "Board"), is responsible for reviewing and making recommendations concerning the selection of outside auditors, reviewing the scope, results and effectiveness of the annual audit of the Company's financial statements and other services provided by the Company's independent public accountants. The director(s) of the Company (“the Director(s)”), the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer of the Company review the Company's internal accounting controls, practices and policies. We, Exceed World, Inc., only have one Officer and Director, which is Mr. Tomoo Yoshida.

 

Committees of the Board

 

Our Company currently does not have nominating, compensation, or audit committees or committees performing similar functions nor does our Company have a written nominating, compensation or audit committee charter. Our sole Director believes that it is not necessary to have such committees, at this time, because the Director(s) can adequately perform the functions of such committees.

 

Audit Committee Financial Expert

 

Our Director has determined that we do not have a Board member that qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in Item 407(D)(5) of Regulation S-K, nor do we have a Board member that qualifies as “independent” as the term is used in Item 7(d)(3)(iv)(B) of Schedule 14A under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined by Rule 4200(a)(14) of the FINRA Rules.

 

We believe that our Director(s) are capable of analyzing and evaluating our financial statements and understanding internal controls and procedures for financial reporting. The Director(s) does not believe that it is necessary to have an audit committee because management believes that the Board of Directors can adequately perform the functions of an audit committee. In addition, we believe that retaining an independent director who would qualify as an "audit committee financial expert" would be overly costly and burdensome and is not warranted in our circumstances given the stage of our development and the fact that we have not generated any positive cash flows from operations to date.

 

Involvement in Certain Legal Proceedings

 

Our sole Officer and Director has not been involved in or a party in any of the following events or actions during the past ten years:

 

1. any bankruptcy petition filed by or against any business of which such person was a general partner or executive officer either at the time of the bankruptcy or within two years prior to that time;
2. any conviction in a criminal proceeding or being subject to a pending criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations and other minor offenses);
3. being subject to any order, judgment, or decree, not subsequently reversed, suspended or vacated, of any court of competent jurisdiction, permanently or temporarily enjoining, barring, suspending or otherwise limiting his involvement in any type of business, securities or banking activities; or
4. being found by a court of competent jurisdiction (in a civil action), the Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to have violated a federal or state securities or commodities law, and the judgment has not been reversed, suspended, or vacated.
5. Such person was found by a court of competent jurisdiction in a civil action or by the Commission to have violated any Federal or State securities law, and the judgment in such civil action or finding by the Commission has not been subsequently reversed, suspended, or vacated;
6. Such person was found by a court of competent jurisdiction in a civil action or by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to have violated any Federal commodities law, and the judgment in such civil action or finding by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has not been subsequently reversed, suspended or vacated;
7. Such person was the subject of, or a party to, any Federal or State judicial or administrative order, judgment, decree, or finding, not subsequently reversed, suspended or vacated, relating to an alleged violation of:(i) Any Federal or State securities or commodities law or regulation; or(ii) Any law or regulation respecting financial institutions or insurance companies including, but not limited to, a temporary or permanent injunction, order of disgorgement or restitution, civil money penalty or temporary or permanent cease-and-desist order, or removal or prohibition order; or(iii) Any law or regulation prohibiting mail or wire fraud or fraud in connection with any business entity; or
8. Such person was the subject of, or a party to, any sanction or order, not subsequently reversed, suspended or vacated, of any self-regulatory organization (as defined in Section 3(a)(26) of the Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(26))), any registered entity (as defined in Section 1(a)(29) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1(a)(29))), or any equivalent exchange, association, entity or organization that has disciplinary authority over its members or persons associated with a member.

 

Independence of Directors

 

We are not required to have independent members of our Board of Directors, and do not anticipate having independent Directors until such time as we are required to do so.

 

Code of Ethics

 

We have not adopted a formal Code of Ethics. The Board of Director(s) evaluated the business of the Company and the number of employees and determined that since the business is operated by a small number of persons, general rules of fiduciary duty and federal and state criminal, business conduct and securities laws are adequate ethical guidelines. In the event our operations, employees and/or Directors expand in the future, we may take actions to adopt a formal Code of Ethics.

 

Shareholder Proposals

 

Our Company does not have any defined policy or procedural requirements for shareholders to submit recommendations or nominations for Directors. The Board of Director(s) believes that, given the stage of our development, a specific nominating policy would be premature and of little assistance until our business operations develop to a more advanced level. Our Company does not currently have any specific or minimum criteria for the election of nominees to the Board of Directors and we do not have any specific process or procedure for evaluating such nominees. The Board of Director(s) will assess all candidates, whether submitted by management or shareholders, and make recommendations for election or appointment.

 

A shareholder who wishes to communicate with our Board of Director(s) may do so by directing a written request addressed to our sole Officer and Director Tomoo Yoshida, at the address appearing on the first page of this Information Statement.

 

Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance

 

Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires the Company’s executive officers, directors and persons who beneficially own more than ten percent of a registered class of the Company’s equity securities, to file with the SEC initial reports of ownership and reports of changes in ownership of the Company’s common stock.  Such officers, directors and persons are required by SEC regulation to furnish the Company with copies of all Section 16(a) forms that they file with the SEC.

 

Based solely on a review of the copies of such forms that were received by the Company, or written representations from certain reporting persons that no Form 5s were required for those persons, the Company is not aware of any failures to file reports or report transactions in a timely manner during the Company’s fiscal year ended September 30, 2022.

 

Procedure for Nominating Directors

 

During the year ended September 30, 2022, we have not made any material changes to the procedures by which security holders may recommend nominees to our Board of Directors.

 

Family Relationships

 

There are no family relationships among our Directors, Executive Officers or persons nominated to become executive officers or directors.

 

Involvement in Certain Legal Proceedings

 

During the past ten (10) years, none of our Directors, persons nominated to become directors, executive officers, promoters or control persons was involved in any of the legal proceedings listen in Item 401 (f) of Regulation S-K.

 

Arrangements

 

There are no arrangements or understandings between an Executive Officer, Director or nominee and any other person pursuant to which he was or is to be selected as an executive officer or director.

 

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Table of Contents

 

Item 11. Executive Compensation.

 

The table below summarizes all compensation awarded to, earned by, or paid to our Executive Officers and Directors for the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 in relation to the Company.

                   
SUMMARY COMPENSATION TABLE

Name and

principal position

Year

Salary

($)

Bonus

($)

 

Stock

Awards

($)

Option

Awards

($)

Non-Equity

Incentive Plan

Compensation

($)

Nonqualified

Deferred

Compensation

Earnings ($)

All Other

Compensation

($)

Total

($)

Tomoo Yoshida

Chief Executive Officer,

Chief Financial Officer 

Director

2022

 

 

 

 

1,156,626

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

1,156,626

 

 

 

 

                   

Tomoo Yoshida

Chief Executive Officer,

Chief Financial Officer 

Director

2021

 

 

 

 

1,339,037

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

1,339,037

 

 

 

 

 

Notes:

On September 26, 2018, the Company entered into, and consummated, a Share Purchase Agreement with Force Internationale Limited to acquire 100% of Force International Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong limited company. In consideration of this agreement, the Company issued 12,700,000 common shares to Force Internationale Limited.

 

e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd., a Japan corporation, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Force International Holdings Limited. e-Communications Co., Ltd., a Japan corporation, is a wholly owned subsidiary of e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd. 

 

For the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, e-Learning Laboratory Co., Ltd., paid out $963,855 and $1,115,864 respectively, to Mr. Tomoo Yoshida as salary compensation.

 

For the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, e-Communications Co., Ltd., paid out $192,771 and $223,173, respectively, to Mr. Tomoo Yoshida as salary compensation.

 

For the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, Force International Holdings Limited had not paid any compensation of any type to Mr. Tomoo Yoshida. 

 

Option/SAR Grants in Last Fiscal Year

 

None.

 

Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End

 

None.

 

Equity Compensation Plan Information

 

Not applicable.

 

Employment Agreements of our Sole Officer and Director

 

None.

 

Compensation Discussion and Analysis

 

Director Compensation

 

The Board of Directors reserves the right in the future to award the members of the Board of Directors cash or stock based consideration for their services to the Company, which awards, if granted shall be in the sole determination of the Board of Directors.

 

Executive Compensation Philosophy

 

Our Board of Directors determines the compensation given to our executive officers in their sole determination. Our Board of Directors reserves the right to pay our executive or any future executives a salary, and/or issue them shares of common stock issued in consideration for services rendered and/or to award incentive bonuses which are linked to our performance, as well as to the individual executive officer’s performance. This package may also include long-term stock based compensation to certain executives, which is intended to align the performance of our executives with our long-term business strategies. Additionally, while our Board of Directors has not granted any performance base stock options to date, the Board of Directors reserves the right to grant such options in the future, if the Board in its sole determination believes such grants would be in the best interests of the Company.

 

Incentive Bonus

 

The Board of Directors may grant incentive bonuses to our executive officer and/or future executive officers in its sole discretion, if the Board of Directors believes such bonuses are in the Company’s best interest, after analyzing our current business objectives and growth, if any, and the amount of revenue we are able to generate each month, which revenue is a direct result of the actions and ability of such executives.

 

Long-term, Stock Based Compensation

 

In order to attract, retain and motivate executive talent necessary to support the Company’s long-term business strategy we may award our executive and any future executives with long-term, stock-based compensation in the future, at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors, which we do not currently have any immediate plans to award.

 

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Table of Contents

 

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholders Matters.

 

As of our fiscal year end, the Company had 32,700,000 shares of common stock and no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding, which number of issued and outstanding shares of common stock and preferred stock have been used throughout this report.

 

*The table below is as of September 30, 2022.

 

Name and Address of Beneficial Owner Shares of Common Stock Beneficially Owned Common Stock Voting Percentage Beneficially Owned Voting Shares of Preferred Stock Preferred Stock Voting Percentage Beneficially Owned Total Voting Percentage Beneficially Owned (*)
Executive Officers and Directors          
Tomoo Yoshida 1,400,000 4.3% - 0.0% 4.3%
5% Shareholders          
Keiichi Koga 1,400,000 4.3% - 0.0% 4.3%
Force Internationale Limited 27,594,000 84.4% - 0.0% 84.4%

 

Note: Tomoo Yoshida and Keiichi Koga are the controlling parties of Force Internationale Limited, a Cayman Island company. Collectively, Mr. Yoshida and Keiichi Koga, through their personal equity interests and those indirect interests of the Company, through their ownership in Force Internationale Limited, own 93% of the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock.

 

Beneficial ownership has been determined in accordance with Rule 13d-3 under the Exchange Act. Under this rule, certain shares may be deemed to be beneficially owned by more than one person (if, for example, persons share the power to vote or the power to dispose of the shares). In addition, shares are deemed to be beneficially owned by a person if the person has the right to acquire shares (for example, upon exercise of an option or warrant) within 60 days of the date as of which the information is provided. In computing the percentage ownership of any person, the amount of shares is deemed to include the amount of shares beneficially owned by such person by reason of such acquisition rights. As a result, the percentage of outstanding shares of any person as shown in the following table does not necessarily reflect the person’s actual voting power at any particular date.

 

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions.

 

On December 6, 2018, the Company entered into a Share Contribution Agreement (this "Agreement") with Force Internationale Limited (“Force Internationale”), our controlling shareholder. Under this Agreement, the Company transferred 100% of the equity interests of School TV Co., Ltd (“School TV”) to Force Internationale without consideration. This Agreement and action were approved by the board of directors of each of, the Company, Force Internationale and School TV. A copy of this Agreement is included as Exhibit 10.1 to this Current Report and is hereby incorporated by reference.

 

Due to related parties and directors

 

As of September 30, 2022 and 2021, the Company’s due to related parties and directors are as follows:

 

 

    September 30, 2022   September 30, 2021
Due to director        
Tomoo Yoshida, CEO, CFO, sole director and a shareholder of the Company $ 741,248 $ 741,248
Total due to director $ 741,248 $ 741,248
         
Due to related parties        
Keiichi Koga, a shareholder of the Company and a director of certain subsidiaries of the Company $   47,635 $   47,635
Force Internationale, the Company’s majority shareholder. Tomoo Yoshida is a director of Force Internationale   1,351,146   1,153,337
Total due to related parties $ 1,398,781 $ 1,200,972

 

The payable balances are unsecured, due on demand, and bear no interest. From time to time, these related parties have advanced to the Company or paid expenses on behalf of the Company, and the Company has also made repayments.

 

Tomoo Yoshida provided guarantee for the Company’s office leases during the years ended September 30, 2022 and 2021.

 

Review, Approval and Ratification of Related Party Transactions

 

Given our small size and limited financial resources, we have not adopted formal policies and procedures for the review, approval or ratification of transactions, such as those described above, with our Executive Officer(s), Director(s) and significant shareholders. We intend to establish formal policies and procedures in the future, once we have sufficient resources and have appointed additional Directors, so that such transactions will be subject to the review, approval or ratification of our Board of Directors, or an appropriate committee thereof. On a moving forward basis, our Directors will continue to approve any related party transaction.

 

Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services.

 

Below is the aggregate amount of fees billed for professional services rendered by our principal accountants with respect to our last two fiscal years.

 

      2022 2021
  Audit fees MaloneBailey, LLP $125,424 $203,000
  Tax fees Anderson Bradshaw PLLC     $6,000     $6,000
  All other fees    -  -
  Total   $131,424 $209,000

 

 

Board of Directors Pre-Approval Process, Policies and Procedures

 

Our principal auditors have informed our sole Director of the scope and nature of each service provided. With respect to the provisions of services other than audit, review, or attest services, our principal accountants brought such services to the attention of our sole Director prior to commencing such services.

 

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Table of Contents

 

PART IV

 

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules.

 

(a) Financial Statements

 

1. Financial statements for our company are listed in the index under Item 8 of this document

 

2. All financial statement schedules are omitted because they are not applicable, not material or the required information is shown in the financial statements or notes thereto.

 

(b) Exhibits required by Item 601 of Regulation S-K.

 

Exhibit No.

Description

3.1 Certificate of Incorporation (1)
   
3.2 By-laws (1)
   
3.3 Amendment to the Articles of Incorporation of the Company (2)
   
3.4 Amendment to the Articles of Incorporation of the Company (3)
   
31 Certification of the Company’s Principal Executive and Principal Financial Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, with respect to the registrant’s report on Form 10-K (4)
   
32 Certification of the Company’s Principal Executive and Principal Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (4)
   
101.SCH Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
   
101.CAL Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
   
101.DEF Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
   
101.LAB Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
   
101.PRE Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
   
104 Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibits 101)

 

(1) Filed as an exhibit to the Company's Registration Statement on Form 10, as filed with the SEC on February 19, 2015, and incorporated herein by this reference.
(2) Filed as an exhibit to the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K as filed with the SEC on January 12, 2016, and incorporated herein by this reference.
(3) Filed as an exhibit to the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K as filed with the SEC on November 1, 2016, and incorporated herein by this reference.
(4) Filed herewith.

 

Signatures

 

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

Exceed World, Inc.

(Registrant)

 

By: /s/ Tomoo Yoshida

Tomoo Yoshida, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer

Dated: January 9, 2023

 

In accordance with the Exchange Act, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

By: /s/ Tomoo Yoshida

Tomoo Yoshida, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer

Dated: January 9, 2023

 

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