Kforce (KFRC) 10-K2021 FY Annual report

This report, particularly Item 1. Business, Item 1A. Risk Factors and Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) and the documents we incorporate into this report contain certain statements that are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and are made in reliance upon the protections provided by such acts for forward-looking statements. Such statements may include, but may not be limited to: expectations of financial or operational performance; developments within the staffing sector including, but not limited to, the penetration rate (the percentage of temporary staffing to total employment) and growth rate in temporary staffing, a reduction in the supply of consultants and candidates or the Firm’s ability to attract such individuals, changes in client demand for our services and our ability to adapt to such changes, the entry of new competitors in the market, the ability of the Firm to maintain and attract clients in the face of changing economic or competitive conditions; our beliefs regarding the expected future benefits of our flexible working environment; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global and U.S. macro-economic environments, and our business, customers, financial condition and results of operations; our ability to maintain compliance with our credit facility's covenants; our beliefs regarding potential government actions or changes in laws and regulations, including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic; anticipated costs and benefits of acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and other investments; effects of interest rate variations; financing needs or plans; expected funding or payment of employee benefits; estimates concerning the effects of litigation or other disputes; the occurrence of unanticipated expenses; as well as assumptions as to any of the foregoing and all statements that are not based on historical fact but rather reflect our current expectations concerning future results and events. For a further list and description of various risks, relevant factors and uncertainties that could cause future results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements, refer to the Risk Factors and MD&A sections. In addition, when used in this discussion, the terms “anticipate,” “assume,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “will,” “may,” “likely,” “could,” “should,” “future” and variations thereof and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in or underlying the forward-looking statements. Readers are

cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements contained in this report, which speak only as of the date of this report. Kforce undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Kforce Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, “Kforce”) is a leading domestic provider of technology and finance and accounting talent solutions to innovative and industry-leading companies. While Kforce was incorporated in 1994 and completed its initial public offering (IPO) in August 1995, we have been providing domestic staffing services through our predecessor companies since 1962.

We have driven significant, strategic change at Kforce over the last decade including, but not limited to, streamlining the focus of our business on providing technology talent solutions. This strategic shift was bold and transformative but well-founded in our belief as we exited the 2008 / 2009 financial crisis that technology was going to be the epicenter of business strategies. Since the financial crisis, we successfully divested a number of businesses that we didn’t believe aligned with our vision to become a technology-focused organization. Those divestitures included our clinical research business (sold in March 2012), our healthcare staffing business (sold in August 2014), the assets of a business based in Manila, Philippines (sold in September 2017), our federal government solutions business (sold in April 2019), and our federal government product business (sold in June 2019). Our Technology business now comprises nearly 85% of overall revenues with the remainder being our finance and accounting (“FA”) business.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, our workforce has been working remotely since March 2020. We recognized early on in the COVID-19 pandemic that there was very likely to be a permanent shift in the workplace and, thus, initiated what we refer to as our Kforce Reimagined initiative in May 2020. While we elaborate more on this initiative in the “Business Strategies” section below, we began looking critically at our physical office footprint, which was approximately 51 offices (50 leased, 1 owned) geographically dispersed across the U.S. and roughly 0.4 million square feet of space. Our future flexible work environment has allowed us to reduce our current footprint to 36 leased offices. In May 2021, we sold our 128,000 square foot corporate headquarters and signed a lease for our new corporate headquarters, comprising roughly 22,000 square feet, in September 2021. Once we have transitioned our remaining offices to align with our “Office Occasional” strategy, this is expected to reduce our overall square footage to be at least 60% to 70% lower than our pre-pandemic footprint. Our corporate headquarters is in Tampa, Florida.

Kforce serves clients across many industries and organizations of all sizes, but with a particular focus on serving Fortune 1000 and other large companies. Our 10 largest clients represented approximately 25% of revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Except as specifically noted, our discussions in this report exclude any activity related to the federal government divestitures noted above (which comprised our GS segment). Refer to Note 2 - “Discontinued Operations” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this report, for a more detailed discussion.

Our quarterly operating results can be affected by:

Our Technology and FA businesses represent our two operating segments.

We provide talent solutions by comprehensively understanding our clients’ requirements and matching their requirements with qualified candidates in highly skilled areas including, but not limited to, systems/applications architecture and development (mobility and/or web), data management and analytics, business and artificial intelligence, machine learning, project and program management, and network architecture and security.

One of our strategies over the last several years has been to invest in our managed teams and project solutions capabilities in order to provide a higher-value, differentiated offering to our clients. We believe Kforce has been successfully winning these more complex engagements due to the strong, long-standing partnerships we have built with our clients, our reputation for delivering quality services and our capability in identifying quality technology talent.

We provide our clients with qualified individuals (“consultants”), or teams of consultants on a temporary basis when the consultant's set of skills and experience is the right match for our clients. We refer to this as our Flex offering, which comprised roughly 98% of overall Technology revenues in 2021. We also identify qualified individuals (“candidates”) for permanent placement with our clients. We refer to this as our Direct Hire offering, which comprised approximately 2% of overall revenue in 2021.

We provide services to clients in a variety of industries with a diversified footprint in, among others, financial and business services, communications, insurance, retail and technology. No single industry represents more than approximately 16% of overall Technology revenues. In addition, no single client comprised more than 5% of overall Firm revenues.

The September 2021 report published by Staffing Industry Analysts (“SIA”) stated that temporary technology staffing is expected to experience growth of 11% and 6%, respectively, in 2021 and 2022. Digital transformation, as a general trend, is driving organizations across all industries to increase their technology investments as competition and the speed of change intensifies. Nontraditional competitors are also entering new emerging technologies and markets. This development puts increased pressure on companies to invest in innovation and the evolution of their business models. We believe the secular drivers of technology spend is driving many companies to become increasingly dependent on the efficiencies provided by technology and the need for innovation to support business strategies and sustain relevancy in today’s rapidly changing marketplace. At the macro level, demand is also being driven by an ever-changing and complex regulatory and employment law environment, which increases the overall cost of employment for many companies. We believe that these factors, among others, are continuing to drive companies to look to temporary staffing and solutions providers, such as Kforce, to meet their human capital needs.

We believe the performance of our Technology business in 2021 was exceptional and was organically record-setting for us as revenues improved 22.3% on a year-over-year basis to $1.27 billion and in the third and fourth quarters of 2021 exceeded 30% growth on a year-over-year basis. This strong performance follows 2020 where our Technology business was only down 1.2% year-over-year in an extraordinarily challenging macro-environment given the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The average bill rate in 2021 was approximately $81 per hour, which increased 2.9%, as compared to 2020. In the fourth quarter of 2021, our average bill rate improved 3.8% year-over-year. Our average assignment duration is approximately 10 months, which has steadily increased over the last several years. We continue to benefit from an improving bill rate environment and longer assignment durations, which we believe is related to the acute labor shortage, particularly the shortage of labor for highly-skilled positions. In addition to our capability to source highly qualified U.S. domestic technology talent, we believe an important differentiator in a candidate-constrained environment is our capability to source highly qualified foreign-born talent working domestically in the U.S. in higher-end technology roles. We maintain this capability on a centralized basis, which we believe allows us to operate consistently with a keen focus on ensuring compliance in this highly regulated space.

Our Flex and Direct Hire offerings improved 21.7% and 59.0%, respectively, on a year-over-year basis.

We are very pleased with our performance in our Technology business in 2021, which exceeded the SIA benchmark of growth by two times for 2021 and nearly three times in the second half of 2021. We believe our strategic position and momentum going into 2022 has positioned us well to continue delivering significantly above-market growth in 2022, in what we believe will be a continued strong demand environment for our services.

The talent solutions we offer our clients in our FA business include consultants in traditional finance and accounting roles such as: financial, planning and analysis; business intelligence analysis; accounting; transactional accounting (e.g. payables, billing, cash applications, receivables); business and cost analysis; and taxation and treasury. We have also provided our clients with consultants in lower skilled areas such as: loan servicing and support; customer and call center support; data entry; and other administrative roles.

Over the last few years, we have been repositioning our FA business to focus on more highly skilled assignments that are less susceptible to technological change and automation and more closely aligned with our Technology business. We will continue to support certain clients by providing consultants in lower skilled roles where we have long-standing relationships and that are strategically important to our overall success. We believe we have made good progress in this transition as is evidenced by our overall average bill rate in FA, excluding the COVID-19 business (defined below), increasing approximately 10% in the fourth quarter of 2021 on a year-over-year basis.

We provide services to clients in a variety of industries with a diversified footprint in, among others, the financial services, business services, healthcare and manufacturing sectors. No single industry represents more than approximately 21% of overall FA revenues. In addition, no single client comprised more than 5% of overall Firm revenues. Revenue for our FA business decreased 11.4% to $306.0 million in 2021 on a year-over-year basis primarily due to a decrease in revenues from certain contracts we secured in the second quarter of 2020 to support government-sponsored COVID-19 related initiatives (the “COVID-19 Business”). These contracts contributed $71.0 million and $114.7 million in revenue in 2021 and 2020, respectively. Excluding the contribution of revenue from our COVID-19 Business, our FA business would have increased approximately 1% on a year-over-year basis. The average bill rate in FA in 2021, excluding the COVID-19 Business, was approximately $38 per hour, which increased 1.0% as compared to 2020. This increase is primarily a result of the mix of business towards more highly skilled assignments as a result of our repositioning efforts.

The vast majority of our consultants are directly employed by Kforce, including domestic and foreign workers sponsored by Kforce, with a smaller number being qualified independent contractors. As the employer of the vast majority of our consultants, Kforce is responsible for the employer’s share of applicable social security taxes (“FICA”), federal and state unemployment taxes, workers’ compensation insurance and other direct labor costs. The more pertinent health, welfare and retirement benefits include comprehensive health insurance, workers’ compensation benefits, and retirement plan options. A key ingredient to our overall success is to foster a positive experience for our consultants, which has a direct correlation to consultant retention and redeployment.

We measure the quality of our service to and support of our consultants using staffing industry benchmarks and net promoter score (“NPS”) surveys conducted by a specialized, independent third-party provider. Our consultant and client NPS ratings are well above staffing industry averages and have reached World-Class level as defined by the independent third-party provider. Additionally, we continually seek direct feedback from our consultants, which helps us identify opportunities to refine our services.

In a recent study conducted by SIA, Kforce was ranked as the #1 most recognized brand by information technology consultants.

We operate in a highly competitive environment. Within the professional staffing industry, it is made up of thousands of companies, most of which are small local firms providing limited service offerings to a relatively small local client base. A report published by SIA in 2021 indicated that, in the United States, Kforce is one of the largest publicly-traded specialty staffing firms, the sixth largest technology temporary staffing firm and the third largest finance and accounting temporary staffing firm.

From an economic standpoint, temporary employment figures and trends are important indicators of staffing demand, based on data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and SIA. In December 2021, the penetration rate (the percentage of temporary staffing to total employment) remained flat at 1.9% compared to 2020, while the unemployment rate, at 3.9%, was down from 6.7% in December 2020. In addition, the college-level unemployment rate, which we believe serves as a better proxy for professional employment and therefore aligns well with the consultant and candidate population that Kforce most typically serves, was 2.1% in December 2021, which represented a substantial decrease from December 2020. Further, we believe that the unemployment rate in the specialties we serve, especially in certain technology skill sets, is significantly lower than the published averages. We believe this speaks to the overall secular drivers of demand in technology, the critical nature of the technology initiatives being driven by our clients, as well as the challenges of finding an adequate supply of qualified talent.

According to the September 2021 SIA report, the technology temporary staffing industry and finance and accounting temporary staffing industry are expected to generate projected revenues of $35.9 billion and $9.0 billion, respectively, in 2022. Based on these projected revenues, our current market share is approximately 3%. Our business strategies are focused on expanding our share of the U.S. temporary staffing industry and investing in our capability to provide higher level IT services and solutions. We believe that the organic investments that we have made in our managed teams and project solutions capabilities over the last several years have expanded Kforce’s total addressable market. Published reports indicate that the addressable market in the technology solutions space is well in excess of $100 billion.

Our primary objectives are driving long-term shareholder value by achieving above-market revenue growth, making prudent investments to enhance our efficiency and effectiveness within our operating model and significantly improving levels of operating profitability. We believe the following strategies will help us achieve our objectives.

In support of this strategic shift, following the sale of our corporate headquarters campus in May 2021, we signed a long-term lease for our future corporate headquarters in September 2021, which we anticipate occupying in the fourth quarter of 2022. The design of our new space will be modern, open and technology-enabled and will provide a flexible environment for our employees to work effectively, very similar to how we are approaching the design of our field offices.

We expect that the culmination of these efforts will position Kforce as a destination for top talent during a time where there is great disruption in the labor markets.

During 2021, we completed the rollout of the initial capabilities within our new talent relationship management (TRM) system, which we expect will better facilitate our delivery strategies and processes and significantly improve our capabilities. Going forward, we expect to continue to make enhancements to our business and data intelligence capabilities. These investments are part of a multi-year effort to significantly upgrade our technology tools, using cloud-based platforms, to equip our associates with improved capabilities to deliver exceptional service to our clients, consultants and candidates and improve the productivity of our associates and the scalability of our organization.

Critical to improving the performance of our associates is the development of a strong management team. A key pillar of our talent development strategy is to provide our leaders with access to the appropriate training and tools to lead their teams effectively. During 2021, we continued investing in an intensive leadership development curriculum. These activities will be ongoing and, we believe, will lead to enhanced leadership capabilities and, thus, higher retention levels of our associates.

During 2021, we engaged an independent third-party consulting firm to assist us in our assessment of our middle and back office capabilities. The results of the assessment work confirmed our belief that we have a tremendous opportunity to fundamentally transform how our back office supports the Firm. We will continue to make investments in this multi-year transformation effort in 2022.

We measure our success in building long-lasting relationships with our clients using staffing industry benchmarks and Net Promoter Score (“NPS”) surveys conducted by a specialized, independent third-party provider. Our client NPS ratings are among the highest in the industry and provide helpful insights from our clients on how to continue improving our relationships. We believe long-lasting relationships with our clients is a critical element in revenue growth.

We measure the quality of our service to and support of our consultants using staffing industry benchmarks and NPS surveys conducted by a specialized, independent third-party provider. Our consultant NPS ratings, similar to our client ratings, are among the highest in the industry. We continually seek direct feedback from our consultants, which helps us identify opportunities to refine our services.

We operate in a highly competitive and fragmented staffing industry comprised of large national and local staffing and solutions firms. The local firms are typically operator-owned, and each market generally has one or more significant competitors. Within our managed teams and project solutions offerings, we also face competition from global, national and regional accounting, consulting and advisory firms and national and regional strategic consulting and systems implementation firms. We believe that our boundaryless reach within the U.S., physical presence in larger markets, concentration of service offerings in areas of greatest demand (especially technology), national delivery teams, centralized delivery channels for foreign consultants, including those obtained via the H-1B visa program that optimizes distribution and strengthens compliance, longevity of our brand and reputation in the market, along with our dedicated compliance and regulatory infrastructure, all provide a competitive advantage.

Many clients utilize Managed Service Providers (“MSP”) or Vendor Management Organizations (“VMO”) for the management and procurement of our services. Generally, MSPs and VMOs standardize processes through the use of Vendor Management Systems (“VMS”), which are tools used to aggregate spend and measure supplier performance. VMSs are also offered through

independent providers. Typically, MSPs, VMOs and/or VMS providers charge staffing firms administrative fees ranging from 1% to 4% of revenue. In addition, the aggregation of services by MSPs for their clients into a single program can result in significant buying power and, thus, pricing power. Therefore, the use of MSPs by our clients has, in certain instances, resulted in margin compression, but has also led to incremental client share through our client’s vendor consolidation efforts. Kforce does not currently provide MSP or VMO services directly to our clients; rather, our strategy has been to work with MSPs, VMOs and VMS providers that enable us to better extend our services to current and prospective clients.

We believe that the principal elements of competition in our industry are differentiated offerings, reputation, ability of consultants to work on assignments with innovative and leading companies, the availability and quality of associates, consultants and candidates, level of service, effective monitoring of job performance, scope of geographic service, types of service offerings and compliance orientation. To attract consultants and candidates, we emphasize our ability to provide competitive compensation and benefits, quality and varied assignments, scheduling flexibility and permanent placement opportunities, all of which are important to Kforce being the employer of choice. Because individuals pursue other employment opportunities on a regular basis, it is important that we respond to market conditions affecting these individuals and focus on our consultant relationship objectives. Additionally, in certain markets, from time to time we have experienced significant pricing pressure as a result of our competitors’ pricing strategies, which may result in us not being able to effectively compete or choosing to not participate in certain business that does not meet our profitability standard.

Staffing and solutions firms are generally subject to one or more of the following types of government regulations: (1) regulation of the employer/employee relationship, such as wage and hour regulations, tax withholding and reporting, immigration/H-1B visa regulations, social security and other retirement, anti-discrimination, employee benefits and workers’ compensation regulations; (2) registration, licensing, recordkeeping and reporting requirements; and (3) worker classification regulations.

Because we operate in a complex regulatory environment, one of our top priorities is compliance. For more discussion of the potential impact that the regulatory environment could have on Kforce’s financial results, refer to Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Kforce maintains a number of insurance policies including general liability, automobile liability, workers’ compensation and employers’ liability, liability for certain foreign exposure, umbrella and excess liability, property, crime, fiduciary, directors and officers, employment practices liability, cybersecurity, professional liability and excess health insurance coverage. These policies provide coverage subject to their terms, conditions, limits of liability and deductibles, for certain liabilities that may arise from Kforce’s operations. There can be no assurance that any of the above policies will be adequate for our needs or that we will maintain all such policies in the future.

Along with our core values, we act in accordance with our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (“Code of Conduct”), which sets forth expectations and guidance for associates to make appropriate decisions. Our Code of Conduct covers topics such as anti-corruption, discrimination, harassment, privacy, appropriate use of company assets, protecting confidential information and reporting violations. Our associates receive training on our Code of Conduct and must acknowledge their understanding and certify compliance annually. The Code of Conduct reflects our commitment to operating in a fair, honest, responsible and ethical manner and also provides direction for reporting complaints in the event of alleged violations of our policies (including through an anonymous hotline). Our executive officers and leaders maintain “open door” policies and any form of retaliation is strictly prohibited. We take all reports of suspected violations and unethical behavior seriously and take appropriate actions to immediately address such situations.

The success of our business is fundamentally connected to the well-being of our employees and consultants. Accordingly, we are committed to their health, safety and wellness. We provide our employees and consultants and their families with access to a variety of flexible and convenient health and wellness programs. Some of these programs are part of our thoughtful and comprehensive response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as those that support the physical and mental health of our employees by providing tools and resources that each employee can use to improve or maintain their health. The measures that we have undertaken include: requiring our associates to work remotely since March 2020; maintaining regular communications from our executives regarding impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; enhancing our health and wellness offerings to include a digital self-care platform to help our associates with any mental health concerns; investing in technologies and tools to improve the effectiveness of our associates while working remotely; and improving our associate outreach efforts to detect and try to address any challenges or needs of our associates.

Wherever possible, we strive to identify, train and develop talent from within to help ensure that we maintain a consistent operating model, proactive planning, and employee engagement. A core objective is to sustain our current leadership development activities through further advanced training and comprehensive certification for new leaders. Given our goal is to be a destination employer for top talent, we are also focused on efficiently onboarding new associates into our Firm. We are leaning heavily into remote leadership tools and techniques as well as concepts centered on making lasting connections based on trust, compassion and empathy. This approach has yielded an understanding that the Kforce culture and leaders will put safety, wellness and family first.

Among our key initiatives has been our:

Kforce has continued to conduct check-in surveys during the pandemic to monitor wellness and enablement of our associate population. To take that even further, we will be investing more comprehensively into the full employee experience as our office occasional work environment continues to take shape. We have purchased software to run employee lifecycle surveying throughout the Kforce employee experience. A key objective will be to use employee data and sentiment to proactively address engagement indicators.

Upcoming activities include, but are not limited to:

Kforce’s diversity, equity and inclusion (“DE&I”) program has the mission of leveraging our core values and culture in further promoting an authentic culture of diversity, equity and inclusion at Kforce.

In 2021, Kforce advanced its objectives around building an increasingly robust pipeline of diverse candidates, enhancing our supplier diversity practices, and instituting training programs to meet the mission and objectives of our DE&I program. An objective in 2022 is to launch internal “listening sessions,” which will be completed by an external expert to collect and analyze details on associates’ sentiment regarding inclusion and belonging. Information gathered during this process will greatly influence our programming decisions moving forward.

Our other DE&I activities also include, but are not limited to, the following:

Our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows are subject to, and could be materially adversely affected by, various risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, those set forth below, any one of which could cause our actual results to vary materially from recent results or our anticipated future results. We present these risk factors grouped by category, and the risks factors contained in each respective category are presented in order of their relative priority to us.

The COVID-19 economic and health crisis (including all of its variants) has impacted and may continue to impact many of our clients’ business operations due to reduced demand in their businesses, which in some cases was caused by government-mandated or voluntary closures, or due to initiatives to reduce costs or preserve cash, thereby decreasing demand for our services and/or adversely affecting our profitability or our ability to timely collect our accounts receivable.

More specifically, we have experienced and may experience in the future, among other impacts, a reduction or elimination of consultants on previous projects and assignments, selective reduction in bill rates, extended payment terms and temporary furloughs for consultants. We have also experienced and may experience in the future a decrease in our leading indicators, such as job orders for assignments and direct hire placements due to hiring freezes. Additionally, our employees, consultants and independent contractors may be, and have been, impacted by the occurrence of these types of events, or we may face difficulties complying with regulations temporarily modified to account for virtual or remote work by these individuals, or difficulties in sourcing or onboarding these individuals, including slowdowns in critical processes such as interviewing, I-9 verification, background checks, or other compliance processes, which could impair our ability to serve our clients or respond timely to their needs, or could expose us to compliance risk and/or penalties. The occurrence of these types of events has resulted in, and may result in further, worker absences, lower billable hours, travel restrictions on our employees or other disruptions to our business. The potential adverse effects on our operations could result in an event of default under our credit

facility covenants, which might require us to seek alternative sources of financing, which may not be available on as favorable of terms or at all.

The COVID-19 economic and health crisis continues to be fluid and uncertain, and the ultimate impact of COVID-19 on our operations and financial performance in future periods, remains uncertain and will depend on future COVID-19 related developments, including the duration of the pandemic, potential subsequent waves of COVID-19 infections or potential new variants, the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and the impacts of implementation of any vaccine mandates, and related government actions to prevent and manage disease spread, all of which continue to be uncertain and cannot be predicted. As a result, we cannot forecast the full impact of COVID-19, but it could materially affect our business, financial position, results of operation, and/or cash flows in the future.

We expect to further enhance the quality of our revenue stream by migrating our FA business to focus on higher-value skill areas and investing in the growth of our managed teams and project solutions offerings. New business strategies and initiatives, such as these, can be distracting to our management team and associates and can also be disruptive to our operations. New business initiatives could also involve significant unanticipated challenges and risks including not advancing our business strategy, not realizing our expected return on investment, experiencing difficulty in implementing initiatives, or diverting management’s attention from our other businesses. These events could cause material harm to our business, operating results or financial condition.

Kforce depends upon the abilities of its staff to attract and retain consultants and candidates, particularly in technology disciplines, who possess the skills and experience necessary to meet the requirements of our clients. We must continually evaluate and upgrade our methods of attracting qualified consultants and candidates to keep pace with changing client needs and emerging technologies. We expect significant competition for individuals with proven technical or professional skills to continue or increase for the foreseeable future. The supply of available consultants and candidates has been constrained during this economic recovery, especially in our Technology business. If qualified individuals are not available to us in sufficient numbers and upon economic terms acceptable to us, it could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Kforce employs people primarily in the workplaces of our clients (except during the pandemic, our consultants have been mostly remote). Inherent risks in our business include possible claims of or relating to: discrimination and harassment; wrongful termination; violations of employment rights related to employment screening or privacy issues; misclassification of workers as employees or independent contractors; violations of wage and hour requirements and other labor laws; employment of illegal aliens; criminal activity; torts; breach of contract; failure to protect confidential personal information; intentional criminal misconduct; misuse or misappropriation of client intellectual property; employee benefits; or other claims. In some situations, as a practical matter, we may not be in control of the work environment. Additionally, in some circumstances, we are contractually obligated to indemnify our clients against such risks. Such claims may result in negative publicity, injunctive relief, criminal investigations and/or charges, civil litigation, payment by Kforce of defense costs, monetary damages or fines that may be significant, discontinuation of client relationships or other material adverse effects on our business. To reduce our exposure, we maintain policies, procedures and guidelines to promote compliance with laws, rules, regulations and best practices applicable to our business. Even claims without merit could cause us to incur significant expense or reputational harm. We also maintain insurance coverage for professional malpractice liability, fidelity, employment practices liability and general liability in amounts and with deductibles that we believe are appropriate for our operations. However, our insurance coverage may not cover all potential claims against us, may require us to meet a deductible or may not continue to be available to us at a reasonable cost. In this regard, we face various employment-related risks not covered by insurance, such as wage and hour laws and employment tax responsibility. U.S. courts in recent years have been receiving large numbers of wage and hour class action claims alleging misclassification of overtime-eligible workers and/or failure to pay overtime-eligible workers for all hours worked. We are a defendant in purported class actions asserting such claims.

Part of our business strategy includes enhancing our service offerings and relationships with larger consumers of our services, which is intended to provide relative durability to our revenue stream during adverse economic environments and enable us to more profitably grow our revenues. However, it also creates the potential for concentrating a significant portion of our revenues among our largest clients and exposes us to increased risks arising from decreases in the volume of business from, the pricing of business with, or the possible loss of business with these clients. Organizational changes occurring within those clients, or a deterioration of their financial condition or business prospects, or a change in their business strategies could reduce their need for our services and result in a significant decrease in the revenues we derive from those clients, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

An inherent risk of employing people internally, in the workplace of other businesses, and/or remotely from home is that many of these individuals have access or may gain access to information systems and confidential information. The risks of such activity include possible acts of errors and omissions; intentional misconduct; release, misuse or misappropriation of client intellectual property, confidential information, personally identifiable information, funds, or other property; data privacy or cybersecurity breaches affecting our clients and/or us; or other acts. Misconduct by our employees could include intentional or unintentional failures to comply with federal government regulations, engaging in unauthorized activities, or improper use of our clients’ sensitive or classified information, potentially in collusion with third parties, which could result in regulatory or criminal sanctions against us and serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to deter employee misconduct, and precautions to prevent and detect any such misconduct may not be effective in controlling such risks or losses, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

In addition, any such misconduct may give rise to litigation, which could be time-consuming and expensive. To reduce our exposure, we maintain policies, procedures and insurance coverage for types and amounts we believe are appropriate in light of the aforementioned potential exposures. There can be no assurance that the corporate policies and practices we have in place to help reduce our exposure to these risks will be effective or that we will not experience losses as a result of these risks. In addition, our insurance coverage may not cover all potential claims against us, may require us to meet a deductible or may not continue to be available to us at a reasonable cost.

Kforce is highly dependent on its management team and expects that continued success will depend largely upon their efforts, expertise and abilities. The loss of the services of any key executive for any reason could have a material adverse effect on Kforce. To attract and retain executives and other key employees (particularly management, client servicing, and consultant and candidate recruiting employees) in a competitive marketplace, we must provide a competitive compensation package, including a mix of cash-based and equity-based compensation. Kforce expends significant resources in the recruiting and training of its employees, as the pool of available applicants for these positions is limited. The loss or any sustained attrition of our key operating employees could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to establish and maintain client, consultant and candidate, professional and technical relationships.

Due to limited barriers to entry for new competitors, the competition among staffing and solutions firms is intense and we face significant competition in the markets we serve. Kforce competes for potential clients with large national and local staffing firms and national and regional advisory firms that offer both solutions and staffing services. Some of our clients increasingly rely upon internal recruiting functions. Some of our competitors possess substantially greater resources than we do and others may develop new and unique technologies. From time to time, we experience significant pressure from our clients to reduce price levels due to competition. During these periods, we may face increased competitive pricing pressures and may not be able to recruit the personnel necessary to fulfill our clients’ needs. We also face the risk that certain of our current and prospective clients will decide to provide similar services internally, particularly if regulatory burdens are reduced. Additionally, many clients are retaining third parties to provide vendor management services, which may subject us to greater risks or lower margins.

In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and retain personal information of our associates and consultants and their dependents, and our customers. We are also regularly subjected to cyberattacks and the number and sophistication of such cyberattacks continue to increase. Cyberattacks or other breaches of network or information technology used by our associates and consultants, as well as risks associated with compliance on data privacy, could adversely impact our systems, services, operations, financial results and reputation with clients and potential clients. These attacks include, but are not limited to, attempts to gain unauthorized access to digital systems for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. While we have policies, procedures and systems in place to detect, prevent and deter cyberattacks or other breaches of our networks, and, although we have not experienced a data breach, techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or cause system interruption change frequently and may not immediately produce signs of intrusion. As a result, we may be unable to anticipate these incidents or techniques, timely discover them, or implement adequate preventative measures.

The possession and use of personal information and data in conducting our business subjects us to legislative and regulatory burdens and compliance risk. We may be required to incur significant expenses to comply with mandatory privacy and security standards and protocols imposed by law, regulation, industry standards or contractual obligations. We maintain cyber risk insurance, but this insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our losses from any future breaches of our systems or information. Our information technology may not provide sufficient protection, and as a result we may lose significant information about us, our employees or clients. Other results of these incidents could include, but are not limited to, increased cybersecurity protection costs, litigation, regulatory penalties, monetary damages and reputational damage adversely affecting client or investor confidence.

Our future success is likely to depend in part on our ability to successfully keep pace with technological changes and advances occurring across our industry. Our business is reliant on a variety of systems and technologies, including those that support consultant and candidate searching and matching, hiring and tracking, order management, billing and client data analytics. Our success depends in part on our ability to keep pace with rapid technological changes in the development and implementation of these services. If our systems become outdated, or if our investments in technology fail to provide the expected results, then we may be unable to maintain our technological capabilities relative to our competitors and our business could be negatively affected.

Kforce is dependent on the proper functioning of information systems in operating our business. Critical information systems are used in every aspect of Kforce’s daily operations, perhaps most significantly, in the identification and matching of resources to client assignments and in the client billing and consultant or vendor payment functions. Kforce’s information systems may not perform as expected and are vulnerable to damage or interruption including natural disasters, fire or casualty, theft, technical failures, terrorist acts, cybersecurity breaches, power outages, telecommunications failures, physical or software intrusions, computer viruses, employee errors or other events. While many of our systems are cloud-based, certain of our systems are still on premise. Our corporate headquarters and data center are located in a hurricane-prone area. Although we have disaster recovery systems for most key information systems, this makes us reliant on third-party providers for the restoration of these systems. Failure or interruption of our critical information systems may require significant additional capital and management resources to resolve, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Additionally, many of our information technology systems and networks are cloud-based or managed by third parties, whose future performance and reliability we cannot control. The risk of a cyberattack or security breach on a third party carries the same risks to Kforce as those associated with our internal systems. We seek to reduce these risks by performing vendor due diligence procedures prior to engaging with any third-party vendor who will have access to sensitive data. Additionally, we require audits of the relevant third parties’ information technology processes on an annual basis. However, there can be no assurance that such parties will not experience cybersecurity breaches that could adversely affect our employees, customers and businesses or that our audit or diligence processes will successfully deter or prevent such breach.

Our Technology business utilizes a significant number of foreign nationals employed by us on work visas, primarily under the H-1B visa classification. The H-1B visa classification that enables U.S. employers to hire qualified foreign nationals is subject to legislative and administrative changes, as well as changes in the application of standards and enforcement. Immigration laws and regulations can be significantly affected by the recent change in administration, other political developments and levels of economic activity. Current and future restrictions on the availability of such visas could restrain our ability to employ the skilled professionals we need to meet our clients’ needs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”) continues to closely scrutinize companies seeking to sponsor, renew or transfer H-1B status, including Kforce and Kforce’s subcontractors and has issued internal guidance to its field offices that appears to narrow the eligibility criteria for H-1B status in the context of staffing services. In addition to USCIS restrictions, certain aspects of the H-1B program are also subject to regulation and review by the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of State,

which have recently increased enforcement activities in the program. Vigorous enforcement and/or legislative or executive action relating to immigration could adversely affect our ability to recruit or retain foreign national consultants, and consequently, reduce our supply of skilled consultants and candidates and subject us to fines, penalties and sanctions, or result in increased labor and compliance costs.

We utilize individuals to provide services in connection with our business as qualified third-party independent contractors rather than our direct employees. Heightened state and federal scrutiny of independent contractor relationships could adversely affect us given that we utilize independent contractors to perform our services. An adverse determination related to the independent contractor status of these subcontracted personnel could result in substantial taxes or other liabilities to us, which could result in a material adverse effect upon our business.

Kforce is required to pay a number of federal, state and local payroll and related costs or provide certain benefits such as paid time off, sick leave, unemployment taxes, workers’ compensation and insurance premiums and claims, FICA and Medicare, among others, related to our employees. Costs could also increase as a result of health care reforms or the possible imposition of additional requirements and restrictions related to the placement of personnel. We may not be able to increase the fees charged to our clients in a timely manner or in a sufficient amount to cover these potential cost increases.

Kforce is subject to periodic federal, state and local tax audits for various tax years. We also need to comply with new, evolving or revised tax laws and regulations. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, enacted in December 2017, continues to require interpretation; in addition, the new administration has indicated it intends to modify key aspects of the tax code, which could materially affect our tax obligations and effective tax rate. Although Kforce attempts to comply with all taxing authority regulations, adverse findings or assessments made by taxing authorities as the result of an audit could have a material adverse effect on Kforce.

We have a credit facility consisting of a revolving line of credit of up to $200.0 million, subject to certain limitations. Borrowings under the credit facility are secured by substantially all of the tangible and intangible assets of the Firm, and certain other designated collateral.

Adverse changes in credit markets, including increases in interest rates, could increase our cost of borrowing and/or make it more difficult to refinance our existing indebtedness, if necessary. We have reduced our exposure to rising interest rates by entering into an interest rate hedging arrangement, although this and other arrangements may result in us incurring higher interest expenses than we would have otherwise incurred. If interest rates increase in the absence of such arrangements though, we would need to dedicate more of our cash flow from operations to service our debt.

Kforce is subject to certain affirmative and negative covenants under our credit facility. Our failure to comply with such restrictive covenants could result in an event of default, which, if not cured or waived, could result in Kforce being required to repay the outstanding balance before the due date. If this occurs, we may not be able to repay our debt or we may be forced to refinance on terms not acceptable to us, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

Demand for our services, generally speaking, can be significantly affected by the general level of economic activity and employment in the U.S. Even in a strong demand environment, without significant uncertainty and volatility, it is difficult for us to forecast future demand for our services due to the inherent difficulties in forecasting the strength of economic cycles, availability of consultants and candidates and the short-term nature of many of our agreements. As economic activity slows, companies may defer projects for which they utilize our services or reduce their use of consultants before laying off permanent employees. In addition, an economic downturn could result in an increase in the unemployment rate and a deceleration of growth in the segments in which we and our clients operate. We may also experience more competitive pricing pressures during periods of economic downturn. Any substantial economic downturn, including an environment with significant inflationary pressures, in the U.S. or global impact on the U.S. could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our business is subject to regulation and licensing in many states. There can be no assurance that we will be able to continue to obtain all necessary licenses or approvals or that the cost of compliance will not prove to be material. If we fail to comply, such failure could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

A large part of our business entails employing individuals on a temporary basis and placing such individuals in clients’ workplaces. Increased government regulation of the workplace or of the employer/employee relationship could have a material adverse effect on Kforce. For example, changes to government regulations, including changes to statutory hourly wage and overtime regulations, could adversely affect the Firm’s results of operations by increasing its costs. Due to the substantial number of state and local jurisdictions in which we operate and the widening disparity among state and local laws (a trend which appears to be accelerating), there also is a risk that we may be unaware of, or unable to adequately monitor, actual or proposed changes in, or the interpretation of, the laws or governmental regulations of such states and localities. Any delay in our compliance with changes in such laws or governmental regulations could result in potential fines, penalties, or other sanctions for non-compliance.

New business initiatives and strategic changes in the composition of our business mix can be a diversion to our management’s attention from other business concerns and could be disruptive to our operations, which could cause our business and results of operations to suffer materially. Acquisitions and new business initiatives could involve significant unanticipated challenges and risks, including that: they may not advance our business strategy; we may not realize our anticipated return on our investment; we may lose key personnel; we may incur and/or retain unforeseen liabilities; we may experience difficulty in implementing initiatives or integrating acquired operations; and management's attention may be diverted from our other businesses. These events could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition.

Our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, does not expect that our disclosure controls and internal controls will prevent all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. If our management is unable to certify the effectiveness of our internal controls, including those over our third-party vendors, our independent registered public accounting firm cannot render an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting, or if material weaknesses in our internal controls are identified, we could be subject to regulatory scrutiny and a loss of public confidence, which could cause our stock price to decline.

The market price of our stock has fluctuated substantially in the past and could fluctuate substantially in the future, based on a variety of factors, including our operating results, changes in general conditions in the economy, the financial markets, the staffing industry, a decrease in our outstanding shares or other developments affecting us, our clients, or our competitors; some of which may be unrelated to our performance.

In addition, the stock market in general, especially NASDAQ, along with market prices for staffing companies, has experienced historical volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of these companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating results.

Among other things, volatility in our stock price could mean that investors will not be able to sell their shares at or above the prices they pay. The volatility also could impair our ability in the future to offer common stock as a source of additional capital or as consideration in the acquisition of other businesses, or as compensation for our key employees.

None.

As of December 31, 2021, we lease approximately 290,000 square feet of total office space in 36 offices located throughout the U.S., with remaining lease terms ranging from two to ten years, although a limited number of leases contain short-term renewal provisions that range from month-to-month to one year. During the three months ended September 30, 2021, we entered into a lease agreement for approximately 22,000 square feet of office space in Tampa, Florida, which will become our new corporate headquarters. This new lease for office space is intended to replace our current headquarters, also in Tampa, Florida, which we have sold and leased back from the new owners, the lease for which expires in November 2022. The new lease has not yet commenced but we expect to occupy the new office space in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Our common stock trades on the NASDAQ using the ticker symbol “KFRC”. As of February 23, 2022, there were 149 holders of record.

The following is an executive summary of what Kforce believes are highlights for 2021, which should be considered in the context of the additional discussions herein and in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto.

Certain discussions of the changes in our results of operations from the year ended December 31, 2020, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, have been omitted from this Form 10-K, but may be found in “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on February 26, 2021.

In 2020, the U.S. and global macro-economic environments were severely impacted by the COVID-19 economic and health crisis. Certain sectors of the U.S. economy were more acutely impacted by this crisis, such as the hospitality, transportation, retail, entertainment, health services and manufacturing sectors. We generate revenue within each of these sectors of the U.S. economy although our top three industries are financial services, business services and telecommunications, which were not as acutely impacted by this crisis.

Despite certain adverse effects to our business due to the abrupt economic disruption from the COVID-19 economic and health crisis and related governmental rules and regulations, we delivered strong results in 2020 and again in 2021, especially in our Technology business, with a year-over-year decline of only approximately 1% in 2020 and solid growth of approximately 22% in 2021, both of which significantly exceeded the market expectation per SIA. As we expected, we were successful in significantly outpacing the decline in revenues from our COVID-19 Business (declined $43.7 million) with a higher-quality Technology revenue stream (up $224.3 million). While the business climate related to the COVID-19 economic and health crisis, along with related governmental legislation (including that which is aimed at stimulating the economy), is still extremely fluid, we are well-positioned to and expect to continue capturing additional market share in our Technology business and delivering strong operating results to our shareholders in 2022.

Flex revenue for our Technology business increased approximately 22%, per billing day, during the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the same period in 2020. The increase was driven principally by a higher number of consultants on assignment, which have improved consistently since June 2020 (our lowest point during the COVID-19 pandemic). This growth in consultants on assignment was primarily due to the strong secular drivers of demand, the strength of our client portfolio (that being comprised of primarily Fortune 1000 companies), our concentration in higher-end technology skills, and solid execution. We believe the secular drivers of demand in technology have only strengthened post-pandemic as companies continue to invest significantly in technology to improve their consumer’s experience, gain cost efficiencies and stay relevant in an increasingly competitive environment. Assuming a stable demand and macro environment, we expect growth in our Technology business in 2022 of at least 15%.

Our FA business experienced a decrease in Flex revenue, per billing day of 14.0% during the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the same period in 2020, primarily driven by a $43.7 million decrease in the COVID-19 Business. Excluding this decline, FA Flex revenues declined 1.5% in 2021, per billing day, as a result of a strategic decision to focus our FA business towards more highly-skilled roles. Excluding the negative impact of the elimination of COVID-19 Business and runoff of FA business in lower skilled areas, we expect Flex revenue in our FA business to grow in the low to mid-single digit range in 2022.

Direct Hire revenue increased 49.3%, per billing day, during the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the same period in 2020, primarily driven by a significant increase in both the number of placements and fees, as the economic environment has strengthened and competition for talent has increased. We expect Direct Hire revenues to grow in 2022 in the mid to high single-digit range in 2022.

Total gross profit percentage increased 60 basis points for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the same period in 2020, primarily driven by an increased mix of Direct Hire revenue.

Flex gross profit percentage (Flex gross profit as a percentage of Flex revenue) provides management with helpful insight into the other drivers of total gross profit percentage driven by our Flex business such as changes in the spread between the consultants’ bill rate and pay rate.

Overall, our Flex gross profit percentage for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the same period in 2020, was flat. We have seen good stability in our Technology Flex gross margins over the last several years as the benefit from higher growth in our managed teams and project solutions business, which carries a higher margin profile, has offset any spread compression in the remainder of our Technology business.

FA Flex gross profit margins increased 30 basis points for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the same period in 2020, primarily due to a lower mix of lower margin COVID-19 Business and spread improvements due to the repositioning of this business in higher skilled areas. These benefits more than offset higher healthcare costs.

We expect spreads to be relatively stable in our Technology business and for spreads in our FA business to benefit further from the elimination of revenues from the COVID-19 Business and the repositioning efforts in 2022.

Kforce continues to focus on effective pricing and optimizing the spread between bill rates and pay rates. We believe this will serve over time to obtain the optimal volume, rate, effort and duration of assignment, while ultimately maximizing the benefit for our clients, our consultants and Kforce.

other bonus incentives for our revenue-generating talent are variable costs driven primarily by revenue and gross profit levels, and associate performance.

SG&A as a percentage of revenue decreased 30 basis points in 2021, as compared to 2020 due to (a) leverage gained from our revenue growth, (b) the recognition of a $2.0 million gain from the sale of our corporate headquarters in 2021, (c) declines in credit expense in 2021 due to a lower estimated risk of default resulting from the strength in the quality of our accounts receivable portfolio, and (d) reductions in lease and office expenses. These benefits were partially offset by higher performance-based compensation given the strength in our 2021 financial performance and the accrual of a tentative legal settlement of $3.3 million.

The Firm continues to focus on improving the productivity of our associates and generating increased operating leverage as revenues grow.

The decrease in depreciation primarily results from the completion of the sale of our corporate headquarters in May 2021.

During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we recognized $2.5 million and $1.7 million, respectively, related to our share of losses from WorkLLama and an expense of $1.8 million in 2021 related to the termination of our SERP. Refer to Note 13 - “Employee Benefit Plans” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this report, for a complete discussion of the termination of our SERP.

Although the impact of the COVID-19 economic and health crisis remains highly uncertain, it could have a material adverse effect on the fair value of our equity method investment in WorkLLama. If the fair value falls below the book value of the equity method investment, we would be required to evaluate whether an other-than-temporary impairment has occurred. Refer to Note 1 - “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this report, for a more detailed discussion on our equity method investment.

On April 1, 2019, Kforce completed the sale of all of the issued and outstanding stock of Kforce Government Holdings, Inc., including its wholly-owned subsidiary, KGS, to ManTech International Corporation for a cash purchase price of $115.0 million. Our gain on the sale of KGS, net of transaction costs, was $72.3 million. Total transaction costs were $9.6 million, which primarily includes legal and broker fees, transaction bonuses and accelerated stock-based compensation expense for KGS management triggered by a change in control of KGS.

On June 7, 2019, Kforce completed the sale of all of the issued and outstanding stock of TFX to an unaffiliated third party for a cash purchase price of $18.4 million less a post-closing working capital adjustment of $0.7 million. Our gain on the sale of TFX,

net of transaction costs, was $7.0 million. Total transaction costs were $2.2 million, which primarily includes legal and broker fees and transaction bonuses. Due to the sale of TFX, we finalized the settlement of a contingent consideration liability related to the acquisition of TFX in 2014 and paid $0.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2020.

The effective tax rates for discontinued operations, including the gain on sale of discontinued operations, for the year ended December 31, 2019, was 4.4%. There was no activity relating to discontinued operations in 2021 or 2020. The GS effective tax rate for 2019 was low because of the minimal income tax obligation for the sale of KGS due to the efficient tax structure of the transaction.

In addition, although we excluded amortization of stock-based compensation expense because it is a non-cash expense, we expect to continue to incur stock-based compensation in the future and the associated stock issued may result in an increase in our outstanding shares of stock, which may result in the dilution of our shareholder ownership interest. We suggest that you evaluate these items and the potential risks of excluding such items when analyzing our financial position.

Adjusted EBITDA, for the year ended December 31, 2019, was negatively impacted by $2.0 million of severance and other costs due to actions taken as a result of the KGS divestiture.

To meet our capital and liquidity requirements, we primarily rely on operating cash flow, as well as borrowings under our credit facility. At December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had $97.0 million and $103.5 million, respectively, in cash and cash equivalents, which consisted primarily of government money market funds. At December 31, 2021, Kforce had $211.7 million in working capital compared to $230.7 million at December 31, 2020.

Our business has historically generated a significant amount of operating cash flows, which allows us to balance deploying available capital towards: (i) investing in our infrastructure to allow sustainable growth via capital expenditures; (ii) our dividend and share repurchase programs; and (iii) maintaining sufficient liquidity to complete acquisitions or other strategic investments.

Our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows are presented on a combined basis (continuing operations and discontinued operations). As previously discussed, the GS segment was sold and has been reflected as a discontinued operation for 2019.

Cash provided by operating activities was $72.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to $109.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2020. Our largest source of operating cash flows is the collection of trade receivables, and our largest use of operating cash flows is the payment of our associate and consultant compensation. The decrease was primarily driven by growth in our accounts receivable portfolio and the $19.0 million payment of payroll taxes in 2021 out of the $39 million that was deferred in 2020 related to the CARES ACT. This decline was partially offset by profitable revenue growth.

Cash provided by investing activities was $8.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to cash used in investing activities of $6.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2020. The aggregate year-over-year change of $15.2 million is due to $23.7 million in net proceeds from the sale of our corporate headquarters, which was partially offset by the receipt of proceeds from the sale of assets held within the Rabbi Trust of $3.5 million in 2020 and a $5 million increase in capital contributed to WorkLLama. We expect to continue selectively investing in our infrastructure, primarily focusing on implementing new and upgrading existing technologies that will provide the most benefit.

Cash used in financing activities was $87.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to $18.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2020. The change was primarily driven by the $35.0 million draw down on our credit facility during the year ended December 31, 2020, and an increase in the repurchases of common stock and quarterly dividends during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020.

During the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, Kforce declared and paid dividends of $20.1 million ($0.98 per share), $16.8 million ($0.80 per share) and $16.6 million ($0.72 per share), respectively.

On February 4, 2022, Kforce’s Board approved a 15% increase to the Company's quarterly dividend from $0.26 per share to $0.30 per share. The declaration, payment and amount of future dividends are discretionary and will be subject to determination by Kforce’s Board each quarter following its review of, among other things, the Firm’s current and expected financial performance as well as the ability to pay dividends under applicable law.

We believe that existing cash and cash equivalents, cash flow from operations and available borrowings under our credit facility will be adequate to meet the capital expenditure and working capital requirements of our operations for at least the next 12 months. However, a material deterioration in the economic environment or market conditions, among other things, could negatively impact operating results and liquidity, as well as the ability of our lenders to fund borrowings. Actual results could also differ materially from those indicated as a result of a number of factors, including the use of currently available resources for potential acquisitions and additional stock repurchases.

On October 20, 2021, the Firm entered into an amended and restated credit agreement with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as administrative agent, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, as lead arranger and bookrunner, Bank of America, N.A., as syndication agent, BMO Harris Bank, N.A., as documentation agent, and the lenders referred to therein (the “Amended and Restated Credit Facility”). Under the Amended and Restated Credit Facility, the Firm has a maximum borrowing capacity of $200.0 million, which may, subject to certain conditions and the participation of the lenders, be increased up to an aggregate additional amount of $150.0 million. The maturity date of the Amended and Restated Credit Facility is October 20, 2026. Refer to Note 14 - “Credit Facility” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this report, for a complete discussion of our Credit Facility. As of December 31, 2021, $100.0 million was outstanding and $98.7 million, subject to certain covenants, was available.

In April 2017 and March 2020, Kforce entered into two forward-starting interest rate swap agreements (the “Swaps”) to mitigate the risk of rising interest rates and the Swaps have been designated as a cash flow hedges. Refer to Note 15 - “Derivative Instrument and Hedging Activity” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this report, for a complete discussion of the Swaps. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the fair value of the Swaps was an asset of $0.8 million and liability of $1.8 million, respectively.

Kforce provides letters of credit to certain vendors in lieu of cash deposits. At December 31, 2021, Kforce had letters of credit outstanding for operating lease and insurance coverage deposits totaling $1.3 million.

In June 2019, we entered into a joint venture whereby Kforce has a 50% noncontrolling interest in WorkLLama, a newly formed LLC that is accounted for as an equity method investment. Refer to Note 1 - “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this report, which discusses a contingent obligation related to this equity method investment.

These off-balance sheet arrangements do not have a material impact on our liquidity or capital resources. These off-balance sheet arrangements do not provide financing, liquidity, market or credit risk support.

Our significant accounting policies are discussed in Note 1 – “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this report. Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. In connection with the preparation of our consolidated financial statements, we are required to make assumptions and estimates about future events, and apply judgments that affect the reported amount of assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses and the related disclosures. We base our assumptions, estimates and judgments on historical experience, current trends and other factors that management believes to be relevant at the time our consolidated financial statements are prepared. On a regular basis, management reviews the accounting policies, estimates, assumptions and judgments to ensure that our consolidated financial statements are presented fairly and in accordance with GAAP. However, because future events and their effects cannot be determined with certainty, actual results could differ from our assumptions and estimates, and such differences could be material. Management believes that the following accounting estimates are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our reported financial results, and they require management’s most difficult, subjective or complex judgments, resulting from the need to make

estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. We have not made any material changes in our accounting methodologies used in prior years.

In June 2019, we entered into a joint venture whereby Kforce has a 50% noncontrolling interest in WorkLLama, which is accounted for as an equity method investment.

We review the equity method investment for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the investment may not be recoverable. An impairment loss is recognized in the event that an other-than-temporary decline in the fair value of the investment occurs. Management’s estimate of fair value of an investment is based on the income approach and/or market approach. For the income approach, we utilize estimated discounted future cash flows expected to be generated by WorkLLama. For the market approach, we utilize market multiples of revenue and earnings derived from comparable publicly-traded companies. These types of analyses contain uncertainties because they require management to make significant assumptions and judgments including: (1) an appropriate rate to discount the expected future cash flows; (2) the inherent risk in achieving forecasted operating results; (3) long-term growth rates; (4) expectations for future economic cycles; (5) market comparable companies and appropriate adjustments thereto; and (6) market multiples. Changes in key assumptions about the financial condition of an investee or actual conditions that differ from estimates could result in an impairment charge.

Management performs an ongoing analysis of factors in establishing its allowance for doubtful accounts including recent write-off and delinquency trends, a specific analysis of significant receivable balances that are past due, the concentration of accounts receivable among clients and higher-risk sectors, and the current state of the U.S. economy. A 10% change in accounts reserved, at December 31, 2021, would have impacted our net income by approximately $0.2 million in 2021.

Our effective income tax rate is influenced by tax planning opportunities available to us in the various jurisdictions in which we conduct business. Significant judgment is required in determining our effective tax rate and in evaluating our tax positions, including those that may be uncertain.

We are also required to exercise judgment with respect to the realization of our net deferred tax assets. Management evaluates positive and negative evidence and exercises judgment regarding past and future events to determine if it is more likely than not that all or some portion of the deferred tax assets may not be realized. If appropriate, a valuation allowance is recorded against deferred tax assets to offset future tax benefits that may not be realized. A 0.5% change in our effective tax rate would have impacted our net income by approximately $0.5 million in 2021.

Refer to Note 7 – “Income Taxes” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this report, for a complete discussion of the components of our income tax expense, as well as the temporary differences that exist as of December 31, 2021.

Goodwill is tested at the reporting unit level which is generally an operating segment, or one level below the operating segment level, where a business operates and for which discrete financial information is available and reviewed by segment management. We evaluate goodwill for impairment annually or more frequently whenever events or circumstances indicate that the fair value of a reporting unit is below its carrying value. We monitor the existence of potential impairment indicators throughout the year. It is our policy to conduct impairment testing based on our current business strategy in light of present industry and economic conditions, as well as future expectations.

When performing a quantitative assessment, we determine the fair value of our reporting units using widely accepted valuation techniques, including the discounted cash flow, guideline transaction and guideline company methods. These types of analyses contain uncertainties because they require management to make significant assumptions and judgments including: (1) an appropriate rate to discount the expected future cash flows; (2) the inherent risk in achieving forecasted operating results; (3) long-term growth rates; (4) expectations for future economic cycles; (5) market comparable companies and appropriate adjustments thereto; and (6) market multiples. When performing a qualitative assessment, we assess qualitative factors to determine whether the existence of events or circumstances indicated that it was more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit was less than its carrying amount.

We are self-insured for certain losses related to health insurance claims that are below insurable limits. However, we obtain third-party insurance coverage to limit our exposure to claims in excess of insurable limits. When estimating our self-insured liabilities, we consider a number of factors, including historical claims experience, plan structure, internal claims management activities, demographic factors and severity factors. Periodically, management reviews its assumptions to determine the adequacy of our self-insured liabilities.

Our self-insured liabilities contain uncertainties because management is required to make assumptions and to apply judgment to estimate the ultimate total cost to settle reported claims and claims incurred but not reported (“IBNR”) as of the balance sheet date. A 10% change in our self-insured liabilities related to health insurance, as of December 31, 2021, would have impacted our net income by approximately $0.5 million in 2021.

On March 12, 2020, Kforce entered into a forward-starting interest rate swap agreement with Wells Fargo Bank N.A. (“Swap B”). Swap B was effective on March 17, 2020 and matures on May 30, 2025. Swap B has a fixed interest rate of 0.61% and a notional amount of $75.0 million and increases to $100.0 million in May 2022, and subsequently decreases to $75.0 million and $40.0 million in May 2023 and May 2024, respectively. The increases in the notional amount of Swap B correspond to the decreases in the notional amount of Swap A.

The Firm uses the Swaps as an interest rate risk management tool to mitigate the potential impact of rising interest rates on variable rate debt. The fixed interest rate for each Swap (which will remain throughout the remainder of the hedging arrangement), plus the applicable interest margin under our credit facility, is included in interest expense and recorded in Other expense, net in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income. Both Swap A and Swap B have been designated as cash flow hedges and were effective as of December 31, 2021. The change in the fair value of the Swaps are recorded as a component of Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) in the unaudited consolidated financial statements.

Equity Method Investment – Refer to Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements