Recent Accounting Pronouncements (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Accounting Changes and Error Corrections [Abstract]

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

In January 2016, the FASB issued guidance that generally requires companies to measure investments in other entities, except those accounted for under the equity method, at fair value and recognize any changes in fair value in net income. The guidance was effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2017 (first quarter of fiscal 2019 for us). The adoption of this guidance had no impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In March 2016, the FASB issued updated guidance which requires excess tax benefits and deficiencies on share-based payments to be recorded as income tax expense or benefit in the income statement rather than being recorded in additional paid-in capital. It also requires the presentation of employee taxes as financing activities on consolidated statements of cash flows, which was previously classified as operating activities. This guidance was effective for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2016 (first quarter of fiscal 2018 for us), with early adoption permitted. In the first quarter of fiscal 2017, we adopted this guidance. At the beginning of fiscal 2019, we revised the presentation of "Net cash provided by operating activities" and "Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities" in the consolidated statement of cash flows for prior period to correct the presentation of “Taxes paid on vested restricted stock” and appropriately reflect such amounts as financing activities. The correction resulted in an increase of net cash provided by operating activities of $8.8 million and a decrease of net cash provided by financing activities of $8.8 million for the nine months ended July 1, 2018. We assessed the materiality of these errors on our consolidated financial statements for prior periods and concluded that the amounts were not material to any prior interim or annual periods. We elected to revise the presentation for comparability purposes.

In August 2016, the FASB issued guidance to address eight specific cash flow issues to reduce the existing diversity in practice in how certain cash receipts and cash payments are presented and classified in the statement of cash flows. The guidance was effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2017 (first quarter of fiscal 2019 for us). The adoption of this guidance had no material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In October 2016, the FASB issued updated guidance which requires entities to recognize the income tax consequences of an intra-entity transfer of an asset other than inventory when the transfer occurs. The guidance was effective for fiscal reporting periods and interim reporting periods within those fiscal reporting periods, beginning after December 15, 2017 (first quarter of fiscal 2019 for us). The adoption of this guidance had no material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In November 2016, the FASB issued updated guidance which provides amendments to address the classification and presentation of changes in restricted cash in the statement of cash flows. The guidance was effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2017 (first quarter of fiscal 2019 for us). The adoption of this guidance had no material impact on our consolidated financial statements. We updated certain captions in our consolidated statements of cash flows to include restricted cash, which is reported in our "Prepaid expenses and other current assets" on the consolidated balance sheets.

In May 2017, the FASB issued updated guidance to clarify when changes to the terms or conditions of a share-based payment award must be accounted for as modifications. Under the updated guidance, modification accounting is required only if the fair value, the vesting conditions, or the classification of the award changes because of a change in terms or conditions. The guidance was effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2017 (first quarter of fiscal 2019 for us), on a prospective basis. The adoption of this guidance had no impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In August 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) published Release No. 33-10532, Disclosure Update and Simplification, which adopted amendments to certain disclosure requirements that have become redundant, duplicative, overlapping, outdated or superseded, considering other SEC disclosure requirements, U.S. GAAP, or changes in the information environment. While most of the amendments eliminate outdated or duplicative disclosure requirements, the final rule amends the interim financial statement requirements to include a reconciliation of changes in stockholders’ equity in the notes or as a separate statement for each period for which a statement of comprehensive income is required to be filed. The new interim reconciliation of changes in stockholders’ equity is included herein as a separate statement. Additionally, we removed the disclosure on cash dividends paid per share from our consolidated statements of income.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted

In February 2016, the FASB issued guidance that requires the rights and obligations associated with leasing arrangements be reflected on the balance sheet to increase transparency and comparability among organizations. Under the guidance, lessees will be required to recognize a right-of-use asset and a liability to make lease payments and disclose key information about leasing arrangements. The guidance is effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2018 (first quarter of fiscal 2020 for us). Early adoption is permitted, and the standard must be adopted using a modified retrospective approach. In July 2018, the FASB issued updated guidance, which provides entities with an additional transition method to adopt the lease accounting guidance. Under the new transition method, an entity initially applies the new standard at the adoption date, versus at the beginning of the earliest period presented, and recognizes a cumulative-effective adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption, if any. While we are currently evaluating the impact that this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements, we currently expect that the adoption of the new guidance will result in a significant increase in the assets and liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets and will likely have no impact on our consolidated statements of income and cash flows.

In June 2016, the FASB issued updated guidance which requires entities to estimate all expected credit losses for certain types of financial instruments, including trade receivables, held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. The updated guidance also expands the disclosure requirements to enable users of financial statements to understand the entity’s assumptions, models and methods for estimating expected credit losses. This guidance is effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019 (first quarter of fiscal 2021 for us). Early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact that this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements.

In August 2017, the FASB issued accounting guidance on hedging activities. The amendment better aligns an entity’s risk management activities and financial reporting for hedging relationships through changes to both the designation and measurement guidance for qualifying hedging relationships and the presentation of hedge results. The guidance is effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2018 (first quarter of fiscal 2020 for us). Early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact that this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements.

In February 2018, the FASB issued guidance on reclassification of certain tax effects from accumulated comprehensive income, which allows for a reclassification of stranded tax effects from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ("TCJA") from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings. The guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018 (first quarter of fiscal 2020 for us). We are currently evaluating the impact that this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements.

Revenue Recognition

Contract Assets and Contract Liabilities

We invoice customers based on the contractual terms of each contract. However, the timing of revenue recognition may differ from the timing of invoice issuance.

As part of the adoption of ASC 606, contract assets have been bifurcated from billed and unbilled receivables. Contract assets represent revenue recognized in excess of the amounts for which we have the contractual right to bill our customers. Such amounts are recoverable from customers based upon various measures of performance, including achievement of certain milestones or completion of a contract. In addition, many of our time and materials arrangements are billed in arrears pursuant to contract terms that are standard within the industry, resulting in contract assets and/or unbilled receivables being recorded, as revenue is recognized in advance of billings.

Contract liabilities consist of billings in excess of revenue recognized. Contract liabilities decrease as we recognize revenue from the satisfaction of the related performance obligation and increase as billings in advance of revenue recognition occur. We recognize revenue from contracts primarily utilizing the cost-to-cost measure of progress method, to estimate the progress towards completion to determine the amount of revenue and profit to recognize. Changes in those estimates could result in the recognition of cumulative catch-up adjustments to the contract’s inception-to-date revenue, costs and profit in the period in which such changes are made. As a result, we recognized net favorable operating income adjustments of $8.2 million and $5.0 million for the third quarter and first nine months of fiscal 2019, respectively, compared to net unfavorable operating income adjustments of $1.0 million and $2.4 million for the prior-year periods. Changes in revenue and cost estimates could also result in a projected loss, determined at the contract level, which would be recorded immediately in earnings

Although RUPOs reflect business that is considered to be firm, cancellations, deferrals or scope adjustments may occur. RUPOs are adjusted to reflect any known project cancellations, revisions to project scope and cost, foreign currency exchange fluctuations and project deferrals, as appropriate. Our operations and maintenance contracts can generally be terminated by the clients without a substantive financial penalty. Therefore, the remaining performance obligations on such contracts are limited to the notice period required for the termination (usually 30, 60, or 90 days).

Revenue Recognition

On October 1, 2018, we adopted ASC 606, which supersedes most current revenue recognition guidance, including industry-specific guidance. We adopted the standard on a modified retrospective basis which results in no restatement of the comparative periods presented and a cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the date of adoption. As part of our adoption, the new standard was applied only to those contracts that were not substantially completed as of the date of adoption.

To determine the proper revenue recognition method for contracts under ASC 606, we evaluate whether multiple contracts should be combined and accounted for as a single contract and whether the combined or single contract should be accounted for as having more than one performance obligation. The decision to combine a group of contracts or separate a combined or single contract into multiple performance obligations may impact the amount of revenue recorded in a given period. Contracts are considered to have a single performance obligation if the promises are not separately identifiable from other promises in the contracts.

At contract inception, we assess the goods or services promised in a contract and identify, as a separate performance obligation, each distinct promise to transfer goods or services to the customer. The identified performance obligations represent the “unit of account” for purposes of determining revenue recognition. In order to properly identify separate performance obligations, we apply judgment in determining whether each good or service provided is: (a) capable of being distinct, whereby the customer can benefit from the good or service either on its own or together with other resources that are readily available to the customer, and (b) distinct within the context of the contract, whereby the transfer of the good or service to the customer is separately identifiable from other promises in the contract.

Contracts are often modified to account for changes in contract specifications and requirements. We consider contract modifications to exist when the modification either creates new or changes the existing enforceable rights and obligations. Most of our contract modifications are for goods or services that are not distinct from existing contracts due to the significant integration provided or significant interdependencies in the context of the contract and are accounted for as if they were part of the original contract. The effect of a contract modification on the transaction price and our measure of progress for the performance obligation to which it relates, is recognized as an adjustment to revenue (either as an increase in or a reduction of revenue) on a cumulative catch-up basis.

We account for contract modifications as a separate contract when the modification results in the promise to deliver additional goods or services that are distinct and the increase in price of the contract is for the same amount as the stand-alone selling price of the additional goods or services included in the modification.

The transaction price represents the amount of consideration to which we expect to be entitled in exchange for transferring promised goods or services to our customers. The consideration promised within a contract may include fixed amounts, variable amounts, or both. The nature of our contracts gives rise to several types of variable consideration, including claims, award fee incentives, fiscal funding clauses, and liquidated damages. We recognize revenue for variable consideration when it is probable that a significant reversal in the amount of cumulative revenue recognized for the contract will not occur. We estimate the amount of revenue to be recognized on variable consideration using either the expected value or the most likely amount method, whichever is expected to better predict the amount of consideration to be received. Project mobilization costs are generally charged to project costs as incurred when they are an integrated part of the performance obligation being transferred to the client.

Claims are amounts in excess of agreed contract prices that we seek to collect from our clients or other third parties for delays, errors in specifications and designs, contract terminations, change orders in dispute or unapproved as to both scope and price, or other causes of unanticipated additional costs. Revenue on claims is recognized only to the extent that contract costs related to the claims have been incurred and when it is probable that any significant revenue recognized related to the claim will not be reversed. Factors considered in determining whether revenue associated with claims (including change orders in dispute and unapproved change orders in regard to both scope and price) should be recognized include the following: (a) the contract or other evidence provides a legal basis for the claim, (b) additional costs were caused by circumstances that were unforeseen at the contract date and not the result of deficiencies in our performance, (c) claim-related costs are identifiable and considered reasonable in view of the work performed, and (d) evidence supporting the claim is objective and verifiable. This can lead to a situation in which costs are recognized in one period and revenue is recognized in a subsequent period when a client agreement is obtained, or a claims resolution occurs. In some cases, contract retentions are withheld by clients until certain conditions are met or the project is completed, which may be several months or years. In these cases, we have not identified a significant financing component under ASC 606 as the timing difference in payment compared to delivery of obligations under the contract is not for purposes of financing.

For contracts with multiple performance obligations, we allocate the transaction price to each performance obligation using a best estimate of the standalone selling price of each distinct good or service in the contract. The standalone selling price is typically determined using the estimated cost of the contract plus a margin approach. For contracts containing variable consideration, we allocate the variability to a specific performance obligation within the contract if such variability relates specifically to our efforts to satisfy the performance obligation or transfer the distinct good or service, and the allocation depicts the amount of consideration to which we expect to be entitled.

We recognize revenue over time as the related performance obligation is satisfied by transferring control of a promised good or service to our customers. Progress toward complete satisfaction of the performance obligation is primarily measured using a cost-to-cost measure of progress method. The cost input is based primarily on contract cost incurred to date compared to total estimated contract cost. This measure includes forecasts based on the best information available and reflects our judgment to faithfully depict the value of the services transferred to the customer. For certain on-call engineering or consulting and similar contracts, we recognize revenue in the amount which we have the right to invoice the customer if that amount corresponds directly with the value of our performance completed to date.

Due to uncertainties inherent in the estimation process, it is possible that estimates of costs to complete a performance obligation will be revised in the near-term. For those performance obligations for which revenue is recognized using a cost-to-cost measure of progress method, changes in total estimated costs, and related progress towards complete satisfaction of the performance obligation, are recognized on a cumulative catch-up basis in the period in which the revisions to the estimates are made. When the current estimate of total costs indicates a loss, a provision for the entire estimated loss on the contract is made in the period in which the loss becomes evident.

Contract Types

Our services are performed under three principal types of contracts: fixed-price, time-and-materials and cost-plus. Customer payments on contracts are typically due within 60 days of billing, depending on the contract.

Fixed-Price. Under fixed-price contracts, clients pay us an agreed fixed-amount negotiated in advance for a specified scope of work.

Time-and-Materials. Under time-and-materials contracts, we negotiate hourly billing rates and charge our clients based on the actual time that we spend on a project. In addition, clients reimburse us for our actual out-of-pocket costs for materials and other direct incidental expenditures that we incur in connection with our performance under the contract. Most of our time-and-material contracts are subject to maximum contract values, and also may include annual billing rate adjustment provisions.

Cost-Plus. Under cost-plus contracts, we are reimbursed for allowed or otherwise defined costs incurred plus a negotiated fee. The contracts may also include incentives for various performance criteria, including quality, timeliness, ingenuity, safety and cost-effectiveness. In addition, our costs are generally subject to review by our clients and regulatory audit agencies, and such reviews could result in costs being disputed as non-reimbursable under the terms of the contract.     

Adoption

Upon adoption on October 1, 2018, under the modified retrospective method, we recorded a cumulative effect adjustment to decrease retained earnings by $2.8 million on October 1, 2018, as well as the following cumulative effect adjustments:

• A decrease to contract assets of $5.0 million

• A decrease to contract liabilities of $1.1 million

• An increase to deferred tax assets of $1.1 million

The decrease in retained earnings primarily resulted from a change in the way we determine the unit of account for projects (i.e. performance obligations). Under previous guidance, we typically accounted for a contract as a single unit of revenue recognition. Upon adoption of ASC 606, we assess the nature of the promises in the contract and recognize revenue based on performance obligations within the respective contract or combined contract.

Our RUPOs represent a measure of the total dollar value of work to be performed on contracts awarded and in progress. We had $2.8 billion of RUPOs as of June 30, 2019. RUPOs increase with awards from new contracts or additions on existing contracts and decrease as work is performed and revenue is recognized on existing contracts. RUPOs may also decrease when projects are canceled or modified in scope. We include a contract within our RUPOs when the contract is awarded and an agreement on contract terms has been reached.