Restricted Cash and Short-Term Investments

6 Months Ended

May 03, 2020

Cash and Cash Equivalents [Abstract]

Restricted Cash and Short-Term Investments

Restricted Cash and Short-Term Investments

Restricted cash primarily includes amounts related to requirements under certain contracts with managed service program customers, for whom the Company manages the customers’ contingent staffing requirements, including processing of associate vendor billings into single, combined customer billings and distribution of payments to associate vendors on behalf of customers, as well as minimum cash deposits required to be maintained as collateral. Distribution of payments to associate vendors is generally made shortly after receipt of payment from customers, with undistributed amounts included in restricted cash and accounts payable between receipt and distribution of these amounts, where contractually required. At May 3, 2020 and November 3, 2019, restricted cash included $7.1 million and $9.3 million, respectively, restricted for payment to associate vendors, and $0.5 million in both periods, restricted for other collateral accounts.

At May 3, 2020, restricted cash also included $9.3 million restricted under the Company’s long-term accounts receivable securitization program (“DZ Financing Program”) with DZ Bank AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschafsbank (“DZ Bank”). This cash was restricted as it supplemented collateral provided by accounts receivable towards the Company’s aggregate borrowing base usage of $84.8 million, inclusive of $60.0 million outstanding and $24.8 million in issued letters of credit as of May 3, 2020. Although the Company had sufficient unrestricted cash as of May 3, 2020 to reduce the outstanding balance and eliminate the cash restriction, the Company chose to preserve unrestricted cash as a conservative measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Short-term investments were $2.5 million and $3.0 million at May 3, 2020 and November 3, 2019, respectively. These short-term investments consisted primarily of the fair value of deferred compensation investments corresponding to employees’ selections, primarily in mutual funds, based on quoted prices in active markets.