Joint Ventures and VIE's

9 Months Ended

Jun. 28, 2019

Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract]

Joint Ventures and VIE's

Joint Ventures and VIEs

As is common to the industry, we execute certain contracts jointly with third parties through various forms of joint ventures. Although the joint ventures own and hold the contracts with the clients, the services required by the contracts are typically performed by us and our joint venture partners, or by other subcontractors under subcontracting agreements with the joint ventures. Many of these joint ventures are formed for a specific project. The assets of our joint ventures generally consist almost entirely of cash and receivables (representing amounts due from clients), and the liabilities of our joint ventures generally consist almost entirely of amounts due to the joint venture partners (for services provided by the partners to the joint ventures under their individual subcontracts) and other subcontractors. Many of the joint ventures are deemed to be variable interest entities (“VIE”) because they lack sufficient equity to finance the activities of the joint venture.

The assets of a joint venture are restricted for use to the obligations of the particular joint venture and are not available for general operations of the Company. Our risk of loss on these arrangements is usually shared with our partners. The liability of each partner is usually joint and several, which means that each partner may become liable for the entire risk of loss on the project. Furthermore, on some of our projects, the Company has granted guarantees which may encumber both our contracting subsidiary company and the Company for the entire risk of loss on the project. The Company is unable to estimate the maximum potential amount of future payments that we could be required to make under outstanding performance guarantees related to joint venture projects due to a number of factors, including but not limited to, the nature and extent of any contractual defaults by our joint venture partners, resource availability, potential performance delays caused by the defaults, the location of the projects, and the terms of the related contracts. Refer to Note 18 - Commitments and Contingencies, for further discussion relating to performance guarantees.

For consolidated joint ventures, the entire amount of the services performed, and the costs associated with these services, including the services provided by the other joint venture partners, are included in the Company's result of operations. Likewise, the entire amount of each of the assets and liabilities are included in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. For the consolidated VIEs, the carrying value of assets and liabilities was $136.5 million and $95.1 million, respectively, as of June 28, 2019 and $162.2 million and $86.0 million, respectively as of September 28, 2018. There are no consolidated VIEs that have debt or credit facilities.

Unconsolidated joint ventures are accounted for under proportionate consolidation or the equity method. Proportionate consolidation is used for joint ventures that include unincorporated legal entities and activities of the joint venture are construction-related. For those joint ventures accounted for under proportionate consolidation, only the Company’s pro rata share of assets, liabilities, revenue, and costs are included in the Company’s balance sheet and results of operations. For the proportionate consolidated VIEs, the carrying value of assets and liabilities was $69.2 million and $71.8 million as of June 28, 2019, respectively and $85.2 million and $75.9 million as of September 28, 2018, respectively. For those joint ventures accounted for under the equity method, the Company's investment balances for the joint venture are included in Other Noncurrent Assets: Miscellaneous on the balance sheet and the Company’s pro rata share of net income is included in revenue. In limited cases, there are basis differences between the equity in the joint venture and Jacobs' investment created when Jacobs purchased its share of the joint venture. These basis differences are amortized based on an internal allocation to underlying net assets, excluding allocations to goodwill. As of June 28, 2019, the Company’s equity method investments exceeded its share of venture net assets by $73.4 million. Our investments in equity method joint ventures on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of June 28, 2019 and September 28, 2018 were a net asset of $154.8 million and $148.4 million, respectively. During three months ended June 28, 2019 and June 29, 2018, we recognized income from equity method joint ventures of $13.2 million and $8.7 million, respectively. During the nine months ended June 28, 2019 and June 29, 2018, we recognized income from equity method joint ventures of $39.1 million and $36.0 million, respectively.

Accounts receivable from unconsolidated joint ventures accounted for under the equity method is $14.3 million and $11.1 million as of June 28, 2019 and September 28, 2018, respectively.