Accounts Receivable

12 Months Ended

Jul. 30, 2016

Receivables [Abstract]

Accounts Receivable

Accounts Receivable

Accounts receivable consisted of the following (dollars in thousands):

	July 30, 2016			July 25, 2015
Contract billings	$	297,532		$	292,029
Retainage	32,101			24,321
Total	329,633			316,350
Less: allowance for doubtful accounts	(1,603		)	(1,216		)
Accounts receivable, net	$	328,030		$	315,134

The Company grants credit under normal payment terms, generally without collateral, to its customers. The Company expects to collect the outstanding balance of accounts receivable, net (including retainage) within the next twelve months. There were no material accounts receivable amounts representing claims or other similar items subject to uncertainty as of July 30, 2016 or July 25, 2015.

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016, the Company began participating in a customer-sponsored vendor payment program. Under this program, accounts receivable are collected on an expedited basis pursuant to a non-recourse sale of the receivables to a bank partner of the customer. The program significantly reduces the time required to collect that customer’s receivables. The Company incurs a slight discount fee associated with the collection of the accounts receivable that is reflected as an expense component in other income, net in the consolidated statements of operations. For fiscal 2016, the receivables sold under the program totaled $95.3 million. Cash collected from this arrangement is reflected within cash provided by operating activities in the consolidated statement of cash flows for fiscal 2016. The amount of receivables sold which have not been collected from the bank partner as of July 30, 2016 and the discount fees for fiscal 2016 were immaterial.

The Company maintains an allowance for doubtful accounts for estimated losses on uncollected balances. The allowance for doubtful accounts changed as follows (dollars in thousands):

	Fiscal Year Ended
	2016			2015
Allowance for doubtful accounts at beginning of period	$	1,216		$	836
Bad debt expense	1,252			465
Amounts charged against the allowance	(865		)	(85		)
Allowance for doubtful accounts at end of period	$	1,603		$	1,216