Note 4 - Accounts Receivable

9 Months Ended

Oct. 01, 2011

Loans, Notes, Trade and Other Receivables Disclosure [Text Block]

4. Accounts and Transit Receivables

The Company’s accounts receivable are comprised as follows:

	October 1, 2011			January 1, 2011
Billed		$28,907			$31,265
Accrued and unbilled		885			3,381
Work-in-progress		10,140			7,858
Allowance for doubtful accounts and sales discounts		(1,358	)		(1,291	)
Accounts receivable, net		$38,574			$41,213

Transit Receivables and Transit Payables

From time to time, the Company’s Engineering segment enters into agreements to provide, among other things, construction management and engineering services. Pursuant to these agreements, the Company: a) engages subcontractors to provide construction services; b) typically earns a fixed percentage of the total project value as a fee and c) assumes no ownership or risks of inventory.  In such situations, the Company acts as an agent under the provisions of “Overall Considerations of Reporting Revenue Gross as a Principal versus Net as an Agent” and therefore recognizing revenue on a “net basis.”  Under the terms of the agreements, the Company is not required to pay the subcontractor until after the corresponding payment from the Company’s client is received.  Upon invoicing the end client on behalf of the subcontractor the Company records this amount simultaneously as both a “transit account receivable” and “transit account payable” as the amount when paid to the Company is due to and generally paid to the subcontractor within a few days.  At any given point in time, the Company’s transit accounts receivable usually equal the transit accounts payable.  However, the transit accounts payable will occasionally exceed the transit accounts receivable due to timing differences.  The transit accounts receivable and related transit accounts payable were $5,817 and $8,193, respectively, as of October 1, 2011.