Detail of Selected Balance Sheet Accounts

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Disclosure Text Block Supplement [Abstract]

Detail of Selected Balance Sheet Accounts

D. Detail of Selected Balance Sheet Accounts

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

Activity in our allowance for doubtful accounts consisted of the following (in thousands):

	September 30,
	2016			2015
Balance at beginning of period	$	746		$	1,577
Bad debt expense (recovery)		187			(29	)
Uncollectible accounts written off, net of recoveries		(120	)		(749	)
Change due to foreign currency translation		(2	)		(53	)
Balance at end of period	$	811		$	746

Inventories

The components of inventories are summarized below (in thousands):

	September 30,
	2016			2015
Raw materials, parts and subassemblies	$	29,639		$	36,575
Work-in-progress		996			1,084
Provision for excess and obsolete inventory		(4,114	)		(4,768	)
Total inventories	$	26,521		$	32,891

Cost and Estimated Earnings on Uncompleted Contracts

The components of costs and estimated earnings and related amounts billed on uncompleted contracts are summarized below (in thousands):

	September 30,
	2016			2015
Costs incurred on uncompleted contracts	$	1,088,921		$	912,237
Estimated earnings		350,125			271,640
		1,439,046			1,183,877
Less: Billings to date		(1,416,914	)		(1,121,141	)
Net underbilled position	$	22,132		$	62,736
Included in the accompanying balance sheets under the following captions:
Costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings on uncompleted contracts – underbilled	$	66,106		$	104,793
Billings in excess of costs and estimated earnings on uncompleted contracts – overbilled		(43,974	)		(42,057	)
Net underbilled position	$	22,132		$	62,736

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, plant and equipment are summarized below (in thousands):

	September 30,						Range of
	2016			2015			Asset Lives
Land	$	22,107		$	22,380		—
Buildings and improvements		119,512			120,983		3 - 39 Years
Machinery and equipment		103,268			100,306		3 - 15 Years
Furniture and fixtures		3,806			3,564		3 - 10 Years
Construction in process		1,009			1,013		—
	$	249,702		$	248,246
Less: Accumulated depreciation		(104,725	)		(93,652	)
Total property, plant and equipment, net	$	144,977		$	154,594

There were no assets under capital lease as of September 30, 2016 or September 30, 2015.  Depreciation expense from continuing operations, including the depreciation of capital leases when applicable, was $13.0 million, $13.1 million and $11.4 million for fiscal years 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively.

Warranty Accrual

Activity in our warranty accrual consisted of the following (in thousands):

	September 30,
	2016			2015
Balance at beginning of period	$	4,930		$	4,557
Increase to warranty expense		4,249			3,364
Deduction for warranty charges		(4,464	)		(2,738	)
Change due to foreign currency translation		(76	)		(253	)
Balance at end of period	$	4,639		$	4,930