Recent Accounting Pronouncements (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Jun. 27, 2021

Accounting Changes and Error Corrections [Abstract]

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued updated guidance, Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-13, related to the measurement of credit losses for certain financial assets. This guidance replaces the current incurred loss methodology with an expected credit loss methodology. It requires us to recognize an allowance equal to our current estimate of all contractual cash flows that we do not expect to collect. We adopted this guidance in the first quarter of fiscal 2021, and the adoption did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. Our estimate considered relevant information about past events, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts impacting the collectability of the reported amounts.

In August 2018, the FASB issued updated guidance modifying certain fair value measurement disclosures. The guidance contains additional disclosures to enable users of the financial statements to better understand the entity’s assumptions used to develop significant unobservable inputs for Level 3 fair value measurements, but also eliminates the requirement for entities to disclose the amount of and reasons for transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 investments within the fair value hierarchy. We adopted this guidance in the first quarter of fiscal 2021, and the adoption did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In December 2019, the FASB issued guidance simplifying the accounting for income taxes by removing certain exceptions to general principles in Topic 740 and amending certain existing guidance for clarity. This guidance is effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2020 (first quarter of fiscal 2022 for us). Early adoption is permitted. We do not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In May 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued guidance amending certain financial disclosures about acquired and disposed businesses. The amendments are designed to assist registrants in making more meaningful determinations of whether a subsidiary or an acquired or disposed business is significant, and to improve the related disclosure requirements. The guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 31, 2020 (first quarter of fiscal 2022 for us). We do not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Revenue and Contract Assets and Contract Liabilities

We invoice customers based on the contractual terms of each contract. However, the timing of revenue recognition may differ from the timing of invoice issuance.

Contract assets represent revenue recognized in excess of the amounts for which we have the contractual right to bill our customers. Such amounts are recoverable from customers based upon various measures of performance, including achievement of certain milestones or completion of a contract. In addition, many of our time and materials arrangements are billed in arrears pursuant to contract terms that are standard within the industry, resulting in contract assets and/or unbilled receivables being recorded, as revenue is recognized in advance of billings. Contract retentions, included in contract assets, represent amounts withheld by clients until certain conditions are met or the project is completed, which may extend beyond one year.

Contract liabilities consist of billings in excess of revenue recognized. Contract liabilities decrease as we recognize revenue from the satisfaction of the related performance obligation and increase as billings in advance of revenue recognition occur. Contract assets and liabilities are reported in a net position on a contract-by-contract basis at the end of each reporting period. There were no substantial non-current contract assets or liabilities for the periods presented.We recognize revenue primarily using the cost-to-cost measure of progress to estimate progress towards completion. Changes in those estimates could result in the recognition of cumulative catch-up adjustments to the contract’s inception-to-date revenue, costs and profit in the period in which such changes are made.Our RUPOs represent a measure of the total dollar value of work to be performed on contracts awarded and in progress. We had $3.2 billion of RUPOs as of June 27, 2021. RUPOs increase with awards from new contracts or additions on existing contracts and decrease as work is performed and revenue is recognized on existing contracts. RUPOs may also decrease when projects are canceled or modified in scope. We include a contract within our RUPOs when the contract is awarded and an agreement on contract terms has been reached.Although RUPOs reflect business that is considered to be firm, cancellations, deferrals or scope adjustments may occur. RUPOs are adjusted to reflect any known project cancellations, revisions to project scope and cost, foreign currency exchange fluctuations and project deferrals, as appropriate. Our operations and maintenance contracts can generally be terminated by the clients without a substantive financial penalty. Therefore, the remaining performance obligations on such contracts are limited to the notice period required for the termination (usually 30, 60, or 90 days).

Accounts Receivable, Net

Billed accounts receivable represent amounts billed to clients that have not been collected. Unbilled accounts receivable, which represent an unconditional right to payment subject only to the passage of time, include unbilled amounts typically resulting from revenue recognized but not yet billed pursuant to contract terms or billed after the period end date. Substantially all of our unbilled receivables at June 27, 2021 are expected to be billed and collected within 12 months. The allowance for doubtful accounts represents amounts that are expected to become uncollectible or unrealizable in the future. We determine an estimated allowance for uncollectible accounts based on management's consideration of trends in the actual and forecasted credit quality of our clients, including delinquency and payment history; type of client, such as a government agency or a commercial sector client; and general economic and industry conditions, including the potential impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 ("COVID-19") pandemic, that may affect our clients' ability to pay. The $3.8 million decline in our allowance for doubtful accounts in the first nine months of fiscal 2021 primarily reflects the collection of accounts receivable we previously determined were likely uncollectible related to our Canadian turn-key pipeline activities that we decided to dispose of in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019. Claims are amounts in excess of agreed contract prices that we seek to collect from our clients or other third parties for delays, errors in specifications and designs, contract terminations, change orders in dispute or unapproved as to both scope and price, or other causes of unanticipated additional costs. Factors considered in determining whether revenue associated with claims (including change orders in dispute and unapproved change orders in regards to both scope and price) should be recognized include the following: (a) the contract or other evidence provides a legal basis for the claim, (b) additional costs were caused by circumstances that were unforeseen at the contract date and not the result of deficiencies in our performance, (c) claim-related costs are identifiable and considered reasonable in view of the work performed, and (d) evidence supporting the claim is objective and verifiable. This can lead to a situation in which costs are recognized in one period and revenue is recognized in a subsequent period when a client agreement is obtained, or a claims resolution occurs.We regularly evaluate all unsettled claim amounts and record appropriate adjustments to revenue when it is probable that the claim will result in a different contract value than the amount previously estimated.