Deferred Revenue and Financing Receivables

Deferred Revenue

Deferred revenue primarily relates to software support agreements billed to customers for which the services have not yet been provided. The liability associated with performing these services is included in deferred revenue and, if not yet paid, the related customer receivable is included in prepaid expenses and other current assets. Billed but uncollected support and subscription-related amounts included in prepaid expenses and other current assets at January 3, 2015 and September 30, 2014 were $150.3 million and $116.2 million, respectively. As our first quarter of 2015 ended on January 3, 2015, billings to customers with calendar year support agreements were higher than the first quarter of 2014 which ended on December 28, 2013.

Financing Receivables

We periodically provide extended payment terms to credit-worthy customers for software purchases with payment terms up to 24 months. The determination of whether to offer such payment terms is based on the size, nature and credit-worthiness of the customer, and the history of collecting amounts due, without concession, from the customer and customers generally. This determination is based on an internal credit assessment. In making this assessment, we use the Standard & Poor's (S&P) credit rating as our primary credit quality indicator, if available. If a customer, whether commercial or the U.S. Federal government, has a S&P bond rating of BBB- or above, we designate the customer as Tier 1. If a customer does not have a S&P bond rating, or has a S&P bond rating below BBB-, we base our assessment on an internal credit assessment which considers selected balance sheet, operating and liquidity measures, historical payment experience, and current business conditions within the industry or region. We designate these customers as Tier 2 or Tier 3, with Tier 3 being lower credit quality than Tier 2.

As of January 3, 2015 and September 30, 2014, amounts due from customers for contracts with original payment terms greater than twelve months (financing receivables) totaled $47.7 million and $58.1 million, respectively. Accounts receivable and prepaid expenses and other current assets in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets included current receivables from such contracts totaling $35.3 million and $44.6 million at January 3, 2015 and September 30, 2014, respectively, and other assets in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets included long-term receivables from such contracts totaling $12.4 million and $13.5 million at January 3, 2015 and September 30, 2014, respectively. As of January 3, 2015, $0.2 million of these receivables were past due. None of these receivables were past due as of September 30, 2014. Our credit risk assessment for financing receivables was as follows:



	January 3, 2015		September 30, 2014
	(in thousands)
S&P bond rating BBB-1 and above-Tier 1	$	31,921	$	41,152
Internal Credit Assessment-Tier 2	15,739		16,989
Internal Credit Assessment-Tier 3	—		—
Total financing receivables	$	47,660	$	58,141

We evaluate the need for an allowance for doubtful accounts for estimated losses resulting from the inability of these customers to make required payments. As of January 3, 2015 and September 30, 2014, we concluded that all financing receivables were collectible and no reserve for credit losses was recorded. We did not provide a reserve for credit losses or write off any uncollectible financing receivables in the three months ended January 3, 2015 or December 28, 2013. We write off uncollectible trade and financing receivables when we have exhausted all collection avenues.

We periodically transfer future payments under certain of these contracts to third-party financial institutions on a non-recourse basis. We record such transfers as sales of the related accounts receivable when we surrender control of such receivables. We did not sell any financing receivables to third-party financial institutions in the three months ended January 3, 2015. We sold $5.3 million of financing receivables to third-party financial institutions in the three months ended December 28, 2013.