Property and Equipment, Net

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2011

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements [Abstract]

Property and equipment, net consist of the following as of August 31:



($ in thousands)	2011			2010
Land	$	32,762		$	46,641
Buildings	68,202			195,699
Furniture and equipment	459,881			368,162
Leasehold improvements (includes tenant improvement allowances)	349,921			295,058
Internally developed software	63,578			83,011
Software	100,562			68,666
Construction in progress	29,934			37,080
Gross property and equipment	1,104,840			1,094,317
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization	(551,813		)	(474,780		)
Property and equipment, net	$	553,027		$	619,537

The decrease in land and buildings is primarily due to the sale-leaseback of our principal office buildings in Phoenix, Arizona. Refer to Note 20, Commitments and Contingencies.

The following amounts, which are included in the above table, relate to property and equipment capital leases as of August 31:



($ in thousands)	2011			2010
Buildings and land	$	5,838		$	6,029
Furniture and equipment	36,910			5,157
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization	(6,341		)	(3,340		)
Capital lease assets, net	$	36,407		$	7,846

The increase in furniture and equipment was primarily due to purchases of information technology and network infrastructure assets during fiscal year 2011, a portion of which are recorded as capital leases.

Depreciation expense was $144.3 million, $122.2 million and $103.4 million for fiscal years 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. Included in these amounts is depreciation of capitalized internally developed software of $15.0 million, $16.1 million and $12.5 million for the fiscal years 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. Additionally, we wrote-off $6.0 million of certain assets, including leasehold improvements, during fiscal year 2011 in conjunction with our real estate rationalization plan. Refer to Note 4, Restructuring and Other Charges. We also recorded a loss of $9.4 million in fiscal year 2009 that is included in general and administrative expenses in our Consolidated Statements of Income for the write-off of information technology fixed assets resulting primarily from our rationalization of software.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

+ References+ Details