Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Balance sheet components

v3.20.2
Balance sheet components
 12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Balance Sheet Related Disclosures [Abstract]  
Balance sheet components Balance sheet components
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash
We consider all highly liquid investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents.
Restricted cash represents funds that are held in our bank accounts but which we are precluded from using for general business needs through contractual requirements; these requirements include serving as collateral for lease, credit card or letter of credit arrangements or where we hold funds on behalf of clients. We will continue to report our restricted cash balances within "prepaid expenses and other current assets" on our balance sheet due to these restrictions.
Our balances for cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash are as follows:
As of September 30,
(in thousands) 2020 2019 2018 2017
Cash and cash equivalents $ 71,737  $ 105,565  $ 349,245  $ 166,252 
Restricted cash (recorded within "prepaid expenses and other current assets") 16,824  10,927  7,314  13,475 
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash $ 88,561  $ 116,492  $ 356,559  $ 179,727 

Property and equipment
Property and equipment, at cost, consists of the following:
  As of September 30,
 (in thousands) 2020 2019
Land $ 1,738  $ 1,738 
Building and improvements 11,846  12,044 
Office furniture and equipment 239,057  246,671 
Leasehold improvements 84,063  69,183 
336,704  329,636 
Less: Accumulated depreciation and amortization (269,983) (230,047)
Total property and equipment, net $ 66,721  $ 99,589 
Depreciation expense for the years ended September 30, 2020, 2019, and 2018 was $54.9 million, $45.2 million and $40.7 million, respectively.
Capitalized software
Capitalized software consists of the following:
  As of September 30,
 (in thousands) 2020 2019
Capitalized software $ 120,677  $ 103,643 
Less: Accumulated amortization (82,644) (71,274)
Total capitalized software, net $ 38,033  $ 32,369 
Amortization expense for the years ended September 30, 2020, 2019 and 2018 was $9.6 million, $7.2 million and $11.2 million, respectively. Most of this amortization was recorded within our "cost of revenue" on our consolidated statements of operations.
The totals above include $0.6 million of costs which were capitalized and subsequently written off during the year ended September 30, 2020, with no comparable amounts for the year ended September 30, 2019. These costs are related to a contract within our U.S. Services Segment and are deemed unrecoverable. This expense was recorded within "cost of revenue" on our consolidated statements of operations.
Deferred contract costs
For many contracts, we incur significant incremental costs at the beginning of an arrangement. Typically, these costs relate to the establishment of infrastructure that we utilize to satisfy our performance obligations with the contract. We report these costs as deferred contract costs and amortize them on a straight-line basis over the shorter of the useful economic life of the asset or the anticipated term of the contract.
Deferred contract costs consist of the following:
  As of September 30,
 (in thousands) 2020 2019
Deferred contract costs $ 42,421  $ 43,140 
Less: Accumulated amortization (21,530) (24,219)
Total deferred contract costs, net $ 20,891  $ 18,921 

We amortized $6.8 million and $9.9 million of deferred contract costs during the years ended September 30, 2020, and 2019, respectively. This amortization was recorded within our "cost of revenue" on our consolidated statements of operations.
The totals above include $0.6 million and $3.7 million of costs that were deferred and subsequently written off during the years ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. These costs related to a contract within our U.S. Services Segment, which is no longer able to recover the deferred costs. This expense was recorded within "cost of revenue" on our consolidated statements of operations.