AECOM - Annual Report: 2020 (Form 10-K)

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

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Commission file number 0-52423

AECOM

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

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(213) 593-8000

Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code

Former Name, Former Address and Former Fiscal Year, if Changed Since Last Report

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ⌧ Yes  ◻ No

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. ◻ Yes  ⌧ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ⌧ Yes ◻ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). ⌧ Yes  ◻ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

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If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ◻

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).  Yes ☐   No ☒

The aggregate market value of registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates on March 27, 2020 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter), based upon the closing price of a share of the registrant’s common stock on such date as reported on the New York Stock Exchange was approximately $4.5 billion.

Number of shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding as of November 12, 2020: 150,763,791

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Part III incorporates information by reference from the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, to be filed within 120 days of the registrant’s fiscal 2020 year end.

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Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

In this report, we use the terms “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” to refer to AECOM and its consolidated subsidiaries. Unless otherwise noted, references to years are for fiscal years. Our fiscal year consists of 52 or 53 weeks, ending on the Friday closest to September 30. For clarity of presentation, we present all periods as if the year ended on September 30. We refer to the fiscal year ended September 30, 2019 as “fiscal 2019” and the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020 as “fiscal 2020.”

Overview

We are a premier global infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from planning, architecture, design and engineering to program and construction management. We partner with our clients in the public and private sectors to solve some of their most complex infrastructure challenges on projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, governments, energy and the environment.

According to Engineering News-Record’s (ENR’s) 2020 Design Survey, we are the second largest general architectural and engineering design firm in the world, ranked by 2019 design revenue, and we are ranked as the largest environment firm in the world. In addition, we are ranked by ENR as the leading firm in a number of design end markets, including transportation, general building and certain water-related markets, as well as the number two green design firm and the number four green contractor in the world. We utilize our scale and the strength of our workforce to create innovative solutions for our clients. Increasingly, clients are turning to us to shape solutions to achieve their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) objectives. With our market leading capabilities, we are uniquely well suited to address these challenges.

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Our business focuses primarily on providing fee-based planning, consulting, architectural and engineering design services and, therefore, our business is primarily driven by knowledge-based services. We primarily derive income from our ability to generate revenue and collect cash from our clients through the billing of our employees’ time spent on client projects and our ability to manage our costs. AECOM Capital primarily derives its income from real estate development sales and management fees.

On January 31, 2020, we completed the sale of our Management Services (MS) business to an affiliate of American Securities LLC and Lindsay Goldberg LLC.  Starting in the first quarter of fiscal 2020, our self-perform at-risk construction business met the criteria for held for sale.  Collectively, the Management Services business and the self-perform at-risk construction businesses met the criteria for discontinued operation classification.  

During the first quarter of fiscal 2020, we reorganized our operating and reporting structure to better align with our ongoing professional services business. The businesses that comprised the Management Services reportable segment and the civil infrastructure, power and oil and gas construction businesses in the former Construction Services (CS) reportable segment were classified as discontinued operations.  

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We report our continuing business through three segments, each of which is described in further detail below: Americas, International, and AECOM Capital (ACAP). Such segments are organized by the differing specialized needs of the respective clients and how we manage the business. We have aggregated various operating segments into our reportable segments based on their similar characteristics, including similar long-term financial performance, the nature of services provided, internal processes for delivering those services, and types of customers.

Our Americas and International Segments

Our Americas and International segments comprise a broad array of services, generally provided on a fee-for-service basis. These services include planning, consulting, architectural and engineering design, program management and construction management for industrial, commercial, institutional and government clients worldwide. For each of these services, our technical expertise includes civil, structural, process, mechanical, geotechnical systems and electrical engineering, architectural, landscape and interior design, urban and regional planning, project economics, cost consulting and environmental, health and safety work.  Our Americas segment provides services generally in the United States, Canada and Latin America.  Our International segment provides similar services generally in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions.

With our technical and management expertise, we are able to provide our clients a broad spectrum of services. For example, within our environmental management service offerings, we provide remediation, regulatory compliance planning and management, environmental modeling, environmental and social impact assessment and environmental permitting for major capital/infrastructure projects.

Our services may be sequenced over multiple phases. For example, in the area of program management and construction management services, our work for a client may begin with a small consulting or planning contract, and may later develop into an overall management role for the project or a series of projects, which we refer to as a program. Program and construction management contracts may employ small or large project teams and, in many cases, operate as an outsourcing arrangement with our staff located at the project site.

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We provide the services in these segments both directly and through joint ventures or similar partner arrangements to the following end markets or business sectors:

Transportation.

Facilities.

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Environmental.

Energy/Power.

Construction Management – We provide program and construction management services for large scale building facility construction projects primarily in the Americas including:

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Our AECOM Capital Segment

ACAP typically partners with investors and experienced developers as co-general partners. ACAP may, but is not required to, enter into contracts with our other AECOM affiliates to provide design, engineering, construction management, development and operations and maintenance services for ACAP funded projects. ACAP development activity is conducted through joint ventures or subsidiaries that may be consolidated or unconsolidated for financial reporting purposes depending on the extent and nature of our ownership interest. In addition, in connection with the investment activities of ACAP, AECOM or an affiliate may provide guarantees of certain financial obligations, including guarantees for completion of projects, repayment of debt, environmental indemnity obligations, and other lender required guarantees. In October 2019, AECOM-Canyon Partners, a joint venture between ACAP and Canyon Partners, LLC, a global alternative asset management firm, announced the final closing of an investment fund with just over $500 million in total commitments. The platform focuses on investing in co-general partner equity opportunities with high quality partners, primarily targeting “build-to-core” investments in the top 25 U.S. markets across all property types.

Thinking and Acting Globally

AECOM is at its best when we think and act globally. Our strategy is focused on setting a new standard of excellence in the professional services industry. First, our recently simplified operating structure promotes greater connectivity and collaboration across our seven regions and five global business lines. We drive growth by prioritizing our core markets, leaning into our greatest strengths and ensuring our best talent and resources are focused on nurturing client relationships. We are transforming the way we deliver work through technology and digital platforms improving the client experience and increasing efficiency. Lastly, we are building upon our position as a leading ESG company, unified by our purpose to deliver a better world.

Environmental, Social and Governance Matters

We are committed to being a leader in environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and corporate governance.

We embrace sustainability by striving to make a positive, lasting impact on society and the environment. Sustainability is at the core of what we do and how we operate — focusing on the environmental, social and governance impact of our business. Through our projects and our operations, we have both a significant opportunity and a responsibility to protect, enhance and restore the world's natural and social systems.

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We are committed to addressing the effects of climate change as a key priority for our sustainability program by improving resilience and working to advance ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Having achieved our previous emissions reduction targets ahead of schedule, we have set new science-based targets for 2025 that are in alignment with the Paris Agreement's goals to limit the worst effects of climate change: a 20% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a 10% reduction in supply chain emissions from our 2018 baseline. Our new targets have been independently validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and, at the time of validation, AECOM was the first and only US-based company in the engineering and construction sector to have set SBTi targets.

In addition, we continue to invest in proprietary innovations and solutions to combat globally pervasive emerging contaminants, such as our patented DE-FLUORO^TM water treatment solution to destroy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on-site.

We have established an internal Global ESG Council to coordinate and drive our ESG initiatives across AECOM worldwide, and our Board, including through its Committees, has oversight over ESG matters. Additional information regarding our ESG initiatives is located on the investor relations section of our website, at https://investors.aecom.com/.  

Human Capital Management

The foundation of our continuing success as a premier professional services enterprise is the ability to attract and retain the industry’s best, diverse talent by providing a culture of equity, diversity, inclusion, development, opportunity and empowerment. This understanding informs our approach to managing our human capital resources

Our principal asset is our employees, and large percentages of our employees have technical and professional backgrounds and undergraduate and/or advanced degrees. At the end of our fiscal 2020, we employed approximately 54,000 persons, of whom approximately 22,000 were employed in the United States. Over 4,000 of our domestic employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements or by specific labor agreements, which expire upon completion of the relevant project. We believe that the quality and level of service that our professionals deliver are among the highest in our industry.

We are committed to enhancing our position as a leading employer in our industry. Our culture and reputation as a leader in the engineering and construction sector enables us to recruit and retain some of the best available talent in the countries we operate in. We believe in a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and we are committed to advancing safe and respectful work environments where our employees are invited to bring their talents, backgrounds and expertise to bear on some of the world’s most complex problems and where every person has the opportunity to thrive personally and professionally.

We are committed to engaging our employees globally to understand regional inclusion and diversity opportunities, building leadership accountability and expanding recruitment efforts to foster a workforce reflective of our communities. To continue attracting and retaining some of the most talented employees in our industry, we ensure employees have the tools and resources they need to hone their skills, develop strong leadership behaviors and advance their careers. Our human capital objectives and initiatives are overseen by our Board as per our Corporate Governance Guidelines.

Health and Safety. Core to our corporate values is safeguarding our people and fostering a culture of caring that promotes the wellbeing of our employees, contractors and business partners. We safeguard our people, projects and reputation by striving for zero employee injuries and illnesses, while operating and delivering our work responsibly and sustainably. We maintain our industry’s best-in-class lost workday case and recordable incident rates, and our safety performance is consistently recognized by key clients across the regions where we work as well as by recognized safety organizations.

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Equity, diversity and inclusion. While ED&I has always been a part of our culture, we continue to advance efforts globally to integrate our principles into all aspects of our work and measure results. We are focused on four key areas: 1) Building diverse talent through our recruitment efforts, as well as offering internships (including virtual internships during the Covid-19 pandemic) and partnering with nonprofit organizations and universities, 2) Enriching communities through pro-bono work, volunteerism, philanthropy and strategic partnerships, 3) Expanding understanding and empathy among employees through community-building, training and family-friendly benefit policies, and 4) Prioritizing the social impact and benefits of ED&I into every project we pursue and the innovative solutions we deliver.

Employee experience. We continue to enhance our employee programs, workplace culture and digital technologies to support employees and managers in more effective and efficient ways to execute their work and meaningfully engage with clients. These efforts include employee wellness and wellbeing programs to better support employees while working remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond, expanding access and technical training programs through our online education portal, AECOM University, delivering new digital tools to boost connectivity among employees, and advancing frontline leadership programs.

Workplace of the future. Drawing upon the experiences of our professionals, who have remained highly productive while working remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic, we have invited their input and ideas to begin to shape the future ways of working at AECOM. In particular, through a global competition, we challenged our professionals to consider how new workspaces can support health, collaboration and camaraderie, how technology and tools can be leveraged to ensure continuing productivity and client engagement, and what they need to be well and engaged. Many of the resulting ideas are being implemented regionally and globally.

Community responsibility. Through strategic nonprofit partnerships, pro-bono work, skills-based volunteering and philanthropy, Blueprint for a Better World, our corporate responsibility platform, is focused on delivering access to safe and secure infrastructure to those who need it most, creating opportunity for the leaders of tomorrow and protecting our planet so that our company can fulfill its purpose to deliver a better world.  As part of the Blueprint pro-bono program, our technical experts partnered with nonprofit organizations in their local communities to provide critical design, engineering and infrastructure solutions. In fiscal 2020, we continued to further our employees’ passion through the Blueprint Travel Grant program, which included building dormitories to further Peruvian girls’ education, purifying drinking water on the Zinga Islands of Uganda, strengthening engineering ecosystems in Sub-Saharan Africa, and designing and fundraising for a women and children’s center in Kosovo. In addition, we sustained our commitment to our enterprise strategic nonprofit partners – Engineers Without Borders and Water for People.

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Our Clients

Our clients consist primarily of national, state, regional and local governments, public and private institutions and major corporations. The following table sets forth our total revenue attributable to these categories of clients for each of the periods indicated:

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No single client accounted for 10% or more of our revenue in any of the past five fiscal years. Approximately 8%, 9% and 8% of our revenue was derived through direct contracts with agencies of the U.S. federal government in the years ended September 30, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Contracts

The price provisions of the contracts we undertake can be grouped into several broad categories: cost-reimbursable contracts, guaranteed maximum price contracts, and fixed-price contracts.

Cost-Reimbursable Contracts

Cost-reimbursable contracts include cost-plus fixed fee, cost-plus fixed rate, and time-and-materials price contracts. Under cost-plus contracts, we charge clients for our costs, including both direct and indirect costs, plus a negotiated fee or rate. We recognize revenues based on actual direct costs incurred and the applicable fixed rate or portion of the fixed fee earned as of the balance sheet date. Under time-and-materials price contracts, we negotiate hourly billing rates and charge clients based on the actual time we expend on the project. In addition, clients reimburse us for materials and other direct incidental expenditures incurred in connection with our performance under the contract. Time-and-material price contracts may also have a fixed-price element in the form of not-to-exceed or guaranteed maximum price provisions.

Some cost-plus contracts provide for award fees or a penalty based on performance criteria in lieu of a fixed fee or fixed rate. Other contracts include a base fee component plus a performance-based award fee. In addition, we may share award fees with subcontractors. We generally recognize revenue to the extent of costs actually incurred plus a proportionate amount of the fee expected to be earned. We take the award fee or penalty on contracts into consideration when estimating revenue and profit rates, and record revenue related to the award fees when there is sufficient information to assess anticipated contract performance and a significant reversal of the award fee is not probable. Once an award is received, the estimated or accrued fees are adjusted to the actual award amount.

Some cost-plus contracts provide for incentive fees based on performance against contractual milestones. The amount of the incentive fees varies, depending on whether we achieve above, at, or below target results. We originally recognize revenue on these contracts based upon expected results. These estimates are revised when necessary based upon additional information that becomes available as the contract progresses.

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Guaranteed Maximum Price Contracts

Guaranteed maximum price contracts (GMP) share many of the same contract provisions as cost-plus and fixed-price contracts. As with cost-plus contracts, clients are provided a disclosure of all project costs, and a lump sum percentage fee is separately identified. We provide clients with a guaranteed price for the overall project (adjusted for change orders issued by clients) and a schedule including the expected completion date. Cost overruns or costs associated with project delays in completion could generally be our responsibility. For many of our commercial or residential GMP contracts, the final price is generally not established until we have subcontracted a substantial percentage of the trade contracts with terms consistent with the master contract, and we have negotiated additional contract limitations, such as waivers of consequential damages as well as aggregate caps on liabilities and liquidated damages. Revenue is recognized for GMP contracts as project costs are incurred relative to total estimated project costs.

Fixed-Price Contracts

Fixed-price contracts include both lump-sum and fixed-unit price contracts. Under lump-sum contracts, we perform all the work under the contract for a specified price. Lump-sum contracts are typically subject to price adjustments if the scope of the project changes or unforeseen conditions arise. Under fixed-unit price contracts, we perform a number of units of work at an agreed price per unit with the total payment under the contract determined by the actual number of units delivered. Revenue is recognized for fixed-price contracts using the input method measured on a cost-to-cost basis.

Some of our fixed-price contracts require us to provide surety bonds or parent company guarantees to assure our clients that their project will be completed in accordance with the terms of the contracts as further disclosed in Note 18—Commitments and Contingencies. In such cases, we may require our primary subcontractors to provide similar performance bonds and guarantees and to be adequately insured, and we may flow down the terms and conditions set forth in our agreement on to our subcontractors. There may be risks associated with completing these projects profitably if we are not able to perform our services within the fixed-price contract terms.

For the year ended September 30, 2020, our revenue was comprised of 43%, 30%, and 27% cost-reimbursable, guaranteed maximum price, and fixed-price contracts, respectively.

Joint Ventures

Some of our larger contracts may operate under joint ventures or other arrangements under which we team with other reputable companies, typically companies with which we have worked for many years. This is often done where the scale of the project dictates such an arrangement or when we want to strengthen either our market position or our technical skills.

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Backlog

Backlog represents revenue we expect to realize for work completed by our consolidated subsidiaries and our proportionate share of work to be performed by unconsolidated joint ventures. Backlog is expressed in terms of gross revenue and therefore may include significant estimated amounts of third party or pass-through costs to subcontractors and other parties. Backlog for our consolidated subsidiaries is comprised of contracted backlog and awarded backlog. Our contracted backlog includes revenue we expect to record in the future from signed contracts, and in the case of a public client, where the project has been funded. We report transaction price allocated to remaining unsatisfied performance obligations (RUPO) of $18.9 billion, as described in Note 4, Revenue Recognition, in the notes to our consolidated financial statements. The most significant difference between our contracted backlog and RUPO is revenue related to service contracts that extend beyond the termination provision of those contracts. Our contracted backlog includes revenues for service contracts expected to be earned over the term of that contract. Guidance for the calculation of RUPO requires us to assume the contract will be terminated at its earliest convenience, resulting in RUPO to be $0.6 billion lower than contracted backlog. Our awarded backlog includes revenue we expect to record in the future where we have been awarded the work, but the contractual agreement has not yet been signed. The net results of our unconsolidated joint ventures are recognized as equity earnings, and awarded and contracted backlog representing our proportionate share of work to be performed by unconsolidated joint ventures is not presented as revenue in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. For non-government contracts, our backlog includes future revenue at contract rates, excluding contract renewals or extensions that are at the discretion of the client. For contracts with a not-to-exceed maximum amount, we include revenue from such contracts in backlog to the extent of the remaining estimated amount. We calculate backlog without regard to possible project reductions or expansions or potential cancellations until such changes or cancellations occur. No assurance can be given that we will ultimately realize our full backlog. Backlog fluctuates due to the timing of when contracts are awarded and contracted and when contract revenue is recognized. Many of our contracts require us to provide services over more than one year. Our backlog for the year ended September 30, 2020 increased $4.7 billion, or 12.9%, to $41.2 billion as compared to $36.5 billion for the corresponding period last year, primarily due to an increase in our construction management business.

The following summarizes contracted and awarded backlog (in billions):

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Competition

The markets we serve are highly fragmented and we compete with a large number of regional, national and international companies. We have numerous competitors, ranging from small private firms to multi-billion dollar companies, some of which have greater financial resources or that are more specialized and concentrate their resources in particular areas of expertise. The extent of our competition varies according to the particular markets and geographic area. The degree and type of competition we face is also influenced by the type and scope of a particular project. The technical and professional aspects of our services generally do not require large upfront capital expenditures and, therefore, provide limited barriers against new competitors.

We believe that we are well positioned to compete in our markets because of our reputation, our cost effectiveness, our long-term client relationships, our extensive network of offices, our employee expertise, and our broad range of services. In addition, as a result of our extensive national and international network, we are able to offer our clients localized knowledge and expertise, as well as the support of our worldwide professional staff. In addition, through investments in technology and innovation, we are able to bring advanced solutions to clients.

Seasonality

We experience seasonal trends in our business. Our revenue is typically higher in the last half of the fiscal year. The fourth quarter of our fiscal year (July 1 to September 30) is typically our strongest quarter. We find that the U.S. federal government tends to authorize more work during the period preceding the end of our fiscal year, September 30. In addition, many U.S. state governments with fiscal years ending on June 30 tend to accelerate spending during their first quarter, when new funding becomes available. Further, our construction management revenue typically increases during the high construction season of the summer months. Within the United States, as well as other parts of the world, our business generally benefits from milder weather conditions in our fiscal fourth quarter, which allows for more productivity from our on-site civil services. Our construction and project management services also typically expand during the high construction season of the summer months. The first quarter of our fiscal year (October 1 to December 31) is typically our lowest revenue quarter. The harsher weather conditions impact our ability to complete work in parts of North America and the holiday season schedule affects our productivity during this period. For these reasons, coupled with the number and significance of client contracts commenced and completed during a particular period, as well as the timing of expenses incurred for corporate initiatives, it is not unusual for us to experience seasonal changes or fluctuations in our quarterly operating results.

Risk Management and Insurance

Risk management is an integral part of our project management approach and our project execution process. We have an Office of Risk Management that reviews and oversees the risk profile of our operations. Also, pursuant to our internal delegations of authority, we have an internal process whereby a group of senior members of our risk management team evaluate risk through internal risk analyses of higher-risk projects, contracts or other business decisions. We maintain insurance covering professional liability and claims involving bodily injury and property damage. Wherever possible, we endeavor to eliminate or reduce the risk of loss on a project through the use of quality assurance/control, risk management, workplace safety and similar methods.

Regulations

Our business is impacted by environmental, health and safety, government procurement, anti-bribery and other government regulations and requirements. Below is a summary of some of the significant regulations that impact our business.

Environmental, Health and Safety.  Our business involves the planning, design, program management, construction management, and operations and maintenance at various project sites, including, but not limited to, nuclear facilities, hazardous waste and Superfund sites, hydrocarbon production, distribution and transport sites, and other infrastructure-related facilities. We also regularly perform work in and around sensitive environmental areas, such as rivers, lakes and wetlands.

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Significant fines, penalties and other sanctions may be imposed for non-compliance with environmental and health and safety laws and regulations, and some laws provide for joint and several strict liabilities for remediation of releases of hazardous substances, rendering a person liable for environmental damage, without regard to negligence or fault on the part of such person. These laws and regulations may expose us to liability arising out of the conduct of operations or conditions caused by others, or for our acts that were in compliance with all applicable laws at the time these acts were performed. For example, there are a number of governmental laws that strictly regulate the handling, removal, treatment, transportation and disposal of toxic and hazardous substances, such as the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, and comparable national and state laws, that impose strict, joint and several liabilities for the entire cost of cleanup, without regard to whether a company knew of or caused the release of hazardous substances. In addition, some environmental regulations can impose liability for the entire clean-up upon owners, operators, generators, transporters and other persons arranging for the treatment or disposal of such hazardous substances related to contaminated facilities or project sites. Other federal environmental, health and safety laws affecting us include, but are not limited to, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Air Mercury Rule, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act, as well as other comparable national and state laws. Liabilities related to environmental contamination or human exposure to hazardous substances, comparable national and state laws or a failure to comply with applicable regulations could result in substantial costs to us, including cleanup costs, fines and civil or criminal sanctions, third-party claims for property damage or personal injury, or cessation of remediation activities.

Some of our business operations are covered by Public Law 85-804, which provides for indemnification by the U.S federal government against claims and damages arising out of unusually hazardous or nuclear activities performed at the request of the U.S. federal government. Should public policies and laws change, however, U.S. federal government indemnification may not be available in the case of any future claims or liabilities relating to hazardous activities that we undertake to perform.

Government Procurement. The services we provide to the U.S. federal government are subject to Federal Acquisition Regulation, the Truth in Negotiations Act, Cost Accounting Standards, the Services Contract Act, export controls rules and Department of Defense (DOD) security regulations, as well as many other laws and regulations. These laws and regulations affect how we transact business with our clients and, in some instances, impose additional costs on our business operations. A violation of specific laws and regulations could lead to fines, contract termination or suspension of future contracts. Our government clients can also terminate, renegotiate, or modify any of their contracts with us at their convenience; and many of our government contracts are subject to renewal or extension annually.

Anti-Bribery and other regulations.  We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar anti-bribery laws, which generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. The U.K. Bribery Act of 2010 prohibits both domestic and international bribery, as well as bribery across both private and public sectors. In addition, an organization that “fails to prevent bribery” committed by anyone associated with the organization can be charged under the U.K. Bribery Act unless the organization can establish the defense of having implemented “adequate procedures” to prevent bribery. To the extent we export technical services, data and products outside of the U.S., we are subject to U.S. and international laws and regulations governing international trade and exports, including, but not limited to, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the Export Administration Regulations, and trade sanctions against embargoed countries. We provide services to the DOD and other defense-related entities that often require specialized professional qualifications and security clearances. In addition, as engineering design services professionals, we are subject to a variety of local, state, federal, and foreign licensing and permit requirements and ethics rules.

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Raw Materials

We purchase most of the raw materials and components necessary to operate our business from numerous sources. However, the price and availability of raw materials and components may vary from year to year due to customer demand, production capacity, market conditions, and material shortages. While we do not currently foresee the lack of availability of any particular raw materials in the near term, prolonged unavailability of raw materials necessary to our projects and services or significant price increases for those raw materials could have a material adverse effect on our business in the near term.

Government Contracts

Generally, our government contracts are subject to renegotiation or termination of contracts or subcontracts at the discretion of the U.S. federal, state or local governments, and national governments of other countries.

Trade Secrets and Other Intellectual Property

We rely principally on trade secrets, confidentiality policies and other contractual arrangements to protect much of our intellectual property.

Available Information

The reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and proxy materials, including any amendments, are available free of charge on our website at www.aecom.com as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with or furnish it to the SEC. The SEC also maintains a web site (www.sec.gov) containing reports, proxy and information statements, and other information that we file with the SEC. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines and our Code of Ethics are available on our website at www.aecom.com under the “Investors” section. Copies of the information identified above may be obtained without charge from us by writing to AECOM, 300 South Grand Avenue, 9^th Floor, Los Angeles, California 90071, Attention: Corporate Secretary.

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ITEM 1A.  RISK FACTORS

We operate in a changing environment that involves numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could materially adversely affect our operations. The risks described below highlight some of the factors that have affected, and in the future could affect our operations. Additional risks we do not yet know of or that we currently think are immaterial may also affect our business operations. If any of the events or circumstances described in the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Risks Related to Our Markets, Customers and Business

We face various risks related to health outbreaks such as the Covid-19 coronavirus that may have material adverse effects on our business, financial position, results of operations and/or cash flows.

We face various risks related to health epidemics, pandemics, and similar outbreaks, including the current global outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic is expected to reduce demand for our services and impact client spending in certain circumstances. An extended health outbreak could adversely affect the world economy resulting in an economic downturn that could further affect demand for our services. If significant portions of our workforce are unable to work or travel effectively for a prolonged period because of government-mandated quarantines, closures, or other restrictions, then our business and financial operations will be significantly impacted. For example, work on some non-essential construction and other client projects has temporarily halted our services on these projects. Extended disruptions due to the coronavirus could further delay or limit our ability to perform services, make or receive timely payments, and impair our ability to win future contracts. The continued spread of coronavirus without any impact from any effective treatments may cause further financial instability increasing our costs and ability to access the capital markets. Any cost increases due to the coronavirus may not be fully recoverable or adequately covered by our insurance. We cannot at this time predict the duration of the coronavirus pandemic or the impact of government regulations that might be imposed in response of the pandemic; however, the coronavirus pandemic may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our industry is highly competitive, and we may be unable to compete effectively, which could result in reduced revenue, profitability and market share.

We are engaged in a highly competitive business. The markets we serve are highly fragmented and we compete with a large number of regional, national and international companies. These competitors may have greater financial and other resources than we do. Others are smaller and more specialized, and concentrate their resources in particular areas of expertise. The extent of our competition varies according to the particular markets and geographic area. In addition, the technical and professional aspects of some of our services generally do not require large upfront capital expenditures and provide limited barriers against new competitors.

The degree and type of competition we face is also influenced by the type and scope of a particular project. Our clients make competitive determinations based upon qualifications, experience, performance, reputation, technology, customer relationships, price and ability to provide the relevant services in a timely, safe and cost-efficient manner. Increased competition may result in our inability to win bids for future projects, increased margin pressure and loss of revenue, profitability and market share.

Demand for our services is cyclical and may be vulnerable to sudden economic downturns and reductions in government and private industry spending. If economic conditions remain uncertain and/or weaken, our revenue and profitability could be adversely affected.

Demand for our services is cyclical and may be vulnerable to sudden economic downturns, interest rate fluctuations and reductions in government and private industry spending that result in clients delaying, curtailing or canceling proposed and existing projects. For example, the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic is expected to reduce demand for our services and impact client spending in certain circumstances. Where economies are weakening, our clients may demand more favorable pricing or other terms while their ability to pay our invoices or to pay them in a timely manner may be adversely affected. Our government clients may face budget deficits that prohibit them from funding proposed and existing projects. If economic conditions remain uncertain and/or weaken and/or government spending is reduced, our revenue and profitability could be materially adversely affected.

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We depend on long-term government contracts, some of which are only funded on an annual basis. If appropriations for funding are not made in subsequent years of a multiple-year contract, we may not be able to realize all of our anticipated revenue and profits from that project.

A substantial portion of our revenue is derived from contracts with agencies and departments of national, state, and local governments. During fiscal 2020 and 2019, approximately 42% and 44%, respectively, of our revenue was derived from contracts with government entities.

Most government contracts are subject to the government’s budgetary approval process. Legislatures typically appropriate funds for a given program on a year-by-year basis, even though contract performance may take more than one year. In addition, public-supported financing such as state and local municipal bonds may be only partially raised to support existing infrastructure projects. As a result, at the beginning of a program, the related contract is only partially funded, and additional funding is normally committed only as appropriations are made in each fiscal year. These appropriations, and the timing of payment of appropriated amounts, may be influenced by, among other things, the state of the economy, a government shutdown, competing priorities for appropriation, changes in administration or control of legislatures, and the timing and amount of tax receipts and the overall level of government expenditures. Similarly, the impact of an economic downturn on governments, including as a result of the coronavirus, may make it more difficult for them to fund infrastructure projects. If appropriations are not made in subsequent years on our government contracts, then we will not realize all of our potential revenue and profit from that contract.

If we are unable to win or renew government contracts during regulated procurement processes, our operations and financial results would be harmed.

Government contracts are awarded through a regulated procurement process. The federal government has awarded multi-year contracts with pre-established terms and conditions, such as indefinite delivery contracts, that generally require those contractors that have previously been awarded the indefinite delivery contract to engage in an additional competitive bidding process before a task order is issued. In addition, the federal government has also awarded federal contracts based on a low-price, technically acceptable criteria emphasizing price over qualitative factors, such as past performance. As a result of these competitive pricing pressures, our profit margins on future federal contracts may be reduced and may require us to make sustained efforts to reduce costs in order to realize profits under government contracts. If we are not successful in reducing the amount of costs we incur, our profitability on government contracts will be negatively impacted. In addition, we may not be awarded government contracts because of existing government policies designed to protect small businesses and under-represented minority contractors. Our inability to win or renew government contracts during regulated procurement processes could harm our operations and reduce our profits and revenues.

Governmental agencies may modify, curtail or terminate our contracts at any time prior to their completion and, if we do not replace them, we may suffer a decline in revenue.

Most government contracts may be modified, curtailed or terminated by the government either at its discretion or upon the default of the contractor. If the government terminates a contract at its discretion, then we typically are able to recover only costs incurred or committed, settlement expenses and profit on work completed prior to termination, which could prevent us from recognizing all of our potential revenue and profits from that contract. In addition, for some assignments, the U.S. government may attempt to “insource” the services to government employees rather than outsource to a contractor. If a government terminates a contract due to our default, we could be liable for excess costs incurred by the government in obtaining services from another source.

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Our contracts with governmental agencies are subject to audit, which could result in adjustments to reimbursable contract costs or, if we are charged with wrongdoing, possible temporary or permanent suspension from participating in government programs.

Our books and records are subject to audit by the various governmental agencies we serve and their representatives. These audits can result in adjustments to the amount of contract costs we believe are reimbursable by the agencies and the amount of our overhead costs allocated to the agencies. If such matters are not resolved in our favor, they could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, if one of our subsidiaries is charged with wrongdoing as a result of an audit, that subsidiary, and possibly our company as a whole, could be temporarily suspended or could be prohibited from bidding on and receiving future government contracts for a period of time. Furthermore, as a government contractor, we are subject to an increased risk of investigations, criminal prosecution, civil fraud actions, whistleblower lawsuits, and other legal actions and liabilities to which purely private sector companies are not, the results of which could materially adversely impact our business. For example, from time to time we may be subject to qui tam lawsuits. Qui tam lawsuits typically allege that we have made false statements or certifications in connection with claims for payment, or improperly retained overpayments, from the government. These suits may remain under seal (and hence, be unknown to us) for some time while the government decides whether to intervene on behalf of the qui tam plaintiff.

An extended government shutdown, payment delays or reduced demand for our services may have a material impact on our results of operation and financial condition.

An extended government shutdown could significantly reduce demand for our services, delay payment and result in workforce reductions that may have a material adverse effect on our results of operation and financial condition. Moreover, a prolonged government shutdown could result in program cancellations, disruptions and/or stop work orders and could limit the government’s ability to effectively process and our ability to perform government contracts and successfully compete for new work.

Risks Related to our Capital Structure

The agreements governing our debt contain a number of restrictive covenants which will limit our ability to finance future operations, acquisitions or capital needs or engage in other business activities that may be in our interest.

The Credit Agreement and the indentures governing our debt contain a number of significant covenants that impose operating and other restrictions on us and our subsidiaries. Such restrictions affect or will affect and, in many respects, limit or prohibit, among other things, our ability and the ability of some of our subsidiaries to:

In addition, our Credit Agreement also requires us to comply with a consolidated interest coverage ratio and consolidated leverage ratio. Our ability to comply with these ratios may be affected by events beyond our control. These restrictions could limit our ability to plan for or react to market or economic conditions or meet capital needs or otherwise restrict our activities or business plans, and could adversely affect our ability to finance our operations, acquisitions, investments or strategic alliances or other capital needs or to engage in other business activities that would be in our interest. A breach of any of these covenants or our inability to comply with the required financial ratios could result in a default under our debt instruments. If an event of default occurs, our creditors could elect to:

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If we were unable to repay or otherwise refinance these borrowings when due, the applicable creditors could sell the collateral securing some of our debt instruments, which constitutes substantially all of our domestic and foreign, wholly owned subsidiaries’ assets.

Our variable rate indebtedness subjects us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.

Borrowings under our Credit Agreement are at variable rates of interest and expose us to interest rate risk. If interest rates increase, our debt service obligations on the variable rate indebtedness will increase even though the amount borrowed remains the same, and our net income and cash flows, including cash available for servicing our indebtedness, will correspondingly decrease. A 1.00% increase in such interest rates would increase total interest expense under our Credit Agreement for the year ended September 30, 2020 by $2.9 million, including the effect of our interest rate swaps. We may, from time to time, enter into additional interest rate swaps that involve the exchange of floating for fixed rate interest payments in order to reduce interest rate volatility. However, we may not maintain interest rate swaps with respect to all of our variable rate indebtedness, and any swaps we enter into may not fully mitigate our interest rate risk and could be subject to credit risk themselves.

If we are unable to continue to access credit on acceptable terms, our business may be adversely affected.

The changing nature of the global credit markets could make it more difficult for us to access funds, refinance our existing indebtedness, enter into agreements for uncommitted debt bond facilities and new indebtedness, replace our existing revolving and term credit agreements or obtain funding through the issuance of our securities. We use credit facilities to support our working capital and other needs. There is no guarantee that we can continue to renew our credit facility on terms as favorable as those in our existing credit facility and, if we are unable to do so, our costs of borrowing and our business may be adversely affected.

Risks Related to our International Operations

The uncertainty surrounding the implementation of and effects of the United Kingdom’s proposed withdrawal from the European Union could have an adverse effect on our business and financial results.

In March 2017, the United Kingdom government initiated a process to withdraw from the European Union (Brexit) and began negotiating the terms of its separation. The United Kingdom formally left the European Union on January 31, 2020, and is now in a transition period through December 31, 2020. Although the United Kingdom will remain in the European Union single market and customs union during the transition period, the long-term nature of the United Kingdom's relationship with the European Union is unclear and there is considerable uncertainty as to when any agreement will be reached and implemented. The uncertainty surrounding Brexit has created substantial economic and political uncertainty and volatility in currency exchange rates. Our United Kingdom business is a significant part of our European operations with approximately 6,000 employees and revenues representing approximately 6% of our total revenue for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020. The uncertainty created by Brexit may cause our customers to closely monitor their costs and reduce demand for our services and may ultimately result in new regulatory and cost challenges for our United Kingdom and global operations. Any of these events could adversely affect our United Kingdom, European and overall business and financial results.

Our operations worldwide expose us to legal, political and economic risks in different countries as well as currency exchange rate fluctuations that could harm our business and financial results.

During fiscal 2020, revenue attributable to our services provided outside of the United States to non-U.S. clients was approximately 29% of our total revenue. There are risks inherent in doing business internationally, including:

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Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

We operate in many different jurisdictions and we could be adversely affected by violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-corruption laws.

The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and similar worldwide anti-corruption laws, including the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010, generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to non-U.S. officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Our internal policies mandate compliance with these anti-corruption laws, including the requirements to maintain accurate information and internal controls which may fall within the purview of the FCPA, its books and records provisions or its anti-bribery provisions. We operate in many parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption to some degree; and, in some circumstances, strict compliance with anti-corruption laws may conflict with local customs and practices. Despite our training and compliance programs, we cannot assure that our internal control policies and procedures always will protect us from reckless or criminal acts committed by our employees or agents. In addition, from time to time, government investigations of corruption in construction-related industries affect us and our peers. Violations of these laws, or allegations of such violations, could disrupt our business and result in a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

We work in international locations where there are high security risks, which could result in harm to our employees and contractors or material costs to us.

Some of our services are performed in high-risk locations, such as the Middle East, Africa, and Southwest Asia, where the location is suffering from political, social or economic problems, or war or civil unrest. In those locations where we have employees or operations, we may incur material costs to maintain the safety of our personnel. Despite these precautions, the safety of our personnel in these locations may continue to be at risk. Acts of terrorism and threats of armed conflicts in or around various areas in which we operate could limit or disrupt markets and our operations, including disruptions resulting from the evacuation of personnel, cancellation of contracts, or the loss of key employees, contractors or assets.

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Risks Related to Our Operations and Technology

Many of our project sites are inherently dangerous workplaces. Failure to maintain safe work sites and equipment could result in environmental disasters, employee deaths or injuries, reduced profitability, the loss of projects or clients and possible exposure to litigation.

Our project sites often put our employees and others in close proximity with mechanized equipment, moving vehicles, chemical and manufacturing processes, and highly regulated materials. On some project sites, we may be responsible for safety and, accordingly, we have an obligation to implement effective safety procedures. If we fail to implement these procedures or if the procedures we implement are ineffective, we may suffer the loss of or injury to our employees, as well as expose ourselves to possible litigation. As a result, our failure to maintain adequate safety standards and equipment could result in reduced profitability or the loss of projects or clients, and could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Cybersecurity threats, information technology systems outages and data privacy incidents could adversely harm our business.

We may experience errors, outages, or delays of service in our information technology systems, which could significantly disrupt our operations, impact our clients and employees, damage our reputation, and result in litigation and regulatory fines or penalties. Various privacy and securities laws pertaining to client and employee data usage require us to manage and protect sensitive and proprietary information. For example, the European’s Union General Data Protection Regulation extends the scope of the European Union data protection laws to all companies processing data of European Union residents, regardless of the company’s location. In addition, the California Consumer Privacy Act increased the penalties for data privacy incidents.

We face threats to our information technology systems, including unauthorized access, computer hackers, computer viruses, malicious code, cyber-attacks, phishing and other cybersecurity problems and system disruptions, including possible unauthorized access to our and our clients’ proprietary information. We rely on industry-accepted security measures and technology to securely maintain all proprietary information on our information technology systems. In the ordinary course of business, we have been targeted by malicious cyber-attacks. Anyone who circumvents our security measures could misappropriate proprietary information, including information regarding us, our employees and/or our clients, or cause interruptions in our operations. Although we devote significant resources to our cybersecurity programs and have implemented security measures to protect our systems and to prevent, detect and respond to cybersecurity incidents, there can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent these threats. As these security threats continue to evolve, we may be required to devote additional resources to protect, prevent, detect and respond against system disruptions and security breaches.

We also rely in part on third-party software and information technology vendors to run our critical accounting, project management and financial information systems. We depend on our software and information technology vendors to provide long-term software and hardware support for our information systems. Our software and information technology vendors may decide to discontinue further development, integration or long-term software and hardware support for our information systems, in which case we may need to abandon one or more of our current information systems and migrate some or all of our accounting, project management and financial information to other systems, thus increasing our operational expense, as well as disrupting the management of our business operations.

Any of these events could damage our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Furthermore, while we maintain insurance that specifically covers these attacks, our coverage may not sufficiently cover all types of losses or claims that may arise.

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Risks Related to Contracts and Joint Ventures

Our business and operating results could be adversely affected by losses under fixed-price or guaranteed maximum price contracts.

Fixed-price contracts require us to either perform all work under the contract for a specified lump-sum or to perform an estimated number of units of work at an agreed price per unit, with the total payment determined by the actual number of units performed. In addition, we may enter guaranteed maximum price contracts where we guarantee a price or delivery date. For the year ended September 30, 2020, our revenue was comprised of 43%, 30%, and 27% cost-reimbursable, guaranteed maximum price, and fixed-price contracts, respectively. Fixed-price contracts expose us to a number of risks not inherent in cost-reimbursable contracts, including underestimation of costs, ambiguities in specifications, unforeseen increases in or failures in estimating the cost of raw materials, equipment or labor, problems with new technologies, delays beyond our control, fluctuations in profit margins, failures of subcontractors to perform and economic or other changes that may occur during the contract period. United States and foreign trade policy actions and tariffs such as the 2018 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in the United States could affect the profitability of our fixed-price construction projects. Losses under fixed-price or guaranteed contracts could be substantial and adversely impact our results of operations.

Our failure to meet contractual schedule or performance requirements that we have guaranteed could adversely affect our operating results.

In some circumstances, we can incur liquidated or other damages if we do not achieve project completion by a scheduled date. If we or an entity for which we have provided a guarantee subsequently fails to complete the project as scheduled and the matter cannot be satisfactorily resolved with the client, we may be responsible for cost impacts to the client resulting from any delay or the cost to complete the project. Our costs generally increase from schedule delays and/or could exceed our projections for a particular project. In addition, project performance can be affected by a number of factors beyond our control, including unavoidable delays from governmental inaction, public opposition, inability to obtain financing, weather conditions, unavailability of vendor materials, changes in the project scope of services requested by our clients, industrial accidents, environmental hazards, labor disruptions, pandemics including the current coronavirus, and other factors. Material performance problems for existing and future contracts could cause actual results of operations to differ from those anticipated by us and also could cause us to suffer damage to our reputation within our industry and client base.

We may not be able to maintain adequate surety and financial capacity necessary for us to successfully bid on and win contracts.

In line with industry practice, we are often required to provide surety bonds, standby letters of credit or corporate guarantees to our clients that indemnify the customer should our affiliate fail to perform its obligations under the terms of a contract. As of September 30, 2020 and September 30, 2019, we were contingently liable for $6.2 billion and $4.8 billion, respectively, in issued surety bonds primarily to support project execution and we had outstanding letters of credit totaling $529.1 million and $493.7 million, respectively. A surety may issue a performance or payment bond to guarantee to the client that our affiliate will perform under the terms of a contract. If our affiliate fails to perform under the terms of the contract, then the client may demand that the surety or another corporate affiliate provide the contracted services. In addition, we would typically have obligations to indemnify the surety for any loss incurred in connection with the bond. If a surety bond or a letter of credit is required for a particular project and we are unable to obtain an appropriate surety bond or letter of credit, we may not be able to pursue that project, which in turn could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We conduct a portion of our operations through joint venture entities, over which we may have limited control.

Approximately 10% of our fiscal 2020 revenue was derived from our operations through joint ventures or similar partnership arrangements, where control may be shared with unaffiliated third parties. As with most joint venture arrangements, differences in views among the joint venture participants may result in delayed decisions or disputes. We also cannot control the actions of our joint venture partners and we typically have joint and several liability with our joint venture partners under the applicable contracts for joint venture projects. These factors could potentially adversely impact the business and operations of a joint venture and, in turn, our business and operations.

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Operating through joint ventures in which we are minority holders results in us having limited control over many decisions made with respect to projects and internal controls relating to projects. Sales of our services provided to our unconsolidated joint ventures were approximately 4% of our fiscal 2020 revenue. We generally do not have control of these unconsolidated joint ventures. These joint ventures may not be subject to the same requirements regarding internal controls and internal control over financial reporting that we follow. As a result, internal control problems may arise with respect to these joint ventures, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations and could also affect our reputation.

We participate in joint ventures where we provide guarantees and may be adversely impacted by the failure of the joint venture or its participants to fulfill their obligations.

We have investments in and commitments to joint ventures with unrelated parties, including in connection with construction services, government services, and the investment activities of ACAP. For example, real estate and infrastructure joint ventures are inherently risky and may result in future losses since real estate markets are impacted by economic trends and government policies that we do not control. These joint ventures from time to time may borrow money to help finance their activities and in some circumstances, we are required to provide guarantees of obligations of our affiliated entities. In addition, in connection with the investment activities of ACAP, we provide guarantees of obligations, including guarantees for completion of projects, repayment of debt, environmental indemnity obligations and other lender required guarantees.

AECOM Capital’s real estate development and investment activities are inherently risky and may result in a future loss.

ACAP’s real estate business involves managing, sponsoring, investing and developing commercial real estate projects (Real Estate Joint Ventures) that are inherently risky and may result in future losses since real estate markets are significantly impacted by economic trends and government policies that we do not control. Our registered investment adviser jointly manages and sponsors the AECOM-Canyon Equity Fund, L.P. (the “Fund”), in which the Company indirectly holds an equity interest and which also invests and develops Real Estate Joint Ventures on behalf of its investors. Real Estate Joint Ventures rely on substantial amounts of third party borrowing to finance their development activities including completion guarantees, repayment guarantees, environmental indemnities and other lender required credit support guarantees that may be provided by AECOM or an affiliate to secure the Real Estate Joint Venture financing. Although the Fund and the Real Estate Joint Ventures have reserves that will be used to share any cost overruns of the Real Estate Joint Ventures, if such reserves are depleted, then AECOM may be required to make support payments to fund non-budgeted cost overruns on behalf of the Fund (but not on behalf of the Fund’s co-partner or any unaffiliated limited partners of the Real Estate Joint Ventures). Some of the Fund’s limited partners may be permitted to make additional equity co-investments in certain Real Estate Joint Ventures for which AECOM will provide support payments on behalf of the limited partner co-investor in the event of a cost overrun of the Real Estate Joint Venture after additional specific reserves have been depleted. AECOM’s provision of lender guarantees is contingent upon the Real Estate Joint Ventures meeting AECOM’s underwriting criteria, including an affiliate of AECOM acting as either the construction manager at risk or the owner’s representative for the project, no material adverse change in AECOM’s financial condition, and the guarantee not violating a covenant under a material AECOM agreement.

Risks Related to Laws and Regulations

Misconduct by our employees, partners or consultants or our failure to comply with laws or regulations applicable to our business could cause us to lose customers or lose our ability to contract with government agencies.

As a government contractor, misconduct, fraud or other improper activities caused by our employees’, partners’ or consultants’ failure to comply with laws or regulations could have a significant negative impact on our business and reputation. Such misconduct could include the failure to comply with procurement regulations, environmental regulations, regulations regarding the protection of sensitive government information, legislation regarding the pricing of labor and other costs in government contracts, regulations on lobbying or similar activities, and anti-corruption, anti-competition, export control and other applicable laws or regulations. Our failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, misconduct by any of our employees or consultants or our failure to make timely and accurate certifications to government agencies regarding misconduct or potential misconduct could subject us to fines and penalties, loss of government granted eligibility, cancellation of contracts and suspension or debarment from contracting with government agencies, any of which may adversely affect our business.

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We may be subject to substantial liabilities under environmental laws and regulations.

Our services are subject to numerous environmental protection laws and regulations that are complex and stringent. Our business involves in part the planning, design, program management, construction management, and operations and maintenance at various sites, including but not limited to, nuclear facilities, hazardous waste and Superfund sites, hydrocarbon production, distribution and transport sites, and other infrastructure-related facilities. We also regularly perform work in and around sensitive environmental areas, such as rivers, lakes and wetlands. In addition, we have contracts in support of U.S. federal government entities to destroy hazardous materials, including chemical agents and weapons stockpiles, as well as to decontaminate and decommission nuclear facilities. These activities may require us to manage, handle, remove, treat, transport and dispose of toxic or hazardous substances. We also own and operate several properties in the U.S. and Canada that have been used for the storage and maintenance of construction equipment. In the conduct of operations on these properties, and despite precautions having been taken, it is possible that there have been accidental releases of individually relatively small amounts of fuel, oils, hydraulic fluids and other fluids while storing or servicing this equipment. Such accidental releases though individually relatively small may have accumulated over time. Past business practices at companies that we have acquired may also expose us to future unknown environmental liabilities.

Significant fines, penalties and other sanctions may be imposed for non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations, and some environmental laws provide for joint and several strict liabilities for remediation of releases of hazardous substances, rendering a person liable for environmental damage, without regard to negligence or fault on the part of such person. These laws and regulations may expose us to liability arising out of the conduct of operations or conditions caused by others, or for our acts that were in compliance with all applicable laws at the time these acts were performed. For example, there are a number of governmental laws that strictly regulate the handling, removal, treatment, transportation and disposal of toxic and hazardous substances, such as Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, and comparable state laws, that impose strict, joint and several liabilities for the entire cost of cleanup, without regard to whether a company knew of or caused the release of hazardous substances. In addition, some environmental regulations can impose liability for the entire cleanup upon owners, operators, generators, transporters and other persons arranging for the treatment or disposal of such hazardous substances related to contaminated facilities or project sites. Other federal environmental, health and safety laws affecting us include, but are not limited to, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Air Mercury Rule, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act and the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as well as other comparable national and state laws. Liabilities related to environmental contamination or human exposure to hazardous substances, or a failure to comply with applicable regulations could result in substantial costs to us, including cleanup costs, fines and civil or criminal sanctions, third-party claims for property damage or personal injury or cessation of remediation activities. Our continuing work in the areas governed by these laws and regulations exposes us to the risk of substantial liability.

Risks Related to Acquisitions and Divestitures

AECOM is a smaller company after the sale of our Management Services business and may be more vulnerable to changing market conditions.

AECOM is a smaller company after the sale of our Management Services business and more reliant on our remaining business segments. Our results of operations, cash flows, working capital, effective tax rate, and financing requirements may be subject to increased volatility and our ability to fund capital expenditures, investments and service debt may be diminished. Restructuring costs and other costs incurred in connection with the Management Services sale may exceed our estimates or diminish the benefits we expected to realize. In addition, any contingent purchase price adjustments could be unfavorable and result in lower aggregate cash proceeds. We are also obligated to incur ongoing costs and retain certain legal claims that were previously allocated to the Management Services business. As a result, we may be more vulnerable to changing market conditions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We may be unable to successfully execute or effectively integrate acquisitions and divestitures may not occur as planned.

We regularly review our portfolio of businesses and pursue growth through acquisitions and seek to divest non-core businesses. We may not be able to complete transactions on favorable terms, on a timely basis, or at all, and during the integration of any acquisition, we may discover regulatory and compliance issues. In addition, our results of operations

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and cash flows may be adversely impacted by (i) the failure of acquired businesses to meet or exceed expected returns; (ii) the failure to integrate acquired businesses on schedule and/or to achieve expected synergies; (iii) the inability to dispose of non-core assets and businesses on satisfactory terms and conditions; (iv) diversion of attention and increased burdens on our employees; and (v) the discovery of unanticipated liabilities or other problems in acquired businesses for which we lack contractual protections, insurance or indemnities, or with regard to divested businesses, claims by purchasers to whom we have provided contractual indemnification. Additional difficulties we may encounter as part of the integration process include the following:

Any of these factors could adversely affect our ability to maintain relationships with customers, suppliers, employees and other constituencies or could reduce our earnings or otherwise adversely affect our business and financial results.

Our plans to divest certain businesses are subject to various risks and uncertainties and may not be completed in accordance with the expected plans or anticipated time frame, or at all, and will involve significant time and expense, which could disrupt or adversely affect our business.

Divesting businesses involve risks and uncertainties, such as the difficulty separating assets related to such businesses from the businesses we retain, employee distraction, the need to obtain regulatory approvals and other third-party consents, which potentially disrupts customer and vendor relationships, and the fact that we may be subject to additional tax obligations or loss of certain tax benefits. Because of these challenges, as well as market conditions or other factors, the anticipated divestitures may take longer or be costlier or generate fewer benefits than expected and may not be completed at all. If we are unable to complete the divestitures or to successfully transition divested businesses, our business and financial results could be negatively impacted. After we dispose of a business, we may retain exposure on financial or performance guarantees and other contractual, employment, pension and severance obligations, and potential liabilities that may arise under law because of the disposition or the subsequent failure of an acquirer. As a result, performance by the divested businesses or other conditions outside of our control could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. In addition, the divestiture of any business could negatively impact our profitability because of losses that may result from such a sale, the loss of sales and operating income, or a decrease in cash flows.

Other Risks

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An impairment charge of goodwill could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

Because we have grown in part through acquisitions, goodwill and intangible assets-net represent a substantial portion of our assets. Under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP), we are required to test goodwill carried in our Consolidated Balance Sheets for possible impairment on an annual basis based upon a fair value approach and whenever events occur that indicate impairment could exist. These events or circumstances could include a significant change in the business climate, including a significant sustained decline in a reporting unit’s market value, legal factors, operating performance indicators, competition, sale or disposition of a significant portion of our business, a significant sustained decline in our market capitalization and other factors. For example, in the year ended September 30, 2020, we recorded a noncash impairment of long-lived assets, including goodwill of $83.6 million primarily related to a decrease in the estimated recovery and fair value of reporting units with self-perform at-risk construction.

In addition, if we experience a decrease in our stock price and market capitalization over a sustained period, we would have to record an impairment charge in the future. The amount of any impairment could be significant and could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations for the period in which the charge is taken.

We may be required to contribute additional cash to meet our significant underfunded benefit obligations associated with pension benefit plans we manage or multiemployer pension plans in which we participate.

We have defined benefit pension plans for employees in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Ireland. At September 30, 2020, our defined benefit pension plans had an aggregate deficit (the excess of projected benefit obligations over the fair value of plan assets) of approximately $406.0 million. In the future, our pension deficits may increase or decrease depending on changes in the levels of interest rates, pension plan performance and other factors that may require us to make additional cash contributions to our pension plans and recognize further increases in our net pension cost to satisfy our funding requirements. If we are forced or elect to make up all or a portion of the deficit for unfunded benefit plans, our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

A multiemployer pension plan is typically established under a collective bargaining agreement with a union to cover the union-represented workers of various unrelated companies. Our collective bargaining agreements with unions will require us to contribute to various multiemployer pension plans; however, we do not control or manage these plans. For the year ended September 30, 2020, we contributed $4.0 million to multiemployer pension plans. Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, an employer who contributes to a multiemployer pension plan, absent an applicable exemption, may also be liable, upon termination or withdrawal from the plan, for its proportionate share of the multiemployer pension plan’s unfunded vested benefit. If we terminate or withdraw from a multiemployer plan, absent an applicable exemption (such as for some plans in the building and construction industry), we could be required to contribute a significant amount of cash to fund the multiemployer plan’s unfunded vested benefit, which could materially and adversely affect our financial results; however, since we do not control the multiemployer plans, we are unable to estimate any potential contributions that could be required.

We may experience disproportionately high levels of collection risk and nonpayment if certain clients in specific geographic areas or industries are adversely affected by factors particular to their geographic area or industry.

Our clients include public and private entities that have been, and may continue to be, negatively impacted by the changing landscape in the global economy. While no one client accounted for over 10% of our revenue for fiscal 2020, we face collection risk as a normal part of our business where we perform services and subsequently bill our clients for such services, or when we make equity investments in majority or minority controlled large-scale client projects and other long-term capital projects before the project completes operational status or completes its project financing. In the event that we have concentrated credit risk from clients in a specific geographic area or industry, continuing negative trends or a worsening in the financial condition of that specific geographic area or industry could make us susceptible to disproportionately high levels of default by those clients. Such defaults could materially adversely impact our revenues and our results of operations.

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Our services expose us to significant risks of liability and our insurance policies may not provide adequate coverage.

Our services involve significant risks of professional and other liabilities that may substantially exceed the fees that we derive from our services. In addition, we sometimes contractually assume liability to clients on projects under indemnification or guarantee agreements. We cannot predict the magnitude of potential liabilities from the operation of our business. In addition, in the ordinary course of our business, we frequently make professional judgments and recommendations about environmental and engineering conditions of project sites for our clients. We may be deemed to be responsible for these professional judgments and recommendations if they are later determined to be inaccurate. Any unfavorable legal ruling against us could result in substantial monetary damages or even criminal violations.

Our professional liability policies cover only claims made during the term of the policy. Additionally, our insurance policies may not protect us against potential liability due to various exclusions in the policies and self-insured retention amounts. Partially or completely uninsured claims, if successful and of significant magnitude, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Unavailability or cancellation of third-party insurance coverage would increase our overall risk exposure as well as disrupt the management of our business operations.

We maintain insurance coverage from third-party insurers as part of our overall risk management strategy and because some of our contracts require us to maintain specific insurance coverage limits. If any of our third-party insurers fail, suddenly cancel our coverage or otherwise are unable to provide us with adequate insurance coverage, then our overall risk exposure and our operational expenses would increase and the management of our business operations would be disrupted. In addition, there can be no assurance that any of our existing insurance coverage will be renewable upon the expiration of the coverage period or that future coverage will be affordable at the required limits.

If we do not have adequate indemnification for our services related to nuclear materials, it could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

We provide services to the nuclear energy industry in the ongoing maintenance and modification, as well as the decontamination and decommissioning, of nuclear energy plants. Indemnification provisions under the Price-Anderson Act available to nuclear energy plant operators and contractors do not apply to all liabilities that we might incur while performing services as a radioactive materials cleanup contractor for the nuclear energy industry. If the Price-Anderson Act’s indemnification protection does not apply to our services or if our exposure occurs outside the U.S., our business and financial condition could be adversely affected either by our client’s refusal to retain us, by our inability to obtain commercially adequate insurance and indemnification, or by potentially significant monetary damages we may incur.

Our backlog of uncompleted projects under contract is subject to unexpected adjustments and cancellations and, thus may not accurately reflect future revenue and profits.

At September 30, 2020, our contracted backlog was approximately $19.5 billion, our awarded backlog was approximately $21.1 billion and our unconsolidated joint venture backlog was approximately $0.6 billion for a total backlog of $41.2 billion. Our contracted backlog includes revenue we expect to record in the future from signed contracts and, in the case of a public sector client, where the project has been funded. We reported transaction price allocated to remaining unsatisfied performance obligations (RUPO) of $18.9 billion, as described in Note 4, Revenue Recognition, in the notes to our consolidated financial statements. The most significant difference between our contracted backlog and RUPO is revenue related to service contracts that extend beyond the termination provisions of those contracts. Our contracted backlog includes revenues for service contracts expected to be earned over the term of that contract. Guidance for the calculation of RUPO requires us to assume the contract will be terminated at its earliest convenience, resulting in RUPO to be $0.6 billion lower than contracted backlog. Our awarded backlog includes revenue we expect to record in the future where we have been awarded the work, but the contractual agreement has not yet been signed. We cannot guarantee that future revenue will be realized from either category of backlog or, if realized, will result in profits. Many projects may remain in our backlog for an extended period of time because of the size or long-term nature of the contract. In addition, from time to time, projects are delayed, scaled back or canceled. These types of backlog reductions adversely affect the revenue and profits that we ultimately receive from contracts reflected in our backlog.

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We have submitted claims to clients for work we performed beyond the initial scope of some of our contracts. If these clients do not approve these claims, our results of operations could be adversely impacted.

We typically have pending claims submitted under some of our contracts for payment of work performed beyond the initial contractual requirements for which we have already recorded revenue. In general, we cannot guarantee that such claims will be approved in whole, in part, or at all. Often, these claims can be the subject of lengthy arbitration or litigation proceedings, and it is difficult to accurately predict when these claims will be fully resolved. When these types of events occur and unresolved claims are pending, we have used working capital in projects to cover cost overruns pending the resolution of the relevant claims. If these claims are not approved, our revenue may be reduced in future periods.

In conducting our business, we depend on other contractors, subcontractors and equipment and material providers. If these parties fail to satisfy their obligations to us or other parties or if we are unable to maintain these relationships, our revenue, profitability and growth prospects could be adversely affected.

We depend on contractors, subcontractors and equipment and material providers in conducting our business. There is a risk that we may have disputes with our subcontractors arising from, among other things, the quality and timeliness of work performed by the subcontractor, customer concerns about the subcontractor, or our failure to extend existing task orders or issue new task orders under a subcontract. Also, to the extent that we cannot acquire equipment and materials at reasonable costs, or if the amount we are required to pay exceeds our estimates, our ability to complete a project in a timely fashion or at a profit may be impaired. In addition, if any of our subcontractors fail to deliver on a timely basis the agreed-upon supplies and/or perform the agreed-upon services, our ability to fulfill our obligations as a prime contractor may be jeopardized; we could be held responsible for such failures and/or we may be required to purchase the supplies or services from another source at a higher price. This may reduce the profit to be realized or result in a loss on a project for which the supplies or services are needed.

We also rely on relationships with other contractors when we act as their subcontractor or joint venture partner. Our future revenue and growth prospects could be adversely affected if other contractors eliminate or reduce their subcontracts or joint venture relationships with us, or if a government agency terminates or reduces these other contractors’ programs, does not award them new contracts or refuses to pay under a contract. In addition, due to “pay when paid” provisions that are common in subcontracts in many countries, including the U.S., we could experience delays in receiving payment if the prime contractor experiences payment delays.

If clients use our reports or other work product without appropriate disclaimers or in a misleading or incomplete manner, or if our reports or other work product are not in compliance with professional standards and other regulations, our business could be adversely affected.

The reports and other work product we produce for clients sometimes include projections, forecasts and other forward-looking statements. Such information by its nature is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, any of which could cause the information produced by us to ultimately prove inaccurate. While we include appropriate disclaimers in the reports that we prepare for our clients, once we produce such written work product, we do not always have the ability to control the manner in which our clients use such information. As a result, if our clients reproduce such information to solicit funds from investors for projects without appropriate disclaimers and the information proves to be incorrect, or if our clients reproduce such information for potential investors in a misleading or incomplete manner, our clients or such investors may threaten to or file suit against us for, among other things, securities law violations. For example, in August 2016, an affiliate entered into a settlement related to, among other things, alleged deficiencies in a traffic forecast. If we were found to be liable for any claims related to our client work product, our business could be adversely affected.

In addition, our reports and other work product may need to comply with professional standards, licensing requirements, securities regulations and other laws and rules governing the performance of professional services in the jurisdiction where the services are performed. We could be liable to third parties who use or rely upon our reports and other work product even if we are not contractually bound to those third parties. These events could in turn result in monetary damages and penalties.

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Failure to adequately protect, maintain, or enforce our rights in our intellectual property may adversely limit our competitive position.

Our success depends, in part, upon our ability to protect our intellectual property. We rely on a combination of intellectual property policies and other contractual arrangements to protect much of our intellectual property where we do not believe that trademark, patent or copyright protection is appropriate or obtainable. Trade secrets are generally difficult to protect. Although our employees are subject to confidentiality obligations, this protection may be inadequate to deter or prevent misappropriation of our confidential information and/or the infringement of our patents and copyrights. Further, we may be unable to detect unauthorized use of our intellectual property or otherwise take appropriate steps to enforce our rights. Failure to adequately protect, maintain, or enforce our intellectual property rights may adversely limit our competitive position.

Our ability to compete in our industry will be harmed if we do not retain the continued services of our senior management and key technical personnel.

We rely heavily upon the expertise and leadership of our people. There is strong competition for qualified technical and management personnel in the sectors in which we compete. We may not be able to continue to attract and retain qualified technical and management personnel, such as engineers, architects and project managers, who are necessary for the development of our business or to replace qualified personnel in the timeframe demanded by our clients. Also, some of our personnel hold government granted eligibility that may be required to obtain government projects. Loss of the services of, or failure to recruit senior management or key technical personnel could impact the long term performance of the Company and limit our ability to successfully complete existing projects and compete for new projects.

Our revenue and growth prospects may be harmed if we or our employees are unable to obtain government granted eligibility or other qualifications we and they need to perform services for our customers.

A number of government programs require contractors to have government granted eligibility, such as security clearance credentials. Depending on the project, eligibility can be difficult and time-consuming to obtain. If we or our employees are unable to obtain or retain the necessary eligibility, we may not be able to win new business, and our existing customers could terminate their contracts with us or decide not to renew them. To the extent we cannot obtain or maintain the required security clearances for our employees working on a particular contract, we may not derive the revenue or profit anticipated from such contract.

Negotiations with labor unions and possible work actions could divert management attention and disrupt operations. In addition, new collective bargaining agreements or amendments to agreements could increase our labor costs and operating expenses.

We regularly negotiate with labor unions and enter into collective bargaining agreements. The outcome of any future negotiations relating to union representation or collective bargaining agreements may not be favorable to us. We may reach agreements in collective bargaining that increase our operating expenses and lower our net income as a result of higher wages or benefit expenses. In addition, negotiations with unions could divert management attention and disrupt operations, which may adversely affect our results of operations. If we are unable to negotiate acceptable collective bargaining agreements, we may have to address the threat of union-initiated work actions, including strikes. Depending on the nature of the threat or the type and duration of any work action, these actions could disrupt our operations and adversely affect our operating results.

Our charter documents contain provisions that may delay, defer or prevent a change of control.

Provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire control of us, even if the change in control would be beneficial to stockholders. These provisions include the following:

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Changes in tax laws could increase our worldwide tax rate and materially affect our results of operations.

We are subject to tax laws in the U.S. and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Many international legislative and regulatory bodies have proposed and/or enacted legislation that could significantly impact how U.S. multinational corporations are taxed on foreign earnings. Due to the large scale of our U.S. and international business activities, many of these proposed and enacted changes to the taxation of our activities could increase our worldwide effective tax rate and harm results of operations.

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ITEM 1B.  UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2.  PROPERTIES

Our corporate offices are located in approximately 31,000 square feet of space at 300 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, California. Our other offices, including smaller administrative or project offices, consist of an aggregate of approximately 9.2 million square feet worldwide. Virtually all of our offices are leased. See Note 11 in the notes to our consolidated financial statements for information regarding our lease obligations. We may add additional facilities from time to time in the future as the need arises.

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ITEM 3.  LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

As a government contractor, we are subject to various laws and regulations that are more restrictive than those applicable to non-government contractors. Intense government scrutiny of contractors’ compliance with those laws and regulations through audits and investigations is inherent in government contracting and, from time to time, we receive inquiries, subpoenas, and similar demands related to our ongoing business with government entities. Violations can result in civil or criminal liability as well as suspension or debarment from eligibility for awards of new government contracts or option renewals.

We are involved in various investigations, claims and lawsuits in the normal conduct of our business. We are not always aware if we or our affiliates are under investigation or the status of such matters. Although the outcome of our legal proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty and no assurances can be provided, in the opinion of our management, based upon current information and discussions with counsel, with the exception of the matters noted in Note 18, Commitments and Contingencies, to the financial statements contained in this report to the extent stated therein, none of the investigations, claims and lawsuits in which we are involved is expected to have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations, cash flows or our ability to conduct business. See Note 18, Commitments and Contingencies, to the financial statements contained in this report for a discussion of certain matters to which we are a party. The information set forth in such note is incorporated by reference into this Item 3. From time to time, we establish reserves for litigation when we consider it probable that a loss will occur.

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ITEM 4.  MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

The Company does not act as the owner of any mines, but we may act as a mining operator as defined under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 where we may be a lessee of a mine, a person who operates, controls or supervises such mine, or an independent contractor performing services or construction of such mine. Information concerning mine safety violations or other regulatory matters required by Section 1503(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and Item 104 of Regulation S-K is included in Exhibit 95.

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PART II

ITEM 5.  MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “ACM.” According to the records of our transfer agent, there were 1,826 stockholders of record as of November 12, 2020.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities

None.

Equity Compensation Plans

The following table presents certain information about shares of AECOM common stock that may be issued under our equity compensation plans as of September 30, 2020:

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Performance Measurement Comparison⁽¹⁾

The following chart compares the cumulative total stockholder return of AECOM stock (ACM) with the cumulative total return of the S&P MidCap 400, and the S&P Composite 1500 Construction & Engineering, from October 2, 2015 to October 2, 2020.

We believe the S&P 400 MidCap is an appropriate independent broad market index, since it measures the performance of similar mid-sized companies in numerous sectors. In addition, we believe the S&P Composite 1500 Construction & Engineering index is an appropriate third party published industry index since it measures the performance of engineering and construction companies.

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Stock Repurchase Program

On September 21, 2017, the Company’s Board of Directors announced a new capital allocation policy that authorized the repurchase of up to $1.0 billion in AECOM common stock. Stock repurchases can be made through open market purchases or other methods, including pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan. On November 13, 2020, the Board approved an increase in the Company’s repurchase authorization to $1.0 billion, up from approximately $305 million authorization in place immediately prior to such date. A summary of the repurchase activity for the three months ended September 30, 2020 is as follows:

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ITEM 6.  SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

You should read the following selected consolidated financial data along with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes, which are included in this Form 10-K. We derived the selected consolidated financial data from our audited consolidated financial statements. As discussed further in Note 3 to our consolidated financial statements, certain businesses were classified as discontinued operations in fiscal year 2020. The discontinued operations classification has been retrospectively applied to fiscal years 2019 and 2018, but not fiscal years 2017 and 2016, which may affect comparability.

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ITEM 7.  MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are not limited to historical facts, but reflect the Company’s current beliefs, expectations or intentions regarding future events. These statements include forward-looking statements with respect to the Company, including the Company’s business, operations and strategy, and the engineering and construction industry. Statements that are not historical facts, without limitation, including statements that use terms such as "anticipates," "believes," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "may," "plans," "potential," "projects," and "will" and that relate to future impacts caused by the Covid-19  coronavirus pandemic and the related economic instability and market volatility, including the reaction of governments to the coronavirus, including any prolonged period of travel, commercial or other similar restrictions, the delay in commencement, or temporary or permanent halting of construction, infrastructure or other projects, requirements that we remove our employees or personnel from the field for their protection, and delays or reductions in planned initiatives by our governmental or commercial clients or potential clients; future revenues, expenditures and business trends; future reduction of our self-perform at-risk construction exposure; future accounting estimates; future contractual performance obligations; future conversions of backlog; future capital allocation priorities, including common stock repurchases, future trade receivables, future debt pay downs; future post-retirement expenses; future tax benefits and expenses; future compliance with regulations; future legal claims and insurance coverage; future effectiveness of our disclosure and internal controls over financial reporting; future costs savings; and other future economic and industry conditions, are forward-looking statements. In light of the risks and uncertainties inherent in all forward-looking statements, the inclusion of such statements in this Annual Report should not be considered as a representation by us or any other person that our objectives or plans will be achieved. Although management believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, these assumptions and the forward-looking statements are subject to various factors, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, including, but not limited to, our business is cyclical and vulnerable to economic downturns and client spending reductions; government shutdowns; long-term government contracts and subject to uncertainties related to government contract appropriations; governmental agencies may modify, curtail or terminate our contracts; government contracts are subject to audits and adjustments of contractual terms; losses under fixed-price contracts; limited control over operations run through our joint venture entities; liability for misconduct by our employees or consultants; failure to comply with laws or regulations applicable to our business; maintaining adequate surety and financial capacity; high leverage and potential inability to service our debt and guarantees; exposure to Brexit and tariffs; exposure to political and economic risks in different countries; currency exchange rate fluctuations; retaining and recruiting key technical and management personnel; legal claims; inadequate insurance coverage; environmental law compliance and inadequate nuclear indemnification; unexpected adjustments and cancellations related to our backlog; partners and third parties who may fail to satisfy their legal obligations; managing pension costs; AECOM Capital’s real estate development; cybersecurity issues, IT outages and data privacy; risks associated with the benefits and costs of the Management Services transaction, including the risk that the expected benefits of the Management Services transaction or any contingent purchase price will not be realized within the expected time frame, in full or at all; the risk that costs of restructuring transactions and other costs incurred in connection with the Management Services transaction will exceed our estimates or otherwise adversely affect our business or operations; as well as other additional risks and factors discussed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent reports we file with the SEC. Accordingly, actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by any forward-looking statement.

All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning the Company or other matters attributable to the Company or any person acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only to the date they are made. The Company is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) to update or revise any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. Please review “Part I, Item 1A—Risk Factors” in this Annual Report for a discussion of the factors, risks and uncertainties that could affect our future results.

Our fiscal year consists of 52 or 53 weeks, ending on the Friday closest to September 30. For clarity of presentation, we present all periods as if the year ended on September 30. We refer to the fiscal year ended September 30, 2019 as “fiscal 2019” and the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020 as “fiscal 2020.” Fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018 each contained 53, 52, and 52 weeks, respectively, and ended on October 2, September 27, and September 28, respectively.

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Overview

We are a leading global provider of professional, technical and management support services for governments, businesses and organizations throughout the world. We provide planning, consulting, architectural and engineering design, construction management services, and investment and development services to commercial and government clients worldwide in major end markets such as transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, water and government markets.

Our business focuses primarily on providing fee-based planning, consulting, architectural and engineering design services and, therefore, our business is labor intensive. We primarily derive income from our ability to generate revenue and collect cash from our clients through the billing of our employees’ time spent on client projects and our ability to manage our costs. AECOM Capital primarily derives its income from real estate development sales and management fees.

During the first quarter of fiscal 2020, we reorganized our operating and reporting structure to better align with our ongoing professional services business. This reorganization better reflected our continuing operations after the sale of our Management Services segment and planned disposal of our self-perform at-risk construction businesses, including our civil infrastructure, power, and oil & gas construction businesses. Our Management Services and self-perform at-risk construction businesses were part of our former Management Services segment and a substantial portion of our former Construction Services segment, respectively. These businesses are classified as discontinued operations in all periods presented.

We report our continuing business through three segments: Americas, International, and AECOM Capital (ACAP). Such segments are organized by the differing specialized needs of the respective clients, and how we manage the business. We have aggregated various operating segments into our reportable segments based on their similar characteristics, including similar long-term financial performance, the nature of services provided, internal processes for delivering those services, and types of customers.

Our Americas segment delivers planning, consulting, architectural and engineering design, and construction management services to commercial and government clients in the United States, Canada, and Latin America in major end markets such as transportation, water, government, facilities, environmental, and energy. Our International segment delivers planning, consulting, and architectural and engineering design services to commercial and government clients in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific regions in major end markets such as transportation, water, government, facilities, environmental, and energy. Revenue for these two segments is primarily derived from fees for services we provide.

Our ACAP segment primarily invests in and develops real estate projects. ACAP typically partners with investors and experienced developers as co-general partners. ACAP may, but is not required to, enter into contracts with our other AECOM affiliates to provide design, engineering, construction management, development and operations, and maintenance services for ACAP funded projects.

Our revenue is dependent on our ability to attract and retain qualified and productive employees, identify business opportunities, integrate and maximize the value of our recent acquisitions, allocate our labor resources to profitable and high growth markets, secure new contracts, and renew existing client agreements. Demand for our services is cyclical and may be vulnerable to sudden economic downturns and reductions in government and private industry spending, which may result in clients delaying, curtailing or canceling proposed and existing projects. Moreover, as a professional services company, maintaining the high quality of the work generated by our employees is integral to our revenue generation and profitability.

Our costs consist primarily of the compensation we pay to our employees, including salaries, fringe benefits, the costs of hiring subcontractors, other project-related expenses and sales, general and administrative costs.

The U.S. federal government has proposed significant legislative and executive infrastructure initiatives that, if enacted, could have a positive impact to our infrastructure business.

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Regarding our capital allocation policy,  on November 13, 2020, the Board approved an increase in our repurchase authorization to $1.0 billion, up from the approximately $305 million authorization in place immediately prior to such date. We intend to deploy future available cash towards stock repurchases consistent with our capital allocation policy.

In July 2020, we drew $248.5 million on our secured delayed draw term loan facility for the purpose of redeeming all of the URS 5.00% Senior Notes due 2022 (2022 URS Senior Notes).

We expect to exit the self-perform at-risk construction and non-core oil and gas markets. We are in the process of exiting more than 30 countries, subject to applicable laws, as part of our ongoing plan to improve profitability and reduce our risk profile, and we continue to evaluate our geographic exposure as part of such plan.

We expect to incur restructuring costs of approximately $30 million to $50 million in fiscal 2021 primarily related to previously announced restructuring actions that are expected to deliver continued margin improvement and efficiencies. Total cash costs for these restructuring actions are expected to be approximately $30 million to $50 million.

Covid-19 Coronavirus Impacts

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic and measures to prevent its spread are affecting our businesses in a number of ways:

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Acquisitions

The aggregate value of all consideration for our acquisitions consummated during the year ended September 30, 2018 was $5.6 million. There were no acquisitions consummated during the years ended September 30, 2020 and 2019.

All of our acquisitions have been accounted for as business combinations and the results of operations of the acquired companies have been included in our consolidated results since the dates of the acquisitions.

Components of Income and Expense

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Revenue

We generate revenue primarily by providing planning, consulting, architectural and engineering design services to commercial and government clients around the world. Our revenue consists of both services provided by our employees and pass-through fees from subcontractors and other direct costs. We generally recognize revenue over time as performance obligations are satisfied and control over promised goods or services are transferred to our customers. We generally measure progress to completion using an input measure of total costs incurred divided by total costs expected to be incurred.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue reflects the cost of our own personnel (including fringe benefits and overhead expense) associated with revenue.

Amortization Expense of Acquired Intangible Assets

Included in our cost of revenue is amortization of acquired intangible assets. We have ascribed value to identifiable intangible assets other than goodwill in our purchase price allocations for companies we have acquired. These assets include, but are not limited to, backlog and customer relationships. To the extent we ascribe value to identifiable intangible assets that have finite lives, we amortize those values over the estimated useful lives of the assets. Such amortization expense, although non-cash in the period expensed, directly impacts our results of operations. It is difficult to predict with any precision the amount of expense we may record relating to acquired intangible assets.

Equity in Earnings of Joint Ventures

Equity in earnings of joint ventures includes our portion of fees charged by our unconsolidated joint ventures to clients for services performed by us and other joint venture partners along with earnings we receive from our return on investments in unconsolidated joint ventures.

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General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses include corporate expenses, including personnel, occupancy, and administrative expenses.

Acquisition and Integration Expenses

Acquisition and integration expenses are comprised of transaction costs, professional fees, and personnel costs, including due diligence and integration activities, primarily related to business acquisitions.

Goodwill Impairment

See Critical Accounting Policies and Consolidated Results below.

Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

As a global enterprise, income tax expense/(benefit) and our effective tax rates can be affected by many factors, including changes in our worldwide mix of pre-tax losses/earnings, the effect of non-controlling interest in income of consolidated subsidiaries, the extent to which the earnings are indefinitely reinvested outside of the United States, our acquisition strategy, tax incentives and credits available to us, changes in judgment regarding the realizability of our deferred tax assets, changes in existing tax laws and our assessment of uncertain tax positions. Our tax returns are routinely audited by the taxing authorities and settlements of issues raised in these audits can also sometimes affect our effective tax rate.

Geographic Information

For geographic financial information, please refer to Note 4 and Note 19 in the notes to our consolidated financial statements found elsewhere in the Form 10-K.

Critical Accounting Policies

Our financial statements are presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP). Highlighted below are the accounting policies that management considers significant to understanding the operations of our business.

Revenue Recognition

Our accounting policies establish principles for recognizing revenue upon the transfer of control of promised goods or services to customers. We generally recognize revenues over time as performance obligations are satisfied. We generally measure our progress to completion using an input measure of total costs incurred divided by total costs expected to be incurred. In the course of providing these services, we routinely subcontract for services and incur other direct cost on behalf of our clients. These costs are passed through to clients, and in accordance with accounting rules, are included in our revenue and cost of revenue.

Revenue recognition and profit is dependent upon a number of factors, including the accuracy of a variety of estimates made at the balance sheet date, such as engineering progress, material quantities, the achievement of milestones, penalty provisions, labor productivity and cost estimates. Additionally, we are required to make estimates for the amount of consideration to be received, including bonuses, awards, incentive fees, claims, unpriced change orders, penalties and liquidated damages. Variable consideration is included in the estimate of transaction price only to the extent that a significant reversal would not be probable. We continuously monitor factors that may affect the quality of our estimates, and material changes in estimates are disclosed accordingly.

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Claims Recognition

Claims are amounts in excess of the agreed contract price (or amounts not included in the original contract price) that we seek to collect from customers or others for delays, errors in specifications and designs, contract terminations, change orders in dispute or unapproved contracts as to both scope and price or other causes of unanticipated additional costs. We record contract revenue related to claims only if it is probable that the claim will result in additional contract revenue and only to the extent that a significant reversal would not be probable. The amounts recorded, if material, are disclosed in the notes to the financial statements. Costs attributable to claims are treated as costs of contract performance as incurred.

Government Contract Matters

Our federal government and certain state and local agency contracts are subject to, among other regulations, regulations issued under the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). These regulations can limit the recovery of certain specified indirect costs on contracts and subject us to ongoing multiple audits by government agencies such as the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). In addition, most of our federal and state and local contracts are subject to termination at the discretion of the client.

Audits by the DCAA and other agencies consist of reviews of our overhead rates, operating systems and cost proposals to ensure that we account for such costs in accordance with the Cost Accounting Standards of the FAR (CAS). If the DCAA determines we have not accounted for such costs consistent with CAS, the DCAA may disallow these costs. There can be no assurance that audits by the DCAA or other governmental agencies will not result in material cost disallowances in the future.

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

We record accounts receivable net of an allowance for doubtful accounts. This allowance for doubtful accounts is estimated based on management’s evaluation of the contracts involved and the financial condition of our clients. The factors we consider in our contract evaluations include, but are not limited to:

Contract Assets and Contract Liabilities

Contract assets represent the contract revenue recognized but not yet billed pursuant to contract terms or accounts billed after the period end.

Contract liabilities represent the billings to date, as allowed under the terms of a contract, but not yet recognized as contract revenue using our revenue recognition policy.

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Investments in Unconsolidated Joint Ventures

We have noncontrolling interests in joint ventures accounted for under the equity method. Fees received for and the associated costs of services performed by us and billed to joint ventures with respect to work done by us for third-party customers are recorded as our revenues and costs in the period in which such services are rendered. In certain joint ventures, a fee is added to the respective billings from both us and the other joint venture partners on the amounts billed to the third-party customers. These fees result in earnings to the joint venture and are split with each of the joint venture partners and paid to the joint venture partners upon collection from the third-party customer. We record our allocated share of these fees as equity in earnings of joint ventures.

Additionally, our ACAP segment primarily invests in real estate projects.  

Income Taxes

We provide for income taxes in accordance with principles contained in ASC Topic 740, Income Taxes. Under these principles, we recognize the amount of income tax payable or refundable for the current year and deferred tax assets and liabilities for the future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in our financial statements or tax returns.

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in earnings in the period when the new rate is enacted. Deferred tax assets are evaluated for future realization and reduced by a valuation allowance if it is more likely than not that a portion will not be realized.

We measure and recognize the amount of tax benefit that should be recorded for financial statement purposes for uncertain tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. With respect to uncertain tax positions, we evaluate the recognized tax benefits for recognition, measurement, derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, interim period accounting and disclosure requirements. Judgment is required in assessing the future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in our financial statements or tax returns.

Valuation Allowance.  Deferred income taxes are provided on the liability method whereby deferred tax assets and liabilities are established for the difference between the financial reporting and income tax basis of assets and liabilities, as well as for tax attributes such as operating loss and tax credit carryforwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are adjusted for the effects of changes in tax laws and tax rates on the date of enactment of such changes to laws and tax rates.

Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance when, in our opinion, it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets may not be realized. The evaluation of the recoverability of the deferred tax asset requires the Company to weigh all positive and negative evidence to reach a conclusion that it is more likely than not that all or some portion of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The weight given to the evidence is commensurate with the extent to which it can be objectively verified. Whether a deferred tax asset may be realized requires considerable judgment by us. In considering the need for a valuation allowance, we consider a number of factors including the nature, frequency, and severity of cumulative financial reporting losses in recent years, the future reversal of existing temporary differences, predictability of future taxable income exclusive of reversing temporary differences of the character necessary to realize the asset, relevant carryforward periods, taxable income in carry-back years if carry-back is permitted under tax law, and prudent and feasible tax planning strategies that would be implemented, if necessary, to protect against the loss of the deferred tax asset that would otherwise expire. Whether a deferred tax asset will ultimately be realized is also dependent on varying factors, including, but not limited to, changes in tax laws and audits by tax jurisdictions in which we operate.

If future changes in judgment regarding the realizability of our deferred tax assets lead us to determine that it is more likely than not that we will not realize all or part of our deferred tax asset in the future, we will record an additional valuation allowance. Conversely, if a valuation allowance exists and we determine that the ultimate realizability of all or part of the net deferred tax asset is more likely than not to be realized, then the amount of the valuation allowance will be reduced. This adjustment will increase or decrease income tax expense in the period of such determination.

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Undistributed Non-U.S. Earnings.  The results of our operations outside of the United States are consolidated for financial reporting; however, earnings from investments in non-U.S. operations are included in domestic U.S. taxable income only when actually or constructively received. No deferred taxes have been provided on the undistributed gross book-tax basis differences of our non-U.S. operations of approximately $1.5 billion because we have the ability to and intend to permanently reinvest these basis differences overseas. If we were to repatriate these basis differences, additional taxes could be due at that time.

We continually explore initiatives to better align our tax and legal entity structure with the footprint of our non-U.S. operations and we recognize the tax impact of these initiatives, including changes in assessment of its uncertain tax positions, indefinite reinvestment exception assertions and realizability of deferred tax assets, earliest in the period when management believes all necessary internal and external approvals associated with such initiatives have been obtained, or when the initiatives are materially complete.

Goodwill and Acquired Intangible Assets

Goodwill represents the excess of amounts paid over the fair value of net assets acquired from an acquisition. In order to determine the amount of goodwill resulting from an acquisition, we perform an assessment to determine the value of the acquired company’s tangible and identifiable intangible assets and liabilities. In our assessment, we determine whether identifiable intangible assets exist, which typically include backlog and customer relationships.

We test goodwill for impairment annually for each reporting unit in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year and between annual tests, if events occur or circumstances change which suggest that goodwill should be evaluated. Such events or circumstances include significant changes in legal factors and business climate, recent losses at a reporting unit, and industry trends, among other factors. A reporting unit is defined as an operating segment or one level below an operating segment. Our impairment tests are performed at the operating segment level as they represent our reporting units.

During the impairment test, we estimate the fair value of the reporting unit using income and market approaches, and compare that amount to the carrying value of that reporting unit. In the event the fair value of the reporting unit is determined to be less than the carrying value, goodwill is impaired, and an impairment loss is recognized equal to the excess, limited to the total amount of goodwill allocated to the reporting unit.

The impairment evaluation process includes, among other things, making assumptions about variables such as revenue growth rates, profitability, discount rates, and industry market multiples, which are subject to a high degree of judgment.

Material assumptions used in the impairment analysis included the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) percent and terminal growth rates. For example, as of September 30, 2020, a 1% increase in the WACC rate represents a $500 million decrease to the fair value of our reporting units. As of September 30, 2020, a 1% decrease in the terminal growth rate represents a $200 million decrease to the fair value of our reporting units.

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Pension Benefit Obligations

A number of assumptions are necessary to determine our pension liabilities and net periodic costs. These liabilities and net periodic costs are sensitive to changes in those assumptions. The assumptions include discount rates, long-term rates of return on plan assets and inflation levels limited to the United Kingdom and are generally determined based on the current economic environment in each host country at the end of each respective annual reporting period. We evaluate the funded status of each of our retirement plans using these current assumptions and determine the appropriate funding level considering applicable regulatory requirements, tax deductibility, reporting considerations and other factors. Based upon current assumptions, we expect to contribute $28.4 million to our international plans in fiscal 2021. Our required minimum contributions for our U.S. qualified plans are not significant. In addition, we may make additional discretionary contributions. We currently expect to contribute $12.2 million to our U.S. plans (including benefit payments to nonqualified plans and postretirement medical plans) in fiscal 2021. If the discount rate was reduced by 25 basis points, plan liabilities would increase by approximately $75.2 million. If the discount rate and return on plan assets were reduced by 25 basis points, plan expense would decrease by approximately $0.1 million and increase by approximately $3.0 million, respectively. If inflation increased by 25 basis points, plan liabilities in the United Kingdom would increase by approximately $35.0 million and plan expense would increase by approximately $1.9 million.

At each measurement date, all assumptions are reviewed and adjusted as appropriate. With respect to establishing the return on assets assumption, we consider the long term capital market expectations for each asset class held as an investment by the various pension plans. In addition to expected returns for each asset class, we take into account standard deviation of returns and correlation between asset classes. This is necessary in order to generate a distribution of possible returns which reflects diversification of assets. Based on this information, a distribution of possible returns is generated based on the plan’s target asset allocation.

Capital market expectations for determining the long term rate of return on assets are based on forward-looking assumptions which reflect a 20-year view of the capital markets. In establishing those capital market assumptions and expectations, we rely on the assistance of our actuaries and our investment consultants. We and the plan trustees review whether changes to the various plans’ target asset allocations are appropriate. A change in the plans’ target asset allocations would likely result in a change in the expected return on asset assumptions. In assessing a plan’s asset allocation strategy, we and the plan trustees consider factors such as the structure of the plan’s liabilities, the plan’s funded status, and the impact of the asset allocation to the volatility of the plan’s funded status, so that the overall risk level resulting from our defined benefit plans is appropriate within our risk management strategy.

Between September 30, 2019 and September 30, 2020, the aggregate worldwide pension deficit increased from $366.1 million to $406.0 million due to decreased discount rates. If the various plans do not experience future investment gains to reduce this shortfall, the deficit will be reduced by additional contributions.

Accrued Professional Liability Costs

We carry professional liability insurance policies or self-insure for our initial layer of professional liability claims under our professional liability insurance policies and for a deductible for each claim even after exceeding the self-insured retention. We accrue for our portion of the estimated ultimate liability for the estimated potential incurred losses. We establish our estimate of loss for each potential claim in consultation with legal counsel handling the specific matters and based on historic trends taking into account recent events. We also use an outside actuarial firm to assist us in estimating our future claims exposure. It is possible that our estimate of loss may be revised based on the actual or revised estimate of liability of the claims.

Foreign Currency Translation

Our functional currency is the U.S. dollar. Results of operations for foreign entities are translated to U.S. dollars using the average exchange rates during the period. Assets and liabilities for foreign entities are translated using the exchange rates in effect as of the date of the balance sheet. Resulting translation adjustments are recorded as a foreign currency translation adjustment into other accumulated comprehensive income/(loss) in stockholders’ equity.

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We limit exposure to foreign currency fluctuations in most of our contracts through provisions that require client payments in currencies corresponding to the currency in which costs are incurred. As a result of this natural hedge, we generally do not need to hedge foreign currency cash flows for contract work performed. However, we will use foreign exchange derivative financial instruments from time to time to mitigate foreign currency risk. The functional currency of all significant foreign operations is the respective local currency.

Fiscal year ended September 30, 2020 compared to the fiscal year ended September 30, 2019

Consolidated Results

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The following table presents the percentage relationship of statement of operations items to revenue:

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