Frontier Communications 2012 Annual Report Download - page 76

An analysis of the activity in the allowance for doubtful accounts for the years ended December 31, 2012,
2011 and 2010 is as follows:
($ in thousands)
Balance at
beginning of
Period
Charged to
Other Revenue
Charged to
Switched and
Nonswitched Revenue Deductions
Balance at
end of
Period
Additions
2010 ............................ $ 30,171 $55,161 $14,873 $ (26,634) $ 73,571
2011 ............................ 73,571 93,721 16,403 (76,647) 107,048
2012 ............................ 107,048 74,332 14,396 (102,509) 93,267
We maintain an allowance for bad debts based on our estimate of our ability to collect accounts
receivable. The increase to the allowance is recorded as a reduction to revenue.
(5) Property, Plant and Equipment:
The components of property, plant and equipment at December 31, 2012 and 2011 are as follows:
($ in thousands)
Estimated
Useful Lives 2012 2011
Land ...................................................... N/A $ 126,483 $ 128,855
Buildings and leasehold improvements . . . ................... 41 years 1,052,650 1,050,555
General support ............................................ 5 to 17 years 988,707 914,777
Central office/electronic circuit equipment ................... 5 to 11 years 4,965,099 4,582,296
Poles ...................................................... 49 years 507,922 471,561
Cable and wire............................................. 15 to 30 years 6,038,835 5,727,310
Conduit.................................................... 60 years 354,777 342,868
Other ...................................................... 12 to 30 years 44,802 35,534
Construction work in progress . . ............................ 274,488 384,380
Property, plant and equipment . . ............................ 14,353,763 13,638,136
Less: Accumulated depreciation . ............................ (6,848,867) (6,090,613)
Property, plant and equipment, net .......................... $ 7,504,896 $ 7,547,523
Depreciation expense is principally based on the composite group method. Depreciation expense was
$844.6 million, $881.5 million and $599.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010,
respectively. As a result of an independent study of the estimated remaining useful lives of our plant assets, we
adopted new estimated remaining useful lives for certain plant assets as of October 1, 2012, with an immaterial
impact to depreciation expense.
(6) Goodwill and Other Intangibles:
The components of goodwill by the reporting units in effect at December 31, 2012 and 2011 are as
follows:
($ in thousands)
Northeast. . .............................................................. $1,245,414
National. . . .............................................................. 1,176,139
Southeast. . .............................................................. 1,113,931
West .................................................................... 1,072,499
Central .................................................................. 1,006,132
Midwest. . . .............................................................. 723,604
Total Goodwill. ..................................................... $6,337,719
F-15
FRONTIER COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements