Customer Success Story
“Doing these three cost segregation
Washington Post Reports Saving
$60+ Million with Fixed Assets Analysis
Challenge:
Find hidden assets within
real property to accelerate
depreciation and improve
cash flow.
Solution:
BNA Fixed Assets Web
Results:
WPC identified more
than $60 million in
depreciation opportunities
using BNA Fixed Assets
Web reporting.
Using BNA, the Washington Post Company identified
additional depreciation opportunities in three subsidiaries
to substantially reduce its tax burden and free up cash
Managing Billions of Dollars in Assets
Since its founding in 1877 as a local
newspaper, The Washington Post
Company (WPC) has grown to 64
domestic and 133 foreign legal entities
that include newspaper and magazine
publishing, television broadcasting,
cable television, electronic information
services, and test preparation services.
Dean Rohrbaugh, WPC’s Director of Tax
Information Services, manages more
than 157,000 fixed assets throughout
the company. WPC has relied on BNA
Fixed Assets™ since 2004 for real-time
management and visibility of fixed
assets data across the enterprise. So
when completion of a new building
occurred recently, triggering interest
in a cost segregation study, Rohrbaugh
knew he could rely on the BNA
solution to support that analysis.
BNA Fixed Assets™ Web
Enables Cost Segregation Studies
Cost segregation studies help identify
hidden assets within real property, such
as mechanical systems, that qualify
for shorter tax lives and therefore
more rapid depreciation. WPC and its
external accounting firms used BNA
Fixed Assets Web to help conduct not
studies resulted in more than $60 million
in additional depreciation across three
years, which adds up to significant tax
savings and improved cash flow.”
– Dean Rohrbaugh, Director of Tax Information
Services, Washington Post Company
only the one cost segregation study,
but three studies in several wholly-
owned WPC subsidiaries – Cable ONE,
Newsweek, and Kaplan.
These studies were intended to verify
that leasehold improvements were
reclassified correctly to optimize
depreciation opportunities. The
external accounting firms were given
direct access to WPC’s BNA Fixed Assets
system, which enabled the firms to
generate the reports they needed to
conduct the studies. By comparing
invoices and other construction
documents with the fixed assets data,
the existing assets could be properly
segregated into the different asset
classes with faster recovery periods.
Starting at Cable ONE
With more than $100 million in assets
per year being entered into BNA Fixed
Assets Web for the Cable ONE business
alone, Rohrbaugh believed that a cost
segregation study could lead to greater
tax depreciation deductions. So in
2009, WPC began taking a hard look
at the Cable ONE assets and running
reports. “Given the sheer volume of
assets and dollar value, we thought
it would be a good opportunity,”
said Rohrbaugh.
 Customer Success Story

Working with his team of outside
auditors, the results were eye-popping,
with a number of assets being identified
as having shorter recovery periods
The Washington than, for instance, 39-year building
Post Company assets. For example, some of the cable
Company Snapshot: company’s assets should have been
classified as repairs and maintenance,
• M
 edia and while others should have been classified
education company as machinery and equipment. The
savings generated by the additional
• P
 rincipal operations
depreciation justified the expense of
include: newspaper and
conducting the study many times over.
magazine publishing,
television broadcasting, Uncovering Additional Savings
cable television systems, at Kaplan and Newsweek
electronic information
services, and educational The results at Cable ONE lead
and career services Rohrbaugh to start looking at other
subsidiaries, and he next turned his
• G
 ross revenues: attention to the Newsweek and Kaplan
$4.6 billion businesses. Similar to Cable ONE,
the cost segregation study conducted
• Assets: 157,000
at Newsweek identified yet more
hidden assets and opportunities to
• Employees: 21,500
claim additional depreciation through
• H
 istorical value: accelerated recovery periods.
$1.24 billion net
Kaplan, too, had hidden assets that
Rohrbaugh uncovered. The company
owns a large amount of leasehold
equipment in its many Kaplan
centers across the U.S. The cost
segregation study showed that much
of this equipment qualified as 15-year
property and it also qualified for bonus
depreciation – resulting in more than
$10 million in additional depreciation.
The Bottom Line Gets
an Additional $60 Million
“Doing these three cost segregation
studies resulted in more than $60
million in additional depreciation
across three years, which adds up to
significant tax savings and improved
cash flow,” said Rohrbaugh. The
additional depreciation resulted in
millions of dollars in tax savings
and cash flow benefits for WPC in
2009 and beyond.
More Studies Planned
Rohrbaugh plans to conduct more
cost segregation studies in the near
future. “For Kaplan, we started by doing
studies for only three of the more than
40 plus subsidiaries with the Kaplan
Group. Based on the extremely positive
results of these first three, we’re now
planning to conduct cost segregation
studies for many more of the remaining
subsidiaries,” commented Rohrbaugh.

About BNA Software

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