Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Abstract]

(a)The Company and Basis of Presentation

AeroCentury Corp., a Delaware corporation incorporated in 1997, acquires used regional aircraft and engines for lease to foreign and domestic regional carriers.

The condensed financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for interim financial information, the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. Operating results for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2015 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2015.

For further information, refer to the financial statements and footnotes thereto included in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014.

Use of Estimates

(b)Use of Estimates

The Company’s financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The Company bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable for making judgments that are not readily apparent from other sources.

The most significant estimates with regard to these financial statements are the residual values and useful lives of the assets, the amount and timing of cash flows associated with each asset that are used to evaluate whether assets are impaired, accrued maintenance costs, accounting for income taxes, and the amounts recorded as allowances for doubtful accounts.

Fair Value Measurements

(c)Fair Value Measurements

Fair value is defined as the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. Valuation techniques used to measure fair value must maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs, to the extent possible. The fair value hierarchy under GAAP is based on three levels of inputs.

Level 1 - Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2 - Inputs other than Level 1 that are observable, either directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities; quoted prices in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.

Level 3 - Unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity and that are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities.

Assets and Liabilities Measured and Recorded at Fair Value on a Recurring Basis

The carrying amount of the Company's money market funds included in cash and cash equivalents was $1,744,600 and $1,044,300 at March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively. The fair value of the Company's money market funds would be categorized as Level 1 under the GAAP fair value hierarchy.

As of March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, there were no liabilities that were required to be measured and recorded at fair value on a recurring basis.

Assets Measured and Recorded at Fair Value on a Nonrecurring Basis

The Company determines fair value of long-lived assets held and used, such as aircraft and aircraft engines held for lease and held for sale, by reference to independent appraisals, quoted market prices (e.g., offers to purchase) and other factors. An impairment charge is recorded when the Company believes that the carrying value of an asset will not be recovered through future net cash flows and that the carrying value exceeds its fair value.

During the third quarter of 2014, based on appraised values, the Company recorded impairment charges totaling $3,124,200 for two regional jet aircraft and two turboprop aircraft that are held for lease, resulting in a carrying value of $7,837,300. The fair value of such assets would be categorized as Level 2 under the GAAP fair value hierarchy. No impairments were recorded on the Company's aircraft and aircraft engines held for lease in the first quarter of 2015.

During the second, third and fourth quarters of 2014, based on management's estimate of realizable value, the Company recorded impairment charges totaling $15,612,300 for five regional jet aircraft and one turboprop aircraft that are held for sale, resulting in a carrying value of $6,100,000 at December 31, 2014. During the first quarter of 2015, the Company sold the turboprop aircraft, which had a carrying value of $1,100,000 at December 31, 2014. The fair value of such assets would be categorized as Level 3 under the GAAP fair value hierarchy. No impairments were recorded on the Company's aircraft and aircraft engines held for sale in the first quarter of 2015.

Fair Value of Other Financial Instruments

The Company’s financial instruments, other than cash and cash equivalents, consist principally of finance leases receivable and amounts borrowed under its credit facility (the “Credit Facility"). The fair value of accounts receivable, finance leases receivable, accounts payable and the Company’s maintenance reserves and accrued maintenance costs approximates the carrying value of these financial instruments.

Borrowings under the Company’s Credit Facility bear floating rates of interest that reset periodically to a market benchmark rate plus a credit margin. The Company believes the effective interest rate of this debt agreement approximates current market rates for such indebtedness at the balance sheet date, and therefore that the carrying amount of its floating rate debt at the balance sheet dates approximates its fair value. The fair value of the Company’s outstanding balance of its Credit Facility would be categorized as Level 3 under the GAAP fair value hierarchy.

Finance Leases

(d)Finance Leases

The Company does not include the value, purchase price or accumulated depreciation of finance lease assets on its balance sheet. Instead, the discounted present value of (i) future minimum lease payments (including the bargain purchase option) and (ii) any residual value not subject to a bargain purchase option are reported as a finance lease receivable. Rental revenue and depreciation expense are not recognized on finance leases. Rather, the Company accrues interest on the balance of the finance lease receivable based on the interest rate inherent in the applicable lease.

The lease for one of the Company’s aircraft, which commenced in March 2015, contains a lessee purchase option at a price substantially below the asset's estimated residual value at the exercise date for the option. Consequently, the Company considers the purchase option to be a bargain purchase option and has classified the lease as a sales-type finance lease for financial accounting purposes.

Two engines that were previously subject to finance leases were returned to the Company during 2014 and the finance lease receivable balances were reclassified to aircraft and aircraft engines held for lease on the Company’s balance sheet.

The Company recognized interest earned on finance leases as “other income” in the amount of $0 and $83,700 in the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

(e)Recent Accounting Pronouncements

On May 28, 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-09 that created the new Topic 606 ("Topic 606") in the Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC"). Topic 606 also included numerous conforming additions and amendments to other Topics within the ASC. Topic 606 establishes new rules that affect the amount and timing of revenue recognition for contracts with customers, but does not affect lease accounting and reporting. As such, adoption of these provisions will not affect the Company's lease revenues but may affect the reporting of other of the Company's revenues. The provisions included in Topic 606 are effective for years commencing after December 15, 2016, cannot be adopted early, and may be reflected using either a full retrospective method or a simplified method that does not recast prior periods but does disclose the effect of the adoption on the current period financial statements. The Company has not determined either the potential impact on its financial statements nor the method it will elect to use in connection with the adoption of the changes included in Topic 606.

On August 27, 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-15, "Presentation of Financial Statements - Going Concern," which added Subtopic 205-40 to the ASC ("Subtopic 205-40"). Subtopic 205-40 requires management to determine whether substantial doubt exists concerning the reporting entity's ability to continue as a going concern, in which case certain disclosures will be required. Subtopic 205-40 affects financial statement presentation but not methods of accounting, and is effective on a prospective basis for annual periods ending after December 15, 2016 and each reporting period thereafter, although early adoption is permitted. The Company has not early adopted Subtopic 205-40.

Change in Accounting Principle

(f)Change in Accounting Principle

The Company historically presented deferred debt issuance costs, or fees related to directly issuing debt, as assets on its balance sheets. On April 7, 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-03, "Interest: Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs" ("Subtopic 835-30"). Subtopic 835-30 requires the presentation of unamortized debt issuance costs on the Company's balance sheet as a direct deduction from the debt's value. Subtopic 835-30 affects financial statement presentation only. The recognition and measurement guidance for debt issuance costs is not affected. Therefore, these costs will continue to be amortized as interest expense. Subtopic 835-30 is effective on a prospective basis for reporting periods that start after December 15, 2015, although early adoption is permitted. The Company has early adopted Subtopic 835-30 effective beginning the first quarter ended March 31, 2015 and applied this guidance retrospectively to all prior periods presented in the Company's financial statements.

The reclassification does not impact net income as previously reported or any prior amounts reported in the statement of cash flows. The following table presents the effect of the retrospective application of this change in accounting principle on the Company's balance sheet as of December 31, 2014.

	December 31, 2014
	As reported previously		As adjusted		Effect of change
Prepaid expenses and other	$	4,520,300	$	415,900	$	(4,104,400	)
Total assets	$	201,774,900	$	197,670,500	$	(4,104,400	)
Notes payable and accrued interest	$	133,590,600	$	129,486,200	$	(4,104,400	)
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	$	201,774,900	$	197,670,500	$	(4,104,400	)

- Definition

Disclosure of accounting policy for leasing arrangements (both lessor and lessee). This disclosure may address (1) lease classification (that is, operating versus capital), (2) how the term of a lease is determined (for example, the circumstances in which a renewal option is considered part of the lease term), (3) how rental revenue or expense is recognized for a lease that contains rent escalations, (4) an entity's accounting treatment for deferred rent, including that which arises from lease incentives, rent abatements, rent holidays, or tenant allowances (5) an entity's accounting treatment for contingent rental payments and (6) an entity's policy for reviewing, at least annually, the residual values of sales-type and direct-finance leases. The disclosure also may indicate how the entity accounts for its capital leases, leveraged leases or sale-leaseback transactions.

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