(9)	EFFECT OF NEW ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

ASU 2015-01, “Income Statement - Extraordinary and Unusual Items (Subtopic 225-20) – Simplifying Income Statement Presentation by Eliminating the Concept of Extraordinary Items.” ASU 2015-01 eliminates from U.S. GAAP the concept of extraordinary items, which, among other things, required an entity to segregate extraordinary items considered to be unusual and infrequent from the results of ordinary operations and show the item separately in the income statement, net of tax, after income from continuing operations. ASU 2015-01 is effective for the Company beginning January 1, 2016, though early adoption is permitted. The implementation of ASU 2015-01 did not have a significant impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

ASU No. 2015-02, “Amendments to the Consolidation Analysis.” This ASU affects reporting entities that are required to evaluate whether they should consolidate certain legal entities. Specifically, the amendments: (1) Modify the evaluation of whether limited partnerships and similar legal entities are variable interest entities (“VIEs”) or voting interest entities; (2) Eliminate the presumption that a general partner should consolidate a limited partnership; (3) Affect the consolidation analysis of reporting entities that are involved with VIEs, particularly those that have fee arrangements and related party relationships; and (4) Provide a scope exception from consolidation guidance for reporting entities with interests in legal entities that are required to comply with or operate in accordance with requirements that are similar to those in Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 for registered money market funds. ASU No. 2015-02 is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015. The provisions of ASU No. 2015-02 did not have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

ASU 2015-05, “Intangibles – Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40) – Customer’s Accounting for Fees Paid in a Cloud Computing Arrangement.” ASU 2015-05 addresses accounting for fees paid by a customer in cloud computing arrangements such as (i) software as a service, (ii) platform as a service, (iii) infrastructure as a service and (iv) other similar hosting arrangements. ASU 2015-05 provides guidance to customers about whether a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license. If a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license, then the customer should account for the software license element of the arrangement consistent with the acquisition of other software licenses. If a cloud computing arrangement does not include a software license, the customer should account for the arrangement as a service contract. ASU 2015-05 was effective on January 1, 2016, and did not have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

ASU 2015-15, “Interest – Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30) – Presentation and Subsequent Measurement of Debt Issuance Costs Associated with Line-of-Credit Arrangements. Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to Staff Announcement at June 18, 2015 EITF Meeting.” ASU 2015-15 adds SEC paragraphs pursuant to an SEC Staff Announcement that given the absence of authoritative guidance within ASU 2015-03 for debt issuance costs related to line-of-credit arrangements, the SEC staff would not object to an entity deferring and presenting debt issuance costs as an asset and subsequently amortizing the deferred debt issuance costs ratably over the term of the line-of-credit arrangement, regardless of whether there are any outstanding borrowings on the line-of-credit arrangement. ASU 2015-15 did not have a significant impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

In September 2015, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2015-16, Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement-Period Adjustments. The guidance in this update eliminates the requirement to restate prior period financial statements for measurement period adjustments. The new guidance requires that the cumulative impact of a measurement period adjustment (including the impact on prior periods) be recognized in the reporting period in which the adjustment is identified. The new guidance is intended to reduce complexity in financial reporting. The elimination of the restatement requirement should simplify financial reporting for many entities. However, recognizing the entire impact of a measurement period adjustment in a single reporting period may introduce earnings volatility and reduce comparability between periods when the adjustments are material. The accounting changes in this update are effective for public companies for annual periods, and the interim periods within those annual periods, beginning after December 15, 2015. Early application is permitted for financial statements that have not been issued. The implementation of ASU 2015-16 did not have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

ASU 2016-1, “No. 2016-01, Financial Instruments – Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities. ASU 2016-1, among other things, (i) requires equity investments, with certain exceptions, to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income, (ii) simplifies the impairment assessment of equity investments without readily determinable fair values by requiring a qualitative assessment to identify impairment, (iii) eliminates the requirement for public business entities to disclose the methods and significant assumptions used to estimate the fair value that is required to be disclosed for financial instruments measured at amortized cost on the balance sheet, (iv) requires public business entities to use the exit price notion when measuring the fair value of financial instruments for disclosure purposes, (v) requires an entity to present separately in other comprehensive income the portion of the total change in the fair value of a liability resulting from a change in the instrument-specific credit risk when the entity has elected to measure the liability at fair value in accordance with the fair value option for financial instruments,

(vi) requires separate presentation of financial assets and financial liabilities by measurement category and form of financial asset on the balance sheet or the accompanying notes to the financial statements and (viii) clarifies that an entity should evaluate the need for a valuation allowance on a deferred tax asset related to available-for-sale. ASU 2016-1 will be effective on January 1, 2018, and is not expected to have a significant impact on the Company’s financial statements.

On June 16, 2016, the FASB released its finalized ASU 2016-13, “Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments”. The amendments to U.S. GAAP require businesses and other organization to measure the expected credit losses on financial assets, such as loans, securities, bond insurance, and many receivables, the FASB said. The accounting changes apply to instruments recorded on balance sheets at their historical cost, although there are some limited changes to the accounting for debt instruments classified as available-for-sale. The accounting board added that the write-downs will be based on historical information, current business conditions, and forecasts, and it expects the forecasts to improve the loss estimates on financial assets that are losing value. The board also said the techniques that are employed today to write down loans and other instruments can still be used, although it expects the variables for calculating the losses to change. ASU 2016-13 will become effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, and interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021. Companies are permitted to adopt ASU 2016-13 in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018. The Company has not made a determination as to how the implementation of ASU 2016-13 will affect the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

ASU 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842).” ASU 2016-02 will, among other things, require lessees to recognize a lease liability, which is a lessee’s obligation to make lease payments arising from a lease, measured on a discounted basis; and a right-of-use asset, which is an asset that represents the lessee’s right to use, or control the use of, a specified asset for the lease term. ASU 2016-02 does not significantly change lease accounting requirements applicable to lessors; however, certain changes were made to align, where necessary, lessor accounting with the lessee accounting model and ASC Topic 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers.” ASU 2016-02 will be effective for us on January 1, 2019 and will require transition using a modified retrospective approach for leases existing at, or entered into after, the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented in the financial statements. We are currently evaluating the potential impact of ASU 2016-02 on our financial statements.

ASU 2016-05 “Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815) Effect of Derivative Contract Novations on Existing Hedge Accounting Relationships.” ASU 2016-05 clarifies that a change in the counterparty to a derivative instrument that has been designated as the hedging instrument under ASC Topic 815 does not, in and of itself, require dedesignation of that hedging relationship provided that all other hedge accounting criteria continue to be met. ASU 2016-05 will be effective for us on January 1, 2017 and is not expected to have a significant impact on our financial statements.

ASU 2016-07, “Investments – Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323): Simplifying the Transition to the Equity Method of Accounting.” The amendments affect all entities that have an investment that becomes qualified for the equity method of accounting as a result of an increase in the level of ownership interest or degree of influence. ASU 2016-07 simplifies the transition to the equity method of accounting by eliminating retroactive adjustment of the investment when an investment qualifies for use of the equity method, among other things. ASU 2016-07 will be effective for us on January 1, 2017 and is not expected to have a significant impact on our financial statements.

ASU 2016-09, “Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting.” Under ASU 2016-09 all excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies related to share-based payment awards should be recognized as income tax expense or benefit in the income statement during the period in which they occur. Previously, such amounts were recorded in the pool of excess tax benefits included in additional paid-in capital, if such pool was available. Because excess tax benefits are no longer recognized in additional paid-in capital, the assumed proceeds from applying the treasury stock method when computing earnings per share should exclude the amount of excess tax benefits that would have previously been recognized in additional paid-in capital. Additionally, excess tax benefits should be classified along with other income tax cash flows as an operating activity rather than a financing activity, as was previously the case. ASU 2016-09 also provides that an entity can make an entity-wide accounting policy election to either estimate the number of awards that are expected to vest (current GAAP) or account for forfeitures when they occur. ASU 2016-09 changes the threshold to qualify for equity classification (rather than as a liability) to permit withholding up to the maximum statutory tax rates (rather than the minimum as was previously the case) in the applicable jurisdictions. ASU 2016-09 will be effective on January 1, 2017 and is not expected to have a significant impact on our financial statements.

Other accounting standards that have been issued or proposed by the FASB or other standards-setting bodies are not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.