Financial Instruments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Financial Instruments [Abstract]

Financial Instruments

11. Financial Instruments

In the normal course of business, the Company uses derivative financial instruments to manage foreign currency exchange rate risk.  Currency exposure is monitored and managed by the Company as part of its risk management program which seeks to reduce the potentially adverse effects that market volatility could have on operating results. The Company's derivative financial instruments consist of non-deliverable foreign currency forward contracts. Financial instruments are neither held nor issued by the Company for trading purposes.

Derivatives Not Designated as Hedging Instruments

Both the gain or loss on the derivatives not designated as hedging instruments and the offsetting loss or gain on the hedged item attributable to the hedged risk are recognized in current earnings.  Realized gains or losses and changes in the estimated fair value of foreign currency forward contracts that have not been designated as hedges were a net gain of $0.1 million and a net loss of $0.1 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, respectively. No gains and losses were recognized during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014. Gains and losses on these contracts are recorded in net other income (expense) and net interest expense in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) and are offset by losses and gains on the related hedged items.

The notional amounts of the Company's derivative instruments outstanding were as follows (in thousands):

	September 30, 2015			December 31, 2014
Derivatives not designated as hedges
Foreign exchange contracts		$	3,277		$	-
Total derivatives not designated as hedges		$	3,277		$	-

Fair Value of Derivative Instruments

The authoritative guidance defines fair value as the exit price, or the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants as of the measurement date. The authoritative guidance also establishes a fair value hierarchy that is intended to increase consistency and comparability in fair value measurements and related disclosures. The fair value hierarchy is based on inputs to valuation techniques that are used to measure fair value that are either observable or unobservable. Observable inputs reflect assumptions market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability based on market data obtained from independent sources while unobservable inputs reflect a reporting entity's pricing based upon its own market assumptions.

The fair value hierarchy consists of the following three levels:

• Level 1 – Inputs are quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

• Level 2 – Inputs are quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in an active market, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, inputs other than quoted prices that are observable and market-corroborated inputs which are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data.

• Level 3 – Inputs are derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or value drivers are unobservable.

The Company estimates the fair value of each foreign exchange forward contract by using a present value of expected cash flows model. This model calculates the difference between the current market forward price and the contracted forward price for each foreign exchange contract and applies the difference in the rates to each outstanding contract. Valuations for all derivatives fall within Level 2 of the GAAP valuation hierarchy. The fair value of the Company's derivative instruments outstanding as of September 30, 2015 was immaterial.

Derivatives may give rise to credit risks from the possible non-performance by counterparties. Credit risk is generally limited to the fair value of those contracts that are favorable to us. The Company has limited its credit risk by entering into derivative transactions only with highly-rated global financial institutions, limiting the amount of credit exposure with any one financial institution and conducting ongoing evaluation of the creditworthiness of the financial institutions with which the Company does business.

The Company utilizes standard counterparty master agreements containing provisions for the netting of certain foreign currency transaction obligations and for the set-off of certain obligations in the event of an insolvency of one of the parties to the transaction. Within the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited), the Company records derivative assets and liabilities at net fair value.