Fair Value Measurements

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Fair Value Measurements:

Certain assets and liabilities of the Company are reported at fair value in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Such assets and liabilities include amounts for both financial and non-financial instruments. To increase consistency and comparability of assets and liabilities recorded at fair value, ASC 820-10 establishes a three-level fair value hierarchy to prioritize the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value. ASC 820-10 requires disclosures detailing the extent to which companies’ measure assets and liabilities at fair value, the methods and assumptions used to measure fair value and the effect of fair value measurements on earnings. In accordance with ASC 820-10, the Company applied the following fair value hierarchy:

Level 1 — Assets or liabilities for which the identical item is traded on an active exchange, such as publicly-traded instruments.

Level 2 — Assets and liabilities valued based on observable market data for similar instruments.

Level 3 — Assets or liabilities for which significant valuation assumptions are not readily observable in the market; instruments valued based on the best available data, some of which is internally-developed, and considers risk premiums that a market participant would require.

The following table provides information for such assets and liabilities as of December 31, 2014 and 2013. The fair values of cash and cash equivalents (other than money-market funds which are recorded on a reported net asset value basis disclosed below), accounts receivable, accounts payable and accrued liabilities, fees received in advance, acquisition related liabilities prior to the adoption of ASC 805, Business Combinations (“ASC 805”), short-term debt, and short-term debt expected to be refinanced approximate their carrying amounts because of the short-term nature of these instruments.

The following table summarizes fair value measurements by level for cash equivalents and registered investment companies that were measured at fair value on a recurring basis:



	Total		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)
December 31, 2014
Cash equivalents – money-market funds	$	3,707	$	—	$	3,707
Registered investment companies(1)	$	3,801	$	3,801	$	—
December 31, 2013
Cash equivalents – money-market funds	$	889	$	—	$	889
Registered investment companies(1)	$	3,911	$	3,911	$	—

(1) Registered investment companies are classified as available-for-sale securities and are valued using quoted prices in active

markets multiplied by the number of shares owned.

The Company has not elected to carry its long-term debt at fair value. The carrying value of the long-term debt represents amortized cost. The Company assesses the fair value of its long-term debt based on quoted market prices if available, and if not, an estimate of interest rates available to the Company for debt with similar features, the Company’s current credit rating and spreads applicable to the Company. The fair value of the long-term debt would be a Level 2 liability if the long-term debt was measured at fair value on the consolidated balance sheets. The following table summarizes the carrying value and estimated fair value of the long-term debt as of December 31, 2014 and 2013 respectively:



	2014				2013
	Carrying Value		Estimated Fair Value		Carrying Value		Estimated Fair Value
Financial instrument not carried at fair value:
Long-term debt excluding capitalized leases	$	1,265,848	$	1,371,213	$	1,265,129	$	1,335,844

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

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