Accounting Principles and Practices

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2011

Accounting Principles and Practices

Accounting Principles and Practices

2.  Accounting Principles and Practices

Changes in Accounting Principles

On January 1, 2010, the Company adopted guidance requiring additional disclosures regarding fair value measurements.  The amended guidance required entities to disclose additional information regarding assets and liabilities that are transferred between levels of the fair value hierarchy.  This guidance also clarified existing guidance pertaining to the level of disaggregation at which fair value disclosures should be made and the requirements to disclose information about the valuation techniques and inputs used in estimating Level 2 and Level 3 fair value measurements.  The guidance also required entities to disclose information in the Level 3 rollforward about purchases, sales, issuances and settlements on a gross basis.  See Note 15 “Fair Value and Financial Instruments” for these disclosures.

In September 2009, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued guidance which updated principles related to revenue recognition when there are multiple-element arrangements.  This revised guidance related to the determination of when the individual deliverables included in a multiple-element arrangement may be treated as separate units of accounting and modified the manner in which the transaction consideration is allocated across the separately identifiable deliverables.  The guidance also expanded the disclosures required for multiple-element revenue arrangements.  The effective date for this guidance was January 1, 2011.  The Company early adopted this guidance in the fourth quarter 2010 and applied its requirements to all revenue arrangements entered into or materially modified after January 1, 2010.  The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.