Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2013

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of presentation

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the instructions to Form 10-Q and do not include all the information and notes required by United States generally accepted accounting principles ("U.S. GAAP") for complete financial statements. In our opinion, the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements contain all adjustments, which are of a normal and recurring nature, necessary to present fairly the financial position and the results of operations for the interim periods presented.

The results of consolidated operations for the three and nine month periods ended August 31, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year. Historically, our net sales, net income and cash flow from operations are lower in the first half of the fiscal year and increase in the second half. The typical increase in net sales, net income and cash flow from operations in the second half of the year is largely due to the consumer business cycle in the U.S., where customers typically purchase more products in the fourth quarter due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons.

For further information, refer to the consolidated financial statements and notes included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended November 30, 2012.

Accounting and disclosure charges

Accounting and Disclosure Changes

In February 2013, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2013-02 Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Reporting of Amounts Reclassified Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income . This guidance is intended to provide disclosure on items reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income either in the notes or parenthetically on the face of the income statement. Early adoption is permitted, however we have not currently elected to early adopt this standard. We do not expect any material impact on our financial statements from adoption.

In June 2011, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-05 Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Presentation of Comprehensive Income. This guidance is intended to increase the prominence of other comprehensive income in financial statements by presenting it in either a single statement or two-statement approach. We adopted this new accounting pronouncement with our first quarter of 2013 and included a Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income in this filing.