Note 13 - New Accounting Standards

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Notes to Financial Statements

New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Text Block]

13. NEW ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

In

May

2014,

the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No.

2014

-

09,

“Revenue from Contracts with Customers,” to clarify the principles used to recognize revenue for all entities. In

March

2016,

the FASB issued ASU

2016

-

08,

“Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic

606):

Principal versus Agent Considerations,” which further clarifies the implementation guidance on principal versus agent considerations”, and in

April

2016,

the FASB issued ASU

2016

-

10,

“Revenue from contracts with customers (Topic

606):

Identifying performance obligations and licensing,” an update on identifying performance obligations and accounting for licenses of intellectual property. Additionally, in

May

2016,

the FASB issued ASU

2016

-

12,

“Revenue from contracts with customers (Topic

606):

Narrow-scope improvements and practical expedients,” which includes amendments for enhanced clarification of the guidance. In

December

2016,

the FASB issued ASU

2016

-

20,

“Technical Corrections and Improvements to

Topic

606,

Revenue from Contracts with Customers

,

”

which continues the FASB’s ongoing project to issue technical corrections and improvements to clarify the codification or correct unintended application of guidance. The guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning on or after

December

15,

2017

including interim periods within those fiscal years and early adoption is permitted. We are continuing to evaluate the effect the adoption will have on our consolidated financial statements.

In

February

2016

the FASB issued ASU No.

2016

-

02

, Leases (Topic

842),

which amended guidance for lease arrangements in order to increase transparency and comparability by providing additional information to users of financial statements regarding an entity's leasing activities. The revised guidance seeks to achieve this objective by requiring reporting entities to recognize lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet for substantially all lease arrangements. The guidance, which is required to be adopted in the

first

quarter of

2019,

will be applied on a modified retrospective basis beginning with the earliest period presented. Early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact of adopting this guidance on our consolidated financial statements.

In

March

2016,

the FASB issued ASU

2016

-

09,

Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic

718):

Improvement to Employee Share-based Payment Accounting

. ASU

2016

-

09

simplifies several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities and classification on the statement of cash flows. Early adoption is permitted. The Company expects to adopt the provisions of ASU

2016

-

09

beginning with its fiscal

2017

first

quarter. The Company does not expect the provisions to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements except for the income tax consequences, which will be dependent on the volume of future option exercise activity and volatility of the Company’s stock price.

In

June

2016,

the FASB issued ASU

2016

-

13,

Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic

326).

The new standard amends guidance on reporting credit losses for assets held at amortized cost basis and available-for-sale debt securities. This ASU is effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after

December

15,

2018,

including interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company is currently evaluating this guidance to determine the impact it

may

have on its consolidated financial statements.

In

August

2016,

the FASB issued ASU No.

2016

-

15,

Statement of Cash Flows (

Topic

230):

Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments

. ASU

2016

-

15

clarifies how certain cash receipts and payments should be presented in the statement of cash flows. The new guidance is effective for annual and interim reporting periods beginning after

December

15,

2017.

Early adoption is permitted, provided that all of the amendments are adopted in the same period. The guidance requires application using a retrospective transition method.

The Company is currently evaluating the potential impact of adoption of this standard on its consolidated financial statements.

In

January

2017,

the FASB issued ASU No.

2017

-

01,

“

Business Combinations”

(Topic

805)

to clarify the definition of a business to assist entities with evaluating whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions (or disposals) of assets or businesses. The guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after

December

15,

2017

including interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted under certain circumstances. We are evaluating the impact that adoption of this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements.

In

January

2017,

the FASB issued ASU No.

2017

-

04,

“Intangibles – Goodwill and Other” (Topic

350).

The objective of Phase

1

of the project, which resulted in this Update, is to simplify the testing of goodwill for impairment by eliminating Step

2

from the goodwill impairment test.  The guidance is effective for annual or interim goodwill impairment tests in fiscal years beginning after

December

15,

2019

including interim periods within those fiscal years.  Early adoption is permitted.   We are evaluating the impact that adoption of this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements.