Accounting for the Costs of Computer Software Developed for Internal Use:

12 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2012

Internal Use Software [Abstract]

Accounting for the Costs of Computer Software Developed for Internal Use:

Note 13-Accounting for the Costs of Computer Software Developed for Internal Use:

The Company has adopted the provisions of the Statement of Position 98-1 (SOP 98-1), “Accounting for the Costs of Computer Software Developed for Internal Use”. SOP 98-1 requires companies to capitalize as long-lived assets many of the costs associated with developing or obtaining software for internal use and amortize those costs over the software’s estimated useful life in a systematic and rational manner.  

The Company capitalized $3,383,000 and $1,801,000 related to the development of software for internal use for the twelve months ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, of which $2,153,000 related to development costs for the digital production software project and $1,230,000 related to a new fulfillment system. Such costs are capitalized and amortized over the expected useful life of the asset which is approximately from 3 to 5 years. Amortization expense for the years ended April 30, 2012, 2011, and 2010 was $446,000, $332,000, and $426,000, respectively.  During fiscal year 2010, the Company expensed $727,000 of capitalized development costs related to a production software  project that was determined to be no longer viable.

The new fulfillment system was placed in service on December 1, 2011. The Company’s refreshed website, Single Sign On (“SSO”) and new e-commerce and website shopping cart were also placed in service during December 2011. A new institutional sales website ValueLinePro.com was launched by the Company during March 2012.