Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2020

Use of Estimates, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Use of Estimates:

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect certain reported amounts and disclosures. Accordingly, actual results

may

differ from those estimates.

Consolidation, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Principles of Consolidation:

The Company follows the guidance in the Financial Accounting Standards Board's ("FASB") Topic

810

“Consolidation” to determine if it should consolidate its investment in a variable interest entity ("VIE"). A VIE is a legal entity in which either (i) equity investors do

not

have sufficient equity investment at risk to enable the entity to finance its activities independently or (ii) the equity holders at risk lack the obligation to absorb losses, the right to receive residual returns or the right to make decisions about the entity's activities that most significantly affect the entity's economic performance. A holder of a variable interest in a VIE is required to consolidate the entity if it is determined that it has a controlling financial interest in the VIE and is therefore the primary beneficiary. The determination of a controlling financial interest in a VIE is based on a qualitative assessment to identify the variable interest holder, if any, that has (i) the power to direct the activities of the VIE that most significantly impact the VIE's economic performance, and (ii) either the obligation to absorb losses of the entity or the right to receive benefits from the entity that could potentially be significant to the VIE. The accounting guidance requires the Company to perform an ongoing assessment of whether the Company is the primary beneficiary of a VIE and the Company has determined it is

not

the primary beneficiary of a VIE (see Note

In accordance with FASB's Topic

810,

the assets, liabilities, and results of operations of subsidiaries in which the Company has a controlling interest have been consolidated. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. On

December 23, 2010,

the Company completed the Restructuring Transaction and deconsolidated the related affiliates in accordance with FASB's Topic

810.

As part of the Restructuring Transaction, the Company received a significant non-voting revenues interest (excluding distribution revenues) and a significant non-voting profits interest in the new entity, EULAV Asset Management, a Delaware statutory trust (“EAM” or “EAM Trust”). The Company relied on the guidance in FASB's ASC Topics

323

and

810

in its determination

not

to consolidate its investment in EAM and to account for such investment under the equity method of accounting. The Company reports the amount it receives for its non-voting revenues and non-voting profits interests as a separate line item below operating income in the Consolidated Statements of Income.

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Policy Text Block]

Revenue Recognition:

Depending upon the product, subscription fulfillment for Value Line periodicals and related publications is available in print or digitally, via internet access. The length of a subscription varies by product and offer received by the subscriber. Generally, subscriptions are offered as annual subscriptions with the majority of subscriptions paid in advance. Subscription revenues, net of discounts, are recognized ratably on a straight line basis when the product is served to the client over the life of the subscription. Accordingly, the amount of subscription fees to be earned by fulfilling subscriptions after the date of the balance sheets are shown as unearned revenue within current and long-term liabilities.

Copyright fees are derived from providing certain Value Line trademarks and the Value Line Proprietary Ranking System results to

third

parties under written agreements for use in selecting securities for

third

party marketed products, including unit investment trusts, annuities and exchange traded funds ("ETFs"). The Company earns asset-based copyright fees upon delivery of the product to the customer as specified in the individual agreements. Revenue is recognized monthly and received either quarterly or in advance over the term of the agreement and, because it is asset-based, will fluctuate as the market value of the underlying portfolio increases or decreases in value.

EAM earns investment management fees from the Value Line Funds. The management fees and average daily net assets for the Value Line Funds are calculated by State Street Bank, which serves as the fund accountant, fund administrator, and custodian of the Value Line Funds.

The Value Line Funds are open-end management companies registered under the Investment Company Act of

1940

(the

"1940

Act"). Shareholder transactions for the Value Line Funds are processed each business day by the

third

party transfer agent of the Funds. Shares can be redeemed without advance notice upon request of the shareowners each day that the New York Stock Exchange is open.

Equity Method Investments [Policy Text Block]

Investment in Unconsolidated Entities:

The Company accounts for its investment in its unconsolidated entity, EAM, using the equity method of accounting in accordance with FASB's ASC

323.

The equity method is an appropriate means of recognizing increases or decreases measured by GAAP in the economic resources underlying the investments. Under the equity method, an investor recognizes its share of the earnings or losses of an investee in the periods for which they are reported by the investee in its financial statements rather than in the period in which an investee declares a dividend or distribution. An investor adjusts the carrying amount of an investment for its share of the earnings or losses recognized by the investee.

The Company's “interests” in EAM, the investment adviser to and the sole member of the distributor of the Value Line Funds, consist of a "non-voting revenues interest" and a "non-voting profits interest" in EAM as defined in the EAM Trust Agreement. The non-voting revenues interest entitles the Company to receive a range of

41%

55%,

based on the amount of EAM's adjusted gross revenues, excluding EULAV Securities' distribution revenues (“Revenues Interest”). The non-voting profits interest entitles the Company to receive

50%

of EAM's profits, subject to certain limited adjustments as defined in the EAM Trust Agreement (“Profits Interest”). The Revenues Interest and at least

90%

of the Profits Interest are to be distributed each quarter to all interest holders of EAM, including Value Line. Subsequent to the Restructuring Date, the Company's Revenues Interest in EAM excludes participation in the service and distribution fees of EAM's subsidiary EULAV Securities. The Company reflects its non-voting revenues and non-voting profits interests in EAM as non-operating income under the equity method of accounting subsequent to the Restructuring Transaction. Although the Company does

not

have control over the operating and financial policies of EAM, pursuant to the EAM Trust Agreement, the Company has a contractual right to receive its share of EAM's revenues and profits.

New Accounting Pronouncements, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Recent Accounting Pronouncements:

February 2016,

the FASB issued ASU

No.

2016

02,

“Leases (Topic

842

)”. This ASU requires that, for leases longer than

one

year, a lessee recognize in the statements of financial position a right-of-use asset, representing the right to use the underlying asset for the lease term, and a lease liability, representing the liability to make lease payments. It also requires that for finance leases, a lessee recognize interest expense on the lease liability, separately from the amortization of the right-of-use asset in the statements of earnings, while for operating leases, such amounts should be recognized as a combined expense. The Company adopted this ASU in

May 2019

under a modified retrospective approach (see Note

August 2016,

the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update

No.

2016

15,

Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments (a consensus of the Emerging Issues Task Force) (“ASU

2016

15”

), effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after

December 15, 2017,

and interim periods within those fiscal years. The amendments in ASU

2016

address

eight

specific cash flow issues and apply to all entities that are required to present a statement of cash flows under ASC Topic

230,

Statement of Cash Flows. The Company has adopted ASU

2016

in the

first

quarter of fiscal

2019.

The FASB issued ASU

No.

2014

09,

“Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic

606

)”, which requires an entity to recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which it expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. In addition, ASU

No.

2014

requires disclosures of the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. ASU

No.

2014

supersedes most existing U.S. GAAP revenue recognition principles, and it permits the use of either the retrospective or cumulative effect transition method. ASU

No.

2014

is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after

December 15, 2017,

including interim periods within those annual periods. The Company has adopted ASU

No.

2014

in the

first

quarter of fiscal

2019,

which does

not

have a material impact on the Company's consolidated condensed financial statements and related disclosures.

November 2016,

the FASB issued ASU

No.

2016

18,

"Statement of Cash Flows (Topic

230

): Restricted Cash (a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force)", effective for annual reporting periods beginning after

December 15, 2017,

including interim periods within those annual periods. This ASU requires that the reconciliation of the beginning-of-period and end-of-period amounts shown in the statement of cash flows include cash, cash equivalents and amounts generally described as restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents. The Company has adopted ASU

No.

2016

in the

first

quarter of fiscal

2019,

which does

not

have a material impact on the Company's consolidated condensed financial statements and related disclosures.

June 21, 2018,

the United States Supreme Court reversed the

1992

ruling in

Quill,

which protected firms delivering items by common carrier into a state where it had

physical presence from having to collect sales tax in such state. The Company has integrated the effects of the various state laws into its operations and continues to do so.

Fair Value Measurement, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Valuation of Securities:

The Company's securities classified as cash equivalents and available-for-sale consist of shares of money market funds that invest primarily in short-term U.S. Government securities and investments in equities including ETFs and are valued in accordance with the requirements of the Fair Value Measurements Topic of the FASB's ASC

820.

The securities classified as available-for-sale reflected in the Consolidated Balance Sheets are valued at market and unrealized gains and losses, net of applicable taxes, are reported as a separate component of shareholders' equity. Realized gains and losses on sales of the securities classified as available-for-sale are recorded in earnings as of the trade date and are determined on the identified cost method.

The Company classifies its securities available-for-sale as current assets to properly reflect its liquidity and to recognize the fact that it has liquid assets available-for-sale should the need arise.

Market valuations of securities listed on a securities exchange and ETF shares are based on the closing sales prices on the last business day of each month. The market value of the Company's fixed maturity U.S. Government debt securities is determined utilizing publicly quoted market prices. Cash equivalents consist of investments in money market funds that invest primarily in U.S. Government securities valued in accordance with rule

under the

1940

Act.

The Fair Value Measurements Topic of FASB's ASC defines fair value as the price that the Company would receive upon selling an investment in a timely transaction to an independent buyer in the principal or most advantageous market for the investment. The Fair Value Measurements Topic established a

three

-tier hierarchy to maximize the use of observable market data and minimize the use of unobservable inputs and to establish classification of fair value measurements for disclosure purposes. Inputs refer broadly to the information that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability, including assumptions about risk. Examples of risks include those inherent in a particular valuation technique used to measure fair value such as the risk inherent in the inputs to the valuation technique. Inputs are classified as observable or unobservable. Observable inputs are inputs that reflect the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on market data obtained from sources independent of the reporting entity. Unobservable inputs are inputs that reflect the reporting entity's own assumptions about the factors market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on the best information available in the circumstances.

The

three

-tier hierarchy of inputs is summarized in the

three

broad levels listed below.

Level

– quoted prices in active markets for identical investments

Level

– other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar investments, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.)

Level

– significant unobservable inputs (including the Company's own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

The following summarizes the levels of fair value measurements of the Company's investments:

		As of April 30, 2020
($ in thousands)	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Cash equivalents	$	2,115	$	-	$	-	$	2,115
Securities available-for-sale		29,204		-		-		29,204
	$	31,319	$	-	$	-	$	31,319

		As of April 30, 2019
($ in thousands)	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Cash equivalents	$	5,617	$	-	$	-	$	5,617
Securities available-for-sale		21,828		-		-		21,828
	$	27,445	$	-	$	-	$	27,445

The Company had

other financial instruments such as futures, forwards and swap contracts. For the periods ended

April 30, 2020

and

April 30, 2019,

there were

Level

nor Level

investments. The Company does

not

have any liabilities subject to fair value measurement.

Advertising Cost [Policy Text Block]

Advertising expenses:

The Company expenses advertising costs as incurred.

Income Tax, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Income Taxes:

The Company computes its income tax provision in accordance with the Income Tax Topic of the FASB's ASC. Deferred tax liabilities and assets are recognized for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been reflected in the Consolidated Financial Statements. Deferred tax liabilities and assets are determined based on the differences between the book values and the tax bases of particular assets and liabilities, using tax rates currently in effect for the years in which the differences are expected to reverse. The Company adopted the provisions of ASU

2015

17,

Income taxes (Topic

740

) during the

first

quarter of fiscal

2018

and now classifies all deferred taxes as long-term liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

The Income Tax Topic of the FASB's ASC establishes for all entities, a minimum threshold for financial statement recognition of the benefit of positions taken in filing tax returns (including whether an entity is taxable in a particular jurisdiction), and requires certain expanded tax disclosures. As of

April 30, 2020,

management has reviewed the tax positions for the years still subject to tax audit under the statute of limitations, evaluated the implications, and determined that there is

material impact to the Company's financial statements.

Earnings Per Share, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Earnings per share:

Earnings per share are based on the weighted average number of shares of common stock and common stock equivalents outstanding during each period. Any shares that are reacquired during the period are weighted for the portion of the period that they are outstanding. The Company does

not

have any potentially dilutive common shares from outstanding stock options, warrants, restricted stock, or restricted stock units.

Cash and Cash Equivalents, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Cash and Cash Equivalents:

For purposes of the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, the Company considers all cash held at banks and short-term liquid investments with an original maturity of less than

three

months to be cash and cash equivalents. As of

April 30, 2020

and

April 30, 2019,

cash equivalents included

$2,115,000

and

$5,617,000,

respectively, for amounts invested in money market mutual funds that invest in short-term U.S. government securities.