Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Procedures

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2012

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Procedures

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Procedures

2.Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Procedures

A.  The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Realty Income, Crest, and other entities for which we make operating and financial decisions (i.e., control), after elimination of all material intercompany balances and transactions. We have no unconsolidated or off-balance sheet investments in variable interest entities.

B.  We have elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code. We believe we have qualified and continue to qualify as a REIT. Under the REIT operating structure, we are permitted to deduct dividends paid to our stockholders in determining our taxable income. Assuming our distributions equal or exceed our net income, we generally will not be required to pay federal corporate income taxes on such income. Accordingly, no provision has been made for federal income taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements, except for the federal income taxes of Crest, which are included in discontinued operations. The income taxes recorded on our consolidated statements of income represent amounts paid by Realty Income for city and state income and franchise taxes.

C.  We recognize an allowance for doubtful accounts relating to accounts receivable for amounts deemed uncollectible. We consider tenant specific issues, such as financial stability and ability to pay rent, when determining collectability of accounts receivable and appropriate allowances to record.  The allowance for doubtful accounts was $582,000 at June 30, 2012 and $507,000 at December 31, 2011.

D.  We assign a portion of goodwill to our property sales, which results in a reduction of the carrying amount of our goodwill. In order to allocate goodwill to the carrying amount of properties that we sell, we utilize a relative fair value approach based on the original methodology for assigning goodwill.  As we sell properties, our goodwill will likely continue to gradually decrease over time.

E.  Under the amendments issued in conjunction with ASU No. 2011-08, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other (Topic 350), an entity, through an assessment of qualitative factors, is not required to calculate the estimated fair value of a reporting unit, in connection with the two-step goodwill impairment test, unless the entity determines that it is more likely than not that its fair value is less than its carrying amount. Despite the issuance of ASU No. 2011-08, we elected to continue testing goodwill for impairment during the second quarter of each year as well as when events or circumstances occur, indicating that our goodwill might be impaired. During our tests for impairment of goodwill during the second quarters of 2012 and 2011, we determined that the estimated fair values of our reporting units exceeded their carrying values. We did not record any impairment on our existing goodwill in 2012 or 2011.