Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Oct. 27, 2012

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Michaels Stores, Inc. and our wholly-owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. All expressions of the “Company”, “us,” “we,” “our,” and all similar expressions are references to Michaels Stores, Inc. and our consolidated, wholly-owned subsidiaries, unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires.

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and notes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. Therefore, these financial statements should be read in conjunction with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 28, 2012.

The balance sheet at January 28, 2012 has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date, but does not include all of the information and notes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements.

In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals and other items) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included.

Because of the seasonal nature of our business, the results of operations for the quarter and nine months ended October 27, 2012 are not indicative of the results to be expected for the entire year.

Fiscal year

We report on the basis of a 52- or 53-week fiscal year, which ends on the Saturday closest to January 31. All references herein to “fiscal 2012” relate to the 53 weeks ending February 2, 2013, and all references to “fiscal 2011” relate to the 52 weeks ended January 28, 2012. In addition, all references herein to “the third quarter of fiscal 2012” relate to the 13 weeks ended October 27, 2012, and all references to “the third quarter of fiscal 2011” relate to the 13 weeks ended October 29, 2011. Finally, all references to “the nine months ended October 27, 2012” relate to the 39 weeks ended October 27, 2012, and “the nine months ended October 29, 2011” relate to the 39 weeks ended October 29, 2011.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2011-04, “Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurements and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRSs,” an amendment to ASC topic 820, “Fair Value Measurements.” ASU 2011-04 conforms certain sections of Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 820 to International Financial Reporting Standards in order to provide a single converged guidance on the measurement of fair value. The ASU also requires new quantitative and qualitative disclosures about the sensitivity of recurring Level 3 measurement disclosures, as well as transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy. The amended guidance is effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. We adopted all requirements of ASU 2011-04 on January 29, 2012, with no material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In June 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-05, “Presentation of Comprehensive Income,” an amendment to ASC topic 220, “Comprehensive Income.” ASU 2011-05 eliminates the option to present the components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of shareholders’ equity. Instead, comprehensive income must be reported in either a single continuous statement of comprehensive income which contains two sections, net income and other comprehensive income, or in two separate but consecutive statements. In December 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-12, “Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Deferral of the Effective Date for Amendments to the Presentation of Reclassifications of Items Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income in Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-05,” which indefinitely defers the provisions in ASU 2011-05 requiring reclassification adjustments out of other comprehensive income to be presented on the face of the financial statements. The other portions of ASU 2011-05 remain unchanged. These standards, which must be applied retroactively, are effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011, with earlier adoption permitted. We adopted all requirements of these standards on January 29, 2012, the beginning of our 2012 fiscal year.