FAIR VALUE DISCLOSURES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

FAIR VALUE DISCLOSURES

12 — FAIR VALUE DISCLOSURES

The Company’s financial instruments include cash equivalents, fees receivable from customers, accounts payable, and accruals which are normally short-term in nature. The Company believes the carrying amounts of these financial instruments reasonably approximates their fair value due to their short-term nature. The Company’s financial instruments also includes borrowings outstanding under its 2010 Credit Agreement, and at December 31, 2011, the Company had $200.0 million of floating rate debt outstanding under this arrangement, which is carried at amortized cost. The Company believes the carrying amount of the outstanding borrowings reasonably approximates fair value since the rate of interest on the borrowings reflect current market rates of interest for similar instruments with comparable maturities.

FASB ASC Topic 820 provides a framework for the measurement of fair value and a valuation hierarchy based upon the transparency of inputs used in the valuation of assets and liabilities. Classification within the hierarchy is based upon the lowest level of input that is significant to the resulting fair value measurement. The valuation hierarchy contains three levels. Level 1 measurements consist of quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. Level 2 measurements include significant other observable inputs such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets; identical assets or liabilities in inactive markets; observable inputs such as interest rates and yield curves; and other market-corroborated inputs. Level 3 measurements include significant unobservable inputs, such as internally-created valuation models. The Company does not currently utilize Level 3 valuation inputs to remeasure any of its assets or liabilities. However, level 3 inputs may be used by the Company in its required annual impairment review of goodwill. Information regarding the periodic assessment of the Company’s goodwill is included in Note 1 — Business and Significant Accounting Policies.

The Company has a limited number of assets and liabilities recorded in its Consolidated Balance Sheets that are remeasured to fair value on a recurring basis, which are presented in the following table (in thousands):

Description:	Fair Value December 31, 2011		Fair Value December 31, 2010
Assets:
Deferred compensation plan assets (1)	$	25,050	$	24,113
Pension reinsurance asset (2)		12,980		11,680
Foreign currency forward contracts (3)		272		618
	$	38,302	$	36,411
Liabilities:
Deferred compensation plan liabilities (1)	$	28,100	$	26,900
Interest rate swap contracts (4)		9,989		6,067
	$	38,089	$	32,967

(1)	The Company has a deferred compensation plan for the benefit of certain highly compensated officers, managers and other key employees (see Note 13 — Employee Benefits). The plan’s assets consist of investments in money market and mutual funds, and company-owned life insurance contracts.
	The money market funds consist of cash equivalents while the mutual fund investments consist of publicly-traded and quoted equity shares. The Company considers the fair value of these assets to be based on Level 1 inputs, and these assets had a fair value of $8.0 million and $7.5 million as of December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively. The carrying amount of the life insurance contracts equals their cash surrender value, as required by U.S. GAAP, which approximates fair value. Cash surrender value represents the estimated amount that the Company would receive upon termination of the contract. The Company considers the life insurance contracts to be valued based on a Level 2 input, and these assets had a fair value of $17.0 million and $16.6 million at December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively. The related deferred compensation plan liabilities are recorded at fair value, or the amount needed to settle the liability, which the Company also considers to be based on a Level 2 input.
(2)	The Company maintains a pension reinsurance asset to fund payments for one of its defined benefit pension plans (see Note 13—Employee Benefits). The reinsurance asset is carried at its cash surrender value, which approximates its fair value. The Company considers the reinsurance contract to be valued based on a Level 2 input
(3)	The Company enters into foreign currency forward exchange contracts to hedge the effects of adverse fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates (see Note 11 — Derivatives and Hedging). Valuation of the foreign currency forward contracts is based on foreign currency exchange rates in active markets, which the Company considers a Level 2 input.
(4)	On December 31, 2011, the Company had three outstanding interest rate swap contracts (see Note 11 — Derivatives and Hedging). To determine the fair value of these over-the-counter financial instruments, the Company relies on mark-to-market valuations prepared by third-party brokers. These valuations are based on observable interest rates from recently executed market transactions or broker quotes corroborated by other observable market data. Accordingly, the fair value of the swaps is determined under a Level 2 input. The Company independently corroborates the reasonableness of the swap valuations prepared by third-party brokers through the use of an electronic quotation service.