

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In the second quarter of 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law. The PPACA changes the tax treatment related to an existing retiree drug subsidy (RDS) available to sponsors of retiree health benefit plans that provide a benefit that is at least actuarially equivalent to the benefits under Medicare Part D. As a result of the PPACA, RDS payments will effectively become taxable in tax years beginning in 2013, by requiring the amount of the subsidy received to be offset against our deduction for health care expenses. The provisions of the PPACA required us to record the effect of this tax law change beginning in our second quarter of 2010, and consequently we recorded a one-time related tax charge of $41 million in the second quarter of 2010. In the first quarter of 2012, we began pre-paying funds within our

401(h) voluntary employee beneficiary associations (VEBA) trust to fully cover prescription drug benefit liabilities for Medicare eligible retirees. As a result, the receipt of future Medicare subsidy payments for prescription drugs will not be taxable and, consequently, we recorded a $55 million tax benefit reflecting this change in the first quarter of 2012.

In June 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) amended its accounting guidance on the presentation of comprehensive income in financial statements to improve the comparability, consistency and transparency of financial reporting and to increase the prominence of items that are recorded in other comprehensive income. The new accounting guidance requires entities to report components of comprehensive income in either (1) a continuous statement of comprehensive income or (2) two separate but consecutive statements. The provisions of the guidance were effective as of the beginning of our 2012 fiscal year. Accordingly, we have presented the components of net income and other comprehensive income for the 12 and 36 weeks ended September 8, 2012 and September 3, 2011 as two separate but consecutive statements. In June 2012, the FASB issued a new proposal that would require an entity to provide enhanced footnote disclosures to explain the effect of reclassification adjustments on other comprehensive income by component and provide a tabular disclosure in the footnotes showing the effect of items reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income on the line items of net income. We will continue to monitor the FASB’s activities related to the proposed guidance.

In September 2011, the FASB issued new accounting guidance that permits an entity to first assess qualitative factors of whether it is more likely than not that a reporting unit’s fair value is less than its carrying amount before applying the two-step goodwill impairment test. An entity would continue to perform the historical first step of the impairment test if it fails the qualitative assessment, while no further analysis would be required if it passes. The provisions of the new guidance were effective for, and had no impact on, our 2012 annual goodwill impairment test results.

In December 2011, the FASB issued new disclosure requirements that are intended to enhance current disclosures on offsetting financial assets and liabilities. The new disclosures require an entity to disclose both gross and net information about financial instruments eligible for offset on the balance sheet and instruments and transactions subject to an agreement similar to a master netting arrangement. The provisions of the new disclosure requirements are effective as of the beginning of our 2014 fiscal year. We are currently evaluating the impact of the new guidance on our financial statements.

In July 2012, the FASB issued new accounting guidance that permits an entity to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that an indefinite-lived intangible asset is impaired as a basis for determining whether it is necessary to perform a quantitative impairment test. An entity would continue to calculate the fair value of an indefinite-lived intangible asset if the asset fails the qualitative assessment, while no further analysis would be required if it passes. The provisions of the new guidance are effective as of the beginning of our 2013 fiscal year; we do not expect the new guidance to have an impact on the 2013 impairment test results.