Recent Accounting Standards	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2011
Recent Accounting Standards	2. Recent Accounting Standards Recently Adopted In July 2010, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued guidance that provides for additional financial statement disclosure regarding financing receivables, including the credit quality and allowance for credit losses associated with such assets. This guidance is generally effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2010, with certain disclosures effective for interim and annual periods ending on or after December 31, 2010. Alleghany fully adopted this guidance in the 2011 first quarter, and the implementation did not have any impact on its results of operations and financial condition. Future Application of Accounting Standards In June 2011, the FASB issued guidance on the presentation of comprehensive income. This guidance increases the prominence of other comprehensive income in the financial statements and eliminates the current option to report other comprehensive income and its components in the statement of changes in equity, and does not change the items that must be reported in other comprehensive income. This guidance is generally effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. Alleghany will adopt this guidance in the 2012 first quarter, and Alleghany does not currently believe that the implementation will have an impact on its results of operations and financial condition. In May 2011, the FASB issued guidance on fair value measurement. This guidance does not extend the use of fair value accounting, but provides clarification of its use within existing GAAP. This guidance also provides for additional financial statement disclosure regarding fair value measurements, particularly those measurements that involve a significant degree of judgment. This guidance is generally effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. Alleghany will adopt this guidance in the 2012 first quarter, and Alleghany does not currently believe that the implementation will have a material impact on its results of operations and financial condition. In October 2010, the FASB issued guidance that provides additional clarification for costs associated with acquiring or renewing insurance contracts. This guidance states that only incremental, direct costs associated with the successful acquisition of a new or renewal insurance contract may be capitalized as deferred acquisition costs. Furthermore, such costs: (i) must be essential to the contract transaction; (ii) would not have been incurred had the contract transaction not occurred; and (iii) must be related directly to the acquisition activities involving underwriting, policy issuance and processing, medical and inspection, and sales force contract selling. Advertising costs should be included in deferred acquisition costs only if the capitalization criteria in separate “direct-response” advertising guidance within GAAP are met. All other acquisition-related costs and other expenses should be charged to expense as incurred. This guidance is effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011, with early adoption permitted (but only at the beginning of an entity’s annual reporting period). Alleghany will adopt this guidance in the 2012 first quarter, and Alleghany does not currently believe that the implementation will have a material impact on its results of operations and financial condition. In May 2010, FASB issued guidance that addresses requirements for measuring fair value. Among other things, the guidance clarifies that the “highest and best use” valuation premise applies only to non-financial assets, and that premiums or discounts should be applied to valuations of an individual asset or liability only when market participants would do so. The guidance also permits measurement of fair value of financial instruments (that are carried at fair value) based on an entity’s net exposure to a particular market or credit risk on a net basis if there is evidence that the entity manages its financial instruments in this way. The guidance provides for additional financial statement disclosure regarding fair value measurements, including disclosure involving transfers between categories within the fair value hierarchy, and quantitative and qualitative information about fair value measurements that involve a significant degree of judgment. This guidance is effective for interim and annual periods ending after December 15, 2011. Alleghany will adopt this guidance in the first quarter of 2012, and Alleghany does not believe the implementation will have a material impact on its results of operations and financial condition.

2. Recent Accounting Standards

Recently Adopted

In July 2010, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued guidance that provides for additional financial statement disclosure regarding financing receivables, including the credit quality and allowance for credit losses associated with such assets. This guidance is generally effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2010, with certain disclosures effective for interim and annual periods ending on or after December 31, 2010. Alleghany fully adopted this guidance in the 2011 first quarter, and the implementation did not have any impact on its results of operations and financial condition.

Future Application of Accounting Standards

In June 2011, the FASB issued guidance on the presentation of comprehensive income. This guidance increases the prominence of other comprehensive income in the financial statements and eliminates the current option to report other comprehensive income and its components in the statement of changes in equity, and does not change the items that must be reported in other comprehensive income. This guidance is generally effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. Alleghany will adopt this guidance in the 2012 first quarter, and Alleghany does not currently believe that the implementation will have an impact on its results of operations and financial condition.

In May 2011, the FASB issued guidance on fair value measurement. This guidance does not extend the use of fair value accounting, but provides clarification of its use within existing GAAP. This guidance also provides for additional financial statement disclosure regarding fair value measurements, particularly those measurements that involve a significant degree of judgment. This guidance is generally effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. Alleghany will adopt this guidance in the 2012 first quarter, and Alleghany does not currently believe that the implementation will have a material impact on its results of operations and financial condition.

In October 2010, the FASB issued guidance that provides additional clarification for costs associated with acquiring or renewing insurance contracts. This guidance states that only incremental, direct costs associated with the successful acquisition of a new or renewal insurance contract may be capitalized as deferred acquisition costs. Furthermore, such costs: (i) must be essential to the contract transaction; (ii) would not have been incurred had the contract transaction not occurred; and (iii) must be related directly to the acquisition activities involving underwriting, policy issuance and processing, medical and inspection, and sales force contract selling. Advertising costs should be included in deferred acquisition costs only if the capitalization criteria in separate “direct-response” advertising guidance within GAAP are met. All other acquisition-related costs and other expenses should be charged to expense as incurred. This guidance is effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011, with early adoption permitted (but only at the beginning of an entity’s annual reporting period). Alleghany will adopt this guidance in the 2012 first quarter, and Alleghany does not currently believe that the implementation will have a material impact on its results of operations and financial condition.

In May 2010, FASB issued guidance that addresses requirements for measuring fair value. Among other things, the guidance clarifies that the “highest and best use” valuation premise applies only to non-financial assets, and that premiums or discounts should be applied to valuations of an individual asset or liability only when market participants would do so. The guidance also permits measurement of fair value of financial instruments (that are carried at fair value) based on an entity’s net exposure to a particular market or credit risk on a net basis if there is evidence that the entity manages its financial instruments in this way. The guidance provides for additional financial statement disclosure regarding fair value measurements, including disclosure involving transfers between categories within the fair value hierarchy, and quantitative and qualitative information about fair value measurements that involve a significant degree of judgment. This guidance is effective for interim and annual periods ending after December 15, 2011. Alleghany will adopt this guidance in the first quarter of 2012, and Alleghany does not believe the implementation will have a material impact on its results of operations and financial condition.