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New Accounting Standards
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2012
New Accounting Standards

18. New Accounting Standards

The following new accounting standards were adopted by the Duke Energy Registrants subsequent to June 30, 2011 and the impact of such adoption, if applicable, has been presented in the respective Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of the Duke Energy Registrants:

ASC 220 — Comprehensive Income. In June 2011, the FASB amended the existing requirements for presenting comprehensive income in financial statements primarily to increase the prominence of items reported in other comprehensive income (OCI) and to facilitate the convergence of U.S. GAAP and IFRS. Specifically, the revised guidance eliminates the option previously provided to present components of OCI as part of the statement of changes in stockholders' equity. Accordingly, all non-owner changes in stockholders' equity are required to be presented either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive financial statements. For the Duke Energy Registrants, this revised guidance was effective on a retrospective basis for interim and annual periods beginning January 1, 2012. The adoption of this standard changed the presentation of the Duke Energy Registrants' financial statements but did not affect the calculation of net income, comprehensive income or earnings per share.

ASC 820 — Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures. In May 2011, the FASB amended existing requirements for measuring fair value and for disclosing information about fair value measurements. This revised guidance results in a consistent definition of fair value, as well as common requirements for measurement and disclosure of fair value information between U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). In addition, the amendments set forth enhanced disclosure requirements with respect to recurring Level 3 measurements, nonfinancial assets measured or disclosed at fair value, transfers between levels in the fair value hierarchy, and assets and liabilities disclosed but not recorded at fair value. For the Duke Energy Registrants, the revised fair value measurement guidance was effective on a prospective basis for interim and annual periods beginning January 1, 2012. The adoption of this new guidance did not have a significant impact on the Duke Energy Registrants disclosures or their consolidated results of operations, cash flows, or financial position.

ASC 350 — Intangibles–Goodwill and Other. In September 2011, the FASB amended existing goodwill impairment testing accounting guidance to provide an entity testing goodwill for impairment with the option of performing a qualitative assessment prior to calculating the fair value of a reporting unit in step one of a goodwill impairment test. Under this revised guidance, a qualitative assessment would require an evaluation of economic, industry, and company-specific considerations. If an entity determines, on a basis of such qualitative factors, that the fair value of a reporting unit is more likely than not less than the carrying value of a reporting unit, then step one and if necessary, step two of the impairment test must be performed. Otherwise, no further impairment testing would be required. The revised goodwill impairment testing accounting guidance is effective for the Duke Energy Registrants' annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning January 1, 2012, with early adoption of this revised guidance permitted for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed as of a date before September 15, 2011. Since annual goodwill impairment tests are performed by Duke Energy as of August 31, the Duke Energy Registrants early adopted this revised accounting guidance during the third quarter of 2011 and applied that guidance to their annual goodwill impairment tests for 2011.