Recent Accounting Pronouncements

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Recent Accounting Pronouncements [Abstract]

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

14. Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) amended the accounting guidance for Fair Value Measurement to achieve common fair value measurement and disclosure requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). The amendments explain how to measure fair value, however they do not require additional fair value measurements and are not intended to establish valuation standards or affect valuation practices outside of financial reporting. The amendments are to be applied prospectively and are effective during interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. Early application by public entities is not permitted. The adoption of this new guidance is not expected to have a significant impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In June 2011, the FASB finalized the accounting guidance for the Presentation of Comprehensive Income. The objective of the new guidance is to improve the comparability, consistency, and transparency of financial reporting, to increase the prominence of the items reported in other comprehensive income and to facilitate convergence of GAAP and IFRS. The guidance eliminates the option to present components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of changes in stockholder’s equity and requires that all nonowner changes in stockholders’ equity be presented either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. In both choices, an entity is required to present each component of net income along with total net income, each component of other comprehensive income along with a total for other comprehensive income, and a total amount for comprehensive income. The statement of other comprehensive income should immediately follow the statement of net income. Regardless of which option is chosen it is required that reclassification adjustments for items that are reclassified from other comprehensive income to net income be presented on the face of the financial statements.

The new guidance does not change the following: the items that must be reported in other comprehensive income; when an item of other comprehensive income must be reclassified to net income; the option for an entity to present components of other comprehensive income either net of related tax effects or before related tax effects; and does not affect how earnings per share is calculated or presented.

The guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2011 and should be applied retrospectively. Early adoption is permitted. The adoption of the new disclosure requirements will have no effect on our consolidated financial statements other than the changes to presentation outlined.

In September 2011, the FASB amended the accounting guidance on Intangibles—Goodwill and Other - Testing Goodwill for Impairment. The objective of this guidance is to reduce the cost and complexity of performing the annual goodwill impairment test and to improve the previous guidance by expanding the examples of events and circumstances that an entity should consider in the qualitative evaluation about the likelihood of goodwill impairment. The amendments allow an entity the option of first assessing qualitative factors to determine whether the existence of events or circumstances leads to a determination that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. The examples of events and circumstances included in the amendment that an entity should consider in performing its qualitative assessment about whether to proceed to the first step of the goodwill impairment test supersede the examples in the existing guidance. If it is determined that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, then performing the two-step impairment test is unnecessary. Under the amendments, an entity has the option to bypass the qualitative assessment for any reporting unit in any period and may resume performing the qualitative assessment in any subsequent period. An entity is no longer permitted to carry forward its detailed calculation of a reporting unit’s fair value from a prior year as previously permitted under the existing guidance. The amended guidance is effective for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2011 with early adoption permitted. The adoption of the amended goodwill impairment testing procedures will not significantly impact our consolidated financial statements.