Interest Rate Swaps

3 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Interest Rate Swaps [Abstract]

Interest Rate Swaps

6. INTEREST RATE SWAPS

The 2011 Credit Agreement exposes us to short-term changes in market interest rates as our interest obligations on these instruments are periodically re-determined based on the prevailing Eurodollar rate. We enter into interest rate swaps to limit our exposure to fluctuations and volatility in interest rates. We do not engage in derivative transactions for speculative or trading purposes and we are not a party to leveraged derivatives.

In fiscal year 2011, we entered into four $50.0 million notional interest rate swaps to fix the variable interest rate on $200 million of our borrowings under our credit facility through September 2014. In October 2011, we entered into a fifth $50 million notional interest rate swap. The weighted average of all interest rate swaps fixes the annual interest rate on $250 million of our borrowings at 3.4% through September 2014.

Fair Value of Derivatives

The following table presents the fair value of our cash flow hedge derivative contracts included in the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2011 and September 30, 2011 (in thousands):

Type of Contract	Balance Sheet Classification	December 31 2011		September 30 2011
Short term interest rate swaps	Accrued liabilities	$	1,247	$	988
Long term interest rate swaps	Other long-term liabilities		596		631
Total derivative contracts, net		$	1,843	$	1,619

We recognized a loss of approximately $0.2 million in Other Comprehensive Income ("OCI") as a result of changes in fair value of our interest rate derivatives as of December 31, 2011, net of realized losses incurred via settlement payments throughout the quarter.

There was no effect on our condensed consolidated statement of operations resulting from changes in the fair values of derivatives designated as cash flow hedges for the quarter ended December 31, 2011.