Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

9 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2011

Accounting Changes and Error Corrections

Schedule of New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Table Text Block]

(6)        Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

The Company adopted the following new accounting standards during the nine month period ending October 31, 2011.

ASU 2010-6 amends existing disclosure requirements about fair value measurements by adding required disclosures about items transferring into and out of levels 1 and 2 in the fair value hierarchy; adding separate disclosures about purchase, sales, issuances, and settlements relative to level 3 measurements; and clarifying, among other things, the existing fair value disclosures about the level of disaggregation. The adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

ASU 2009-17 revises the consolidation guidance for variable-interest entities. The modifications include the elimination of the exemption for qualifying special purpose entities, a new approach for determining who should consolidate a variable-interest entity, and changes to when it is necessary to reassess who should consolidate a variable-interest entity, The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

ASU No. 2010-13 clarified the classification of an employee share based payment award with an exercise price denominated in the currency of a market in which the underlying security trades. The Company adopted this ASU effective January 1, 2011. The adoption of this ASU did not have a material impact on our consolidated results of operations or cash flows.

ASU 2010-29, “Business Combinations,” requires a public entity that prepares comparative financial statements to disclose revenue and earnings of the combined entity as though the business combination(s) that occurred during the current year had occurred as of the beginning of the comparable prior annual reporting period only. The amendments also expand the supplemental pro forma disclosures to include a description of the nature and amount of material, nonrecurring pro forma adjustments directly attributable to the business combination included in the reported pro forma revenue and earnings. The amendments are effective prospectively for business combinations for which the acquisition date is on or after the beginning of the first annual reporting period beginning on or after December 15, 2010. The adoption of this ASU did not have a material impact on our consolidated results of operations or cash flows.

There were various other updates recently issued, most of which represented technical corrections to the accounting literature or application to specific industries. None of the updates are expected to have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.