NOTE 8. WARRANTY RESERVES

We provide for the estimated future costs to be incurred under our standard warranty obligation on our instruments and reagent discs.

Instruments. Our standard warranty obligation on instruments ranges from one to five years, depending on the type of product. The estimated contractual warranty obligation is recorded when the related revenue is recognized and any additional amount is recorded when such cost is probable and can be reasonably estimated. Cost of revenues reflects estimated warranty expense for instruments sold in the current period and any adjustments in estimated warranty expense for the installed base under our standard warranty obligation based on our quarterly evaluation of service experience. The estimated accrual for warranty exposure is based on historical experience as to product failures, estimated product failure rates, estimated repair costs, material usage and freight incurred in repairing the instrument after failure and known design changes under the warranty plan.

Effective October 2013, management prospectively changed the standard warranty obligations on certain instruments sold from three to five years. The increase in the standard warranty period did not result in a material impact on our cost of revenues or our accrued warranty costs during fiscal 2014. During fiscal 2013, we recorded an adjustment to pre-existing warranties of $290,000, which reduced our warranty reserves and our cost of revenues, based on both historical and projected product performance rates of instruments. Management periodically evaluates the sufficiency of the warranty provisions and makes adjustments when necessary. If an unusual performance rate related to warranty claims is noted, an additional warranty accrual may be assessed and recorded when a failure event is probable and the cost can be reasonably estimated.

Reagent Discs. We record a provision for defective reagent discs when the related sale is recognized and any additional amount is recorded when such cost is probable and can be reasonably estimated. The warranty cost includes the replacement costs and freight of a defective reagent disc. For fiscal 2014, 2013 and 2012, the provision for warranty expense related to replacement of defective reagent discs was $518,000, $369,000 and $456,000, respectively. The balance of accrued warranty reserve related to replacement of defective reagent discs at March 31, 2014 and 2013 was $619,000 and $571,000, respectively, which was classified as a current liability on the consolidated balance sheets.

We evaluate our estimates for warranty reserves on an ongoing basis and believe we have the ability to reasonably estimate warranty costs. However, unforeseeable changes in factors may impact the estimate for warranty and such changes could cause a material change in our warranty reserve accrual in the period in which the change was identified.

The change in our accrued warranty reserve during fiscal 2014, 2013 and 2012 is summarized as follows (in thousands):

	Year Ended March 31,
	2014			2013			2012
Balance at beginning of period	$	1,384		$	1,846		$	1,222
Provision for warranty expense		2,068			1,228			1,698
Warranty costs incurred		(1,584	)		(1,400	)		(1,331	)
Adjustment to pre-existing warranties		-			(290	)		257
Balance at end of period		1,868			1,384			1,846
Non-current portion of warranty reserve		821			389			601
Current portion of warranty reserve	$	1,047		$	995		$	1,245