Fair Value Measurements

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Fair Value Measurements [Abstract]

Fair Value Measurements

Note 10. Fair Value Measurements

The fair value of an asset or liability is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The fair value guidance requires an entity to maximize the use of quoted prices and other observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value, and also establishes a fair value hierarchy which prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value as follows:

Level 1 –  Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2 –  Observable inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly.

Level 3 –  Unobservable inputs to the valuation methodology that are significant to the measurement of fair value.

Viad measures its money market mutual funds and certain other mutual fund investments at fair value on a recurring basis using Level 1 inputs. The fair value information related to these assets is summarized in the following tables:

			Fair Value Measurements at December 31, 2012 Using
Description	December 31, 2012		Quoted Prices in Active Markets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobserved Inputs (Level 3)
	(in thousands)
Money market funds	$	10,177	$	10,177	$	—	$	—
Other mutual funds		1,239		1,239		—		—
Total	$	11,416	$	11,416	$	—	$	—
			Fair Value Measurements at December 31, 2011 Using
Description	December 31, 2011		Quoted Prices in Active Markets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobserved Inputs (Level 3)
	(in thousands)
Money market funds	$	20,862	$	20,862	$	—	$	—
Other mutual funds		1,373		1,373		—		—
Total	$	22,235	$	22,235	$	—	$	—

As of December 31, 2012 and 2011, Viad had investments in money market mutual funds of $10.2 million and $20.9 million, respectively, which are included in the consolidated balance sheets under the caption “Cash and cash equivalents.” These investments are classified as available-for-sale and were recorded at fair value. There have been no realized or unrealized gains or losses related to these investments and the Company has not experienced any redemption restrictions with respect to any of the money market mutual funds.

As of December 31, 2012 and 2011, Viad had investments in other mutual funds of $1.2 million and $1.4 million, respectively, which are classified in the consolidated balance sheets under the caption “Other investments and assets.” These investments were classified as available-for-sale and were recorded at fair value. As of December 31, 2012 and 2011, there were unrealized gains of $450,000 ($275,000 after-tax) and $366,000 ($222,000 after-tax), respectively, which were included in the consolidated balance sheets under the caption “Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss).”

The carrying values of cash and cash equivalents, receivables and accounts payable approximate fair value due to the short-term maturities of these instruments. The estimated fair value of debt obligations is disclosed in Note 9.