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Significant Accounting Policies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Significant Accounting Policies
2. Significant Accounting Policies

 

Basis of Presentation

 

The accompanying financial statements reflect the operating results and financial position of the Company in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”).

 

Use of Estimates

 

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and revenues and expenses for the reporting period.  Actual results could differ from those estimates.

 

Cash and cash equivalents

 

Cash and cash equivalents include checking and money market accounts held in two financial institutions.  The Company has a checking account at one institution with a balance of approximately $5,000 at December 31, 2011.  The funds in this account are fully insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) as of December 31, 2011.  The Company has a money market account in a brokerage account with a second financial institution, invested in short-term federal securities and corporate bonds, with a money market cash balance of approximately $418,000 at December 31, 2011.  Assets in this brokerage account are guaranteed by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”) up to $500,000.  The Company had no uninsured cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2011.

 

Investment in Available-for-Sale Securities

 

The Company has a portfolio of investments in available-for-sale debt securities, which consist of fixed income debt securities, which are accounted for in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 320, “Investments - Debt and Equity Securities.”  Management determines the appropriate classification of the securities at the time they are acquired and evaluates the appropriateness of such classifications at each balance sheet date.  Available-for-sale securities are stated at fair value, and unrealized holding gains and losses, net of the related deferred tax effect, if any, are reported as other comprehensive income, a separate component of stockholders’ equity.

 

Stock-Based Compensation

 

Compensation costs for stock, warrants or options issued to employees and non-employees are based on the fair value method and accounted for in accordance with FASB ASC 718, “Compensation – Stock Compensation.”  The value of warrants and options are calculated using a Black-Scholes Model, using the market price of the Company’s common stock on the date of issuance for the employee options and the date of commitment for non-employee options, an expected dividend yield of zero, the expected life of the warrants or options and the expected volatility of the Company’s common stock.  The Company expects the options to fully vest and the forfeiture rate to be zero.

 

Fair Value Measurement

 

FASB ASC 820 “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures” clarifies that fair value is an exit price, representing the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants. As such, fair value is a market-based measurement that is determined based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or a liability. As a basis for considering such assumptions, FASB ASC 820 establishes a three-tier value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in the valuation methodologies in measuring fair value:

 

· Level 1 - Observable inputs that reflect quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical assets or liabilities in active markets.

 

· Level 2 - Include other inputs that are directly or indirectly observable in the marketplace.

 

· Level 3 - Unobservable inputs which are supported by little or no market activity.

 

The fair value hierarchy also requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value.

 

In accordance with FASB ASC 820, the Company measures its cash equivalents, investment in available-for-sale securities, derivative liability and cost-basis investment at fair value. The Company’s cash equivalents and investment in available-for-sale securities are classified within Level 1 by using quoted market prices. The Company’s derivative liability and cost-based investment are classified within Level 3.

 

The carrying value of other current assets and accounts payable are considered to be representative of their respective fair values because of the short-term nature of those instruments.

 

Fair Value Instruments

 

ASC 825 “Financial Instruments” permits entities to choose to measure at fair value many financial instruments and certain other items that had previously not been required to be measured at fair value. Subsequent changes in fair value for designated items are required to be reported in earnings in the current period. FASB ASC 825 also establishes presentation and disclosure requirements for similar types of assets and liabilities measured at fair value. As permitted by ASC 825, the Company has elected not to use the fair value option to measure the Company’s available-for-sale securities and will continue to report under ASC 320, “Investments-Debt and Equity Securities”. The Company has made this election because it believes the nature of its financial assets and liabilities are not so complex that they would benefit from a change in valuation to fair value.

 

Income Taxes

 

Deferred income taxes have been provided for temporary differences between financial statement and income tax reporting under the liability method, using expected tax rates and laws that are expected to be in effect when the differences are expected to reverse.  A valuation allowance is provided when realization is not considered more likely than not.

 

The Company applies the provisions of FASB ASC 740, “Income Taxes.”  ASC 740 clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in the Company’s financial statements in accordance with ASC 740, “Income Taxes,” and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. ASC 740 also provides guidance on de-recognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, disclosure and transition.

 

The Company’s policy is to classify expenses as a result of income tax assessments as interest expense for interest charges and as penalties in general and administrative expenses for penalty assessments.

 

Cost-Basis Method Valuation

 

The Company’s non-marketable equity investment is recorded using the cost-basis method of accounting, and is classified within other long-term assets on the accompanying balance sheet as permitted by FASB ASC 325, “Cost Method Investments”, as the Company owns less than 20% of the voting securities and does not have the ability to exercise significant influence over operating and financial policies of the entity.  See Note 5, “Cost-Basis Investment” for more information.

 

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

 

In May 2011, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2011-04, “Fair Value Measurement” (Topic 820): Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRSs. This guidance amends the disclosure requirements related to recurring and nonrecurring fair value measurements and includes the following provisions:  application of the concepts of highest and best use and valuation premise, introduction of an option to measure groups of offsetting assets and liabilities on a net basis, incorporation of certain premiums and discounts in fair value measurements, and the measurement of fair value of certain instruments classified in shareholders’ equity. In addition, the amended guidance includes several new fair value disclosure requirements, including, among other things, information about valuation techniques and unobservable inputs used in Level 3 fair value measurements and a narrative description of Level 3 measurements’ sensitivity to changes in unobservable inputs. The guidance becomes effective for the reporting period beginning January 1, 2012.  The Company expects that adoption of this new guidance will not have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

 

In June 2011, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2011-05, “Comprehensive Income” (Topic 220): Presentation of Comprehensive Income. This amended guidance eliminates the option for reporting entities to present components of other comprehensive income in the statement of stockholders’ equity. Instead, this amended guidance now requires reporting entities to present all non-owner changes in stockholders’ equity either as a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or as two separate but consecutive statements. The Company adopted this and it did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

 

Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective accounting pronouncements, if adopted, would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statements.