Recent Accounting Pronouncements:

3 Months Ended

Apr. 01, 2017

Recent Accounting Pronouncements:

Recent Accounting Pronouncements:

6.  Recent Accounting Pronouncements:

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which provides guidance for revenue recognition that supersedes existing revenue recognition guidance (but does not apply to nor supersede accounting guidance for lease contracts).  The ASU’s core principle is that an entity will recognize revenue when it transfers promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services.  The ASU also requires more detailed disclosures to enable users of financial statements to understand the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers.  The ASU should be applied retrospectively to each prior reporting period presented or retrospectively with the cumulative effect of initially applying the ASU recognized at the date of initial application.  The new standard will become effective for the Company beginning with the first quarter of fiscal 2018.  During 2016, the FASB issued four clarifications on specific topics within the new revenue recognition guidance that did not change the core principles of the guidance originally issued in May 2014.  The Company is continuing to evaluate the impact of the adoption of this ASU on the Company’s consolidated financial statements, as well as the expected method of adoption.  Based on a preliminary assessment, the adoption of this guidance is not expected to impact the Company’s recognition of leasing revenues or revenue from royalties that are based on a percentage of franchisee sales.  The Company is continuing to assess the impact of the adoption of this guidance on the recognition of less significant revenues such as merchandise sales and franchise fees.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-01, Financial Statements – Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities, which requires equity investments in unconsolidated entities (other than those accounted for using the equity method of accounting) to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income.  There will no longer be an available-for-sale classification for equity securities with readily determinable fair values.  The new guidance is effective for periods beginning after December 15, 2017, with early adoption permitted.  The Company is currently in the process of evaluating the impact of the adoption of this ASU on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), which provides guidance on accounting for leases that supersedes existing lease accounting guidance.  The ASU’s core principle is that a lessee should recognize lease assets and lease liabilities for those leases classified as operating leases under existing lease accounting guidance.  The new standard also makes targeted changes to lessor accounting.  This guidance is effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted.  The provisions of this guidance are to be applied using a modified retrospective approach, with elective reliefs, which requires application of the guidance for all periods presented.  The Company is currently in the process of evaluating the impact of the adoption of this ASU on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses of Financial Instruments, which changes the methodology for measuring credit losses on financial instruments and the timing of when such losses are recorded.  This guidance will be effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted.  The Company is currently in the process of evaluating the impact of the adoption of this ASU on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-09, Compensation-Stock Compensation: Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting, which simplifies several aspects of accounting for stock based compensation, including excess tax benefits and deficiencies, forfeiture estimates and classification in the statements of cash flows.  Upon adoption, any future excess tax benefits or deficiencies are recorded to the provision for income taxes in the consolidated statements of operations instead of recorded to equity in the consolidated balance sheets.  This reclassification can have a material impact on the Company’s provision for income taxes and effective tax rate, depending in part on whether significant stock option exercises occur.  In addition, when applying the treasury stock method for computing diluted weighted average common shares, the assumed proceeds available for hypothetical repurchase of shares do not include any windfall tax benefits under the new ASU.  As a result, outstanding option awards have a more dilutive effect on earnings per share.  The Company adopted ASU 2016-09 in the first quarter of 2017, using a prospective approach.  As a result of adopting the ASU, for the three months ended April 1, 2017, the Company recognized $96,100 of excess tax benefits as a discrete tax benefit.  The treatment of forfeitures has not changed as the Company will continue to estimate the number of forfeitures at the time of the option grant; therefore, there is no cumulative effect on retained earnings.  The Company has elected to present the cash flows on a retrospective transition method with prior periods adjusted, which resulted in a reclassification of excess tax benefits for the three months ended March 26, 2016 of $9,700 from cash flows from financing activities to cash flows from operating activities.