XML 24 R10.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v2.4.0.6
Basis of Presentation
12 Months Ended
Apr. 30, 2013
Basis of Presentation
1. BASIS OF PRESENTATION

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (the “Parent”), its wholly-owned subsidiaries and certain partially owned entities over which it has a controlling financial interest (collectively, “we”, “us” or “our”) is a regional, vertically-integrated solid waste services company that provides collection, transfer, disposal, landfill, landfill gas-to-energy, recycling and organics services in the northeastern United States. We market recyclable metals, aluminum, plastics, paper and corrugated cardboard, which have been processed at our recycling facilities, as well as recyclables purchased from third parties. We manage our solid waste operations on a geographic basis through two regional operating segments, the Eastern and Western regions, each of which includes a full range of solid waste services, and our larger-scale recycling and commodity brokerage operations through our Recycling segment. Ancillary operations, major customer accounts, discontinued operations and earnings through equity method investees are included in our Other segment.

The accompanying consolidated financial statements, which include the accounts of the Parent, its wholly-owned subsidiaries and certain partially owned entities over which it has a controlling financial interest, have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). All significant intercompany accounts and transactions are eliminated in consolidation. Investments in entities in which we do not have a controlling financial interest are accounted for under either the equity method or cost method of accounting, as appropriate. Assets and liabilities of discontinued operations and assets held-for-sale are segregated from those of continuing operations and reported in separate captions in the balance sheet, as applicable. The results of operations that have been disposed of or classified as held-for-sale and qualify for discontinued operations accounting are reported in discontinued operations, as applicable. See Note 18 for disclosure over assets held-for-sale and discontinued operations.

For comparative purposes, certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current fiscal year presentation. This includes an adjustment to our self insurance reserve, which was reclassified to properly state the current and non-current obligations.