Note 19 - Fair Value of Financial Instruments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Fair Value Disclosures [Text Block]

19. Fair Value of Financial Instruments

Our financial instruments consist principally of cash and cash equivalents, notes receivable, guarantees and long-term debt. The fair value of a financial instrument is the amount at which the instrument could be exchanged in an orderly transaction between market participants to sell the asset or transfer the liability. The Company uses fair value measurements based on quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical assets or liabilities in active markets that the entity can access as of the measurement date (Level 1), significant other observable inputs other than Level 1 prices such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities; quoted prices in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data (Level 2), or significant unobservable inputs reflect a company’s own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability (Level 3), depending on the nature of the item being valued.

The carrying amounts of cash and cash equivalents and note receivable approximate their fair values at each balance sheet date due to the short-term maturity of these financial instruments and are categorized as Level 1 and Level 2, respectively in the fair value hierarchy. The carrying amount of long-term debt approximates its fair values at each balance sheet date due to its variable market rates of interest that change with current Prime or LIBOR rate and no change in counterparty credit risk and, as such, is categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy. The Company used multiple techniques, including an income approach applying discounted cash flows approach, to measure the fair value of the guarantees using Level 3 inputs; the results of each technique have been reasonably weighted based upon management’s judgment applying qualitative considerations to determine the fair value of the guarantees at the measurement date.