Marketable Securities

6 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Marketable Securities [Abstract]

MARKETABLE SECURITIES

NOTE 10 — MARKETABLE SECURITIES:

As of September 30, 2011 and March 31, 2011, the Company had nil and $5.0 million (with a net book value of zero and $4.7 million, respectively) face value in trading securities, which consisted entirely of student loan auction rate securities (“SLARS”). These securities had long-term nominal maturities for which interest rates were historically reset through a Dutch auction process at pre-determined calendar intervals; a process which, prior to February 2008, had historically provided a liquid market for these securities. As a result of the liquidity issues experienced in the global credit and capital markets, these SLARS had multiple failed auctions, although the Company was successful in May 2011 in selling its final SLARS for $4.7 million, upon which the Company recorded a realized gain of $828,000.

ASC Topic 820 “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures” defines fair value 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 (an exit price). The standard outlines a valuation framework and creates a fair value hierarchy in order to increase the consistency and comparability of fair value measurements and the related disclosures.

Under ASC Topic 820, financial assets and liabilities are measured using inputs from the three levels of the fair value hierarchy. The three levels are as follows:

Level 1 inputs are unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the Company has the ability to access at the measurement date.

Level 2 inputs are other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly. Level 2 inputs include quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities that are not active, inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability (i.e., interest rates, yield curves, etc.), and inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data by correlation or other means (market corroborated inputs).

Level 3 inputs are unobservable inputs that reflect our own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. The Company would develop these inputs based on the best information available, including its own data.

In accordance with the fair value hierarchy described above, the following table shows the fair value of the Company’s securities available for sale that are required to be measured at fair value as of September 30, 2011:

Fair Value Measurement at Reporting Date Using:

Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)	September 30, 2011
Investments in marketable securities (classified as trading securities)		—
Investments in marketable securities		—

The following table summarizes the changes in fair value for our Level 3 assets:

	Fair Value Measurement of Asset using
	Level 3 inputs
	Trading Securities non-current
Balance at March 31, 2011		4,725
Total gains (losses) (realized or unrealized):
Realized — included in earnings for the six months ended September 30, 2011		828
Unrealized — reclassification adjustment for realized gain included in earnings		(828	)
Redemptions of principal		(4,725	)
Balance at September 30, 2011		—