RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

9 Months Ended

Nov. 05, 2011

RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

7. RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

In September 2011, the FASB amended its standards related to the disclosure requirements for employers subject to multi-employer pension plans.  The amended standards require additional separate disclosures for multi-employer pension plans and multi-employer other post-retirement benefit plans. For significant multi-employer plans in which an employer participates, the additional disclosures include the plan name and identifying number, contributions to the plan and whether such contributions represent 5% or more of the total contributions made to the plan by all employers, indication of funded status, minimum contribution requirements under collective-bargaining agreements and expirations of such agreements.  For plans that do not have publicly available information other than employer financial statements, additional qualitative and quantitative disclosures are required including the description of the nature of the plan benefits, the extent to which the employer could be responsible for the obligations of the plan and, to the extent available, total plan assets, actuarial present value of accumulated plan benefits and total contributions received by the plan as of the most recent date available.  The amended standards will become effective for public entities for annual periods ending after December 15, 2011.  Because the standards only affect the disclosures required for multi-employer pension plans, the standards will not have a material effect on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

In September 2011, the FASB amended its standards related to the testing of goodwill for impairment.  The objective of this amendment is to simplify the annual goodwill impairment evaluation process.  The amendment provides entities the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value as a basis for determining whether it is necessary to perform the two-step goodwill impairment test.  The two-step impairment test is now only required if an entity determines through this qualitative analysis that it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying value.  The new rules will become effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011; however entities are permitted to adopt the standards early.  The Company does not plan to adopt these standards early for its 2011 goodwill impairment testing process.  Because the measurement of a potential impairment loss has not changed, the amended standards will not have an effect on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

In June 2011, the FASB amended its rules regarding the presentation of comprehensive income.  The objective of this amendment is to improve the comparability, consistency and transparency of financial reporting and to increase the prominence of items reported in other comprehensive income.  Specifically, this amendment requires that all non-owner changes in shareholders’ equity be presented either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements.  The new rules will become effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011.  Because the standards only affect the display of comprehensive income and do not affect what is included in comprehensive income, the standards will not have a material effect on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

In May 2011, the FASB amended its standards related to fair value measurements and disclosures.  The objective of the amendment is to improve the comparability of fair value measurements presented and disclosed in financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards.  This amendment primarily changed the wording used to describe many of the requirements in GAAP for measuring fair value and for disclosing information about fair value measurements.  In addition, the amendment clarified the FASB’s intent about the application of existing fair value measurement requirements.  The new standard also requires additional disclosures related to fair value measurements categorized within Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy and requires disclosure of the categorization in the hierarchy for items that are not recorded at fair value but as to which fair value is required to be disclosed.  The new rules will become effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011.  While the Company is still finalizing its evaluation of the effect of this amended standard on its Consolidated Financial Statements, the Company believes this new standard will not have a material effect on its Consolidated Financial Statements.