Basis of Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Basis of Presentation [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

1.	Basis of Presentation
	The accompanying unaudited financial statements of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”) have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. Therefore, the financial statements included herein should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 (our “Annual Report”).
	In the opinion of management all normal recurring adjustments considered necessary for a fair statement of the results of the interim periods have been included. The operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year, partially due to the seasonal nature of some of our businesses. As a result, we have included the Consolidated Balance Sheet as of September 30, 2010 for comparative purposes. Certain prior-year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current presentation.
	We have reported our Broadcasting Group within our McGraw-Hill Information & Media (“I&M”) segment, as a discontinued operation as of September 30, 2011. Accordingly, the results of operations for all periods presented have been reclassified to reflect the business as a discontinued operation and the assets and liabilities of the business have been reclassified as held for sale for the periods presented. See Note 2 for further discussion.
	On September 12, 2011, we announced that our Board of Directors have unanimously approved a comprehensive Growth and Value Plan that includes separation into two public companies: McGraw-Hill Markets (the working name for this company), primarily focused on capital and commodities markets, and McGraw-Hill Education, focused on education services and digital learning. Management is developing detailed separation plans, which will be subject to approval by the Board of Directors. We expect to complete the transaction by the end of 2012 through a tax-free spin-off of the education business to the Company’s shareholders, subject to various conditions including final Board approval and a tax ruling from the Internal Revenue Service.
	Our critical accounting estimates are disclosed in Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, in our Annual Report. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions, including those related to revenue recognition, allowance for doubtful accounts and sales returns, inventories, prepublication costs, accounting for the impairment of long-lived assets (including other intangible assets), goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets, retirement plans and postretirement healthcare and other benefits, stock-based compensation, income taxes and contingencies. Since the date of our Annual Report, there have been no material changes to our critical accounting policies and estimates.