Recent Accounting Pronouncements

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2013

Recent Accounting Pronouncements [Abstract]

RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

NOTE 2. RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

In July 2013, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2013-10, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Inclusion of the Fed Funds Effective Swap Rate (or Overnight Index Swap Rate) as a Benchmark Interest Rate for Hedge Accounting Purposes (a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force). The amendments in this ASU permit the Fed Funds Effective Swap Rate (OIS) to be used as a U.S. benchmark interest rate for hedge accounting purposes, in addition to UST and LIBOR. The amendments also remove the restriction on using different benchmark rates for similar hedges.

Before the amendments in this Update, only UST and, for practical reasons, the LIBOR swap rate, were considered benchmark interest rates. Including the Fed Funds Effective Swap Rate (OIS) as an acceptable U.S. benchmark interest rate in addition to UST and LIBOR will provide risk managers with a more comprehensive spectrum of interest rate resets to utilize as the designated benchmark interest rate risk component under the hedge accounting guidance.

The amendments apply to all entities that elect to apply hedge accounting of the benchmark interest rate. The amendments are effective prospectively for qualifying new or redesignated hedging relationships entered into on or after July 17, 2013. This ASU will not impact the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In June 2013, FASB issued ASU No. 2013-08, Financial Services—Investment Companies (Topic 946): Amendments to the Scope, Measurement, and Disclosure Requirements. This ASU sets forth a new approach for determining whether a public or private company is an investment company. The ASU also clarifies the characteristics and sets measurement and disclosure requirements for an investment company.

This guidance is a result of the efforts of the FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to develop a consistent approach for determining whether a company is an investment company, for which fair value of investments is the most relevant measurement for the company’s financial statement users. The ASU affects the scope, measurement, and disclosure requirements for investment companies under U.S.GAAP.

Under the ASU, a company regulated under the Investment Company Act of 1940 is considered an investment company for accounting purposes. All other companies must assess whether they have the following characteristics to be considered an investment company:

(a) The company obtains funds from investor(s) and provides the investor(s) with investment management services;

(b) The company commits to its investor(s) that its business purpose and only substantive activities are investing the funds for returns solely from capital appreciation, investment income, or both;

(c) The company or its affiliates do not obtain or have the objective of obtaining returns or benefits from an investee or its affiliates that are not normally attributable to ownership interests or that are other than capital appreciation or investment income;

(d) The company has multiple investments;

(e) The company has multiple investors;

(f) The company has investors that are not related to the parent on investment manager;

(g) The company ownership interests are in the form of equity or partnership interests; and

(h) The company manages substantially all of its investments on a fair value basis.

To be considered an investment company, a company must have all the fundamental characteristics of (a) through (c) above. Typically, an investment company also has characteristics (d) through (h). However, if a company does not possess one or more of the typical characteristics, it must apply judgment and determine, considering all facts and circumstances, how its activities continue to be consistent (or are not consistent) with those of an investment company.

An investment company also will be required to measure non-controlling ownership interests in other investment companies at fair value rather than using the equity method of accounting. In addition, an investment company will be required to make the following additional disclosures: (a) the fact that the company is an investment company and is applying specialized guidance, (b) information about changes, if any, in a company’s status as an investment company, and (c) information about financial support provided or contractually required to be provided by an investment company to any of its investees. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2013. Early adoption is not allowed. The Company does not expect this ASU to have an impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In February 2013, the FASB issued ASU No. 2013-04, Liabilities (Topic 405), Obligations Resulting from Joint and Several Liability Arrangements for Which the Total Amount of the Obligation Is Fixed at the Reporting Date. The Update requires an entity to measure obligations resulting from joint and several liability arrangements for which the total amount of the obligation within the scope of this guidance is fixed at the reporting date, as the sum of the amount the reporting entity agreed to pay on the basis of its arrangement among its co-obligors, and any additional amount the reporting entity expects to pay on behalf of its co-obligors.

The amendments in this Update are effective for fiscal years, and interim periods with those years, beginning after December 15, 2013. The Company is currently in the process of evaluating the ASU but does not expect it will have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In December 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-11, Balance sheet (Topic 210) Disclosures about Offsetting Assets and Liabilities. The amendments in this Update affect all entities that have financial instruments and derivative instruments that are either (1) offset in accordance with either Section 210-20-45 or Section 815-10-45 or (2) subject to an enforceable master netting arrangement or similar agreement. The requirements amend the disclosure requirements on offsetting in Section 210-20-50. The amendments in this Update will enhance disclosures required by U.S. GAAP by requiring improved information about financial instruments and derivative instruments that are either (1) offset in accordance with either Section 210-20-45 or Section 815-10-45 or (2) subject to an enforceable master netting arrangement or similar agreement, irrespective of whether they are offset in accordance with either Section 210-20-45 or Section 815-10-45. This information will enable users of an entity’s financial statements to evaluate the effect or potential effect of netting arrangements on an entity’s financial position, including the effect or potential effect of rights of setoff associated with certain financial instruments and derivative instruments in the scope of this Update. An entity is required to apply the amendments for annual reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2013, and interim periods within those annual periods. An entity should provide the disclosures required by those amendments retrospectively for all comparative periods presented. The Company has adopted this ASU but it has not impact to the Company’s consolidated reported financial position or results of operations.