9. Restructuring and Other Charges

Restructuring

The Company had initiated significant restructuring actions associated with the merger of ACCO Brands Corporation and General Binding Corporation that resulted in the closure or consolidation of facilities that were engaged in manufacturing and distributing the Company's products, primarily in North America and Europe, or which resulted in a reduction in overall employee headcount. The Company's restructuring actions are now complete and no new initiatives were expensed in the years ended December 31, 2011 or 2010. During the year ended December 31, 2009, the Company recorded pre-tax restructuring and asset impairment charges of $17.4 million. Employee termination costs and termination of lease agreements include the release of reserves no longer required.

A summary of the activity in the restructuring accounts and a reconciliation of the liability for, and as of, the year ended December 31, 2011 is as follows:


*(in millions of dollars)*	Balance at December 31, 2010		Provision (Income)			Cash Expenditures			Non-cash Items/ Currency Change			Balance at December 31, 2011
Rationalization of operations
Employee termination costs	$	2.2	$	(0.6	)	$	(1.4	)	$	0.1		$	0.3
Termination of lease agreements		3.0		(0.5	)		(1.9	)		0.1			0.7

Sub-total		5.2		(1.1	)		(3.3	)		0.2			1.0
Asset impairments/net loss on disposal of assets resulting from restructuring activities		—		0.4			(0.1	)		(0.1	)		0.2

Total restructuring liability	$	5.2	$	(0.7	)	$	(3.4	)	$	0.1		$	1.2

Management expects the $0.3 million employee termination costs balance to be substantially paid within the next six months. Cash payments associated with lease termination costs of $0.7 million are expected to continue until the last lease terminates in 2013.

A summary of the activity in the restructuring accounts and a reconciliation of the liability for, and as of, the year ended December 31, 2010 is as follows:


*(in millions of dollars)*	Balance at December 31, 2009		Provision (Income)			Cash Expenditures			Non-cash Items/ Currency Change			Balance at December 31, 2010
Rationalization of operations
Employee termination costs	$	8.0	$	(1.5	)	$	(3.9	)	$	(0.4	)	$	2.2
Termination of lease agreements		4.4		0.2			(1.5	)		(0.1	)		3.0

Sub-total		12.4		(1.3	)		(5.4	)		(0.5	)		5.2
Asset impairments/net loss on disposal of assets resulting from restructuring activities		—		0.8			—			(0.8	)		—

Total restructuring liability	$	12.4	$	(0.5	)	$	(5.4	)	$	(1.3	)	$	5.2

A summary of the activity in the restructuring accounts and a reconciliation of the liability for, and as of, the year ended December 31, 2009 is as follows:


*(in millions of dollars)*	Balance at December 31, 2008		Provision		Cash Expenditures			Non-cash Items/ Currency Change			Balance at December 31, 2009
Rationalization of operations
Employee termination costs	$	21.8	$	11.9	$	(26.4	)	$	0.7		$	8.0
Termination of lease agreements		3.1		3.3		(2.3	)		0.3			4.4
Other (1)		—		0.3		(0.1	)		(0.2	)		—

Sub-total		24.9		15.5		(28.8	)		0.8			12.4
Asset impairments/net loss on disposal of assets resulting from restructuring activities		—		1.9		—			(1.9	)		—

Total restructuring liability	$	24.9	$	17.4	$	(28.8	)	$	(1.1	)	$	12.4

(1)	Includes $0.2 million of stock-based compensation expense related to terminated employees.

In addition to the restructuring described above, in the first quarter of 2011 the Company initiated plans to rationalize its European operations. The associated costs primarily relate to employee terminations, which were accounted for as regular business expenses and were largely offset by associated savings realized during the remainder of the 2011 year. These costs totaled $4.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2011 and are included within advertising, selling, general and administrative expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

A summary of the activity in the rationalization charges and a reconciliation of the liability for, and as of, the year ended December 31, 2011 is as follows:


*(in millions of dollars)*	Balance at December 31, 2010		Provision		Cash Expenditures			Non-cash Items/ Currency Change		Balance at December 31, 2011
Employee termination costs/liability	$	—	$	4.5	$	(4.2	)	$	0.1	$	0.4

Management expects the $0.4 million of employee termination costs to be substantially paid within the next three months.

Other Charges

In addition to the recognition of restructuring costs, the Company also recognized other charges, incremental to the cost of its underlying restructuring actions that do not qualify as restructuring. These charges include redundant warehousing or storage costs during the transition to a new distribution center, equipment and other asset move costs, facility overhead and maintenance costs after exit, gains on the sale of exited facilities, certain costs associated with the Company's debt refinancing and employee retention incentives. The Company did not incur any other charges, as described above, during the years ended December 31, 2011 or 2010. Within cost of products sold on the Consolidated Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2009, these charges totaled $3.4 million. Within advertising, selling, general and administrative expenses on the Consolidated Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2009, these charges totaled $1.2 million.