New Authoritative Accounting Guidance

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

New Authoritative Accounting Guidance [Abstract]

New Authoritative Accounting Guidance

Note 5. New Authoritative Accounting Guidance

Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2011-04, "Fair Value Measurements (Topic 820) – Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRSs," was issued as a result of the effort to develop common fair value measurement and disclosure requirements in U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). While ASU No. 2011-04 is largely consistent with existing fair value measurement principles in U.S. GAAP, it expands the existing disclosure requirements for fair value measurements and clarifies the existing guidance or wording changes to align with IFRS No. 13. Many of the requirements for the amendments in ASU No. 2011-04 do not result in a change in the application of the requirements in Topic 820. ASU No. 2011-04 became effective for Valley on January 1, 2012 and did not to have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements. See Note 6 for the related disclosures.

ASU No. 2011-05, "Comprehensive Income (Topic 220) – Presentation of Comprehensive Income," requires an entity to present components of comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate consecutive statements. These amendments will make the financial statement presentation of other comprehensive income more prominent by eliminating the alternative to present comprehensive income within the statement of equity. As originally issued, ASU No. 2011-05 required entities to present reclassification adjustments out of accumulated other comprehensive income by component in the statement in which net income is presented and the statement in which other comprehensive income is presented (for both interim and annual financial statements). This requirement was deferred by ASU No. 2011-12, "Comprehensive Income (Topic 220) – Deferral of the Effective Date for Amendments to the Presentation of Reclassifications of Items Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income in Accounting Standards". ASU No. 2011-05 is effective for all interim and annual periods beginning on or after December 15, 2011 with early adoption permitted, and must be applied retrospectively. Valley early adopted ASU No. 2011-05 for the year ended December 31, 2011 and elected to present comprehensive income in a separate consolidated statement of comprehensive income.

ASU No. 2011-08, "Intangibles – Goodwill and Other (Topic 350) Testing Goodwill for Impairment," provides the option of performing a qualitative assessment of whether it is more likely than not that a reporting unit's fair value is less than its carrying amount, before applying the current two-step goodwill impairment test. If the conclusion is that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, the entity would be required to conduct the current two-step goodwill impairment test. Otherwise, the entity would not need to apply the two-step test. ASU No. 2011-08 is effective for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed by Valley during 2012. ASU No. 2011-08 is not expected to have a significant impact on Valley's consolidated financial statements.