Revision of Period Period Amounts

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Disclosure Text Block

Revision of Prior Period Amounts

2. Revision of Prior Period Amounts

In preparing its Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the year ended December 31, 2011, U.S. Cellular discovered certain errors related to the classification of outstanding checks with the right of offset and the classification of Accounts payable-trade for Additions to property, plant and equipment. These errors resulted in the misstatement of Cash and cash equivalents and Accounts payable-trade as of December 31, 2010 and each quarterly period in 2011, and the misstatement of Cash flows from operating activities and Cash flows from investing activities for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and each of the quarterly periods in 2011 and 2010. In accordance with SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin Nos. 99 and 108 ("SAB 99" and "SAB 108"), U.S. Cellular evaluated these errors and determined that they were immaterial to each of the reporting periods affected and, therefore, amendment of previously filed reports was not required. However, in order to provide consistency in the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows and as permitted by SAB 108, revisions for these immaterial amounts to previously reported amounts were reflected in the financial information as of and for the periods ended December 31, 2011, are reflected in the financial information herein and will be reflected in future filings containing such financial information.

In preparing its financial statements for the nine months ended September 30, 2011, U.S. Cellular discovered certain errors related to accounting for asset retirement obligations and asset retirement costs. These errors resulted in the overstatement of Total operating expenses, Property, plant and equipment, net and Other deferred liabilities and credits in the first and second quarter 2011 interim financial statements and in the 2010, 2009 and 2008 annual periods reported in the Company's December 31, 2010 financial statements. The December 31, 2007 Retained earnings balance presented in the December 31, 2010 annual financial statements also wasoverstated as a result of these errors. In accordance with SAB 99 and SAB 108, U.S. Cellular evaluated these errors and determined that they were immaterial to each of the reporting periods affected and, therefore, amendments of previously filed reports were not required. However, if the adjustments to correct the cumulative errors had been recorded in the third quarter 2011, U.S. Cellular believes that the impact would have been significant to the third quarter results and would have impacted comparisons to prior periods. As permitted by SAB 108, revisions for these immaterial amounts to previously reported annual and quarterly results were reflected in the financial information as of and for the periods ended September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2011, are reflected in the financial information herein and will be reflected in future filings containing such financial information.

In accordance with SAB 108, the combined effects of the foregoing revisions tothe Consolidated Statement of Operations and the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows were as follows:

Consolidated Statement of Operations -- Three Months Ended March 31, 2011
		As previously
	(Dollars in thousands)	reported (1)				Adjustment			Revised
	Depreciation, amortization and accretion	$	145,045		$	(1,705	)	$	143,340
	Total operating expenses		1,000,049			(1,705	)		998,344
	Operating income		57,043			1,705			58,748
	Income before income taxes		63,472			1,705			65,177
	Income tax expense		24,092			655			24,747
	Net income		39,380			1,050			40,430
	Net income attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		34,111			1,050			35,161
	Basic earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		0.40			0.01			0.41
	Diluted earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		0.40			0.01			0.41
Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows -- Three Months Ended March 31, 2011
		As previously
	(Dollars in thousands)	reported (1)				Adjustment			Revised
	Net income	$	39,380		$	1,050		$	40,430
	Depreciation, amortization and accretion		145,045			(1,705	)		143,340
	Change in Accounts payable-trade		(2,244	)		55,957			53,713
	Change in Accrued taxes		11,174			655			11,829
	Change in Other assets and liabilities		(70,598	)		(71	)		(70,669	)
	Cash flows from operating activities		201,822			55,886			257,708
	Cash used for additions to property, plant and equipment		(95,933	)		(25,108	)		(121,041	)
	Cash flows from investing activities		(58,733	)		(25,108	)		(83,841	)
	Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents		126,868			30,778			157,646

• In Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2011, filed on May 6, 2011.