Revision of Period Period Amounts

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 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,and are reflected in the financial information herein. 

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 June 30, 2011
		As previously
	(Dollars in thousands except per share amounts)	reported (1)				Adjustment			Revised
	Depreciation, amortization and accretion	$	148,283		$	(1,706	)	$	146,577
	Total operating expenses		973,792			(1,706	)		972,086
	Operating income		102,390			1,706			104,096
	Income before income taxes		113,958			1,706			115,664
	Income tax expense		34,077			655			34,732
	Net income		79,881			1,051			80,932
	Net income attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		73,888			1,051			74,939
	Basic earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		0.87			0.01			0.88
	Diluted earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		0.87			0.01			0.88
Consolidated Statement of Operations -- Six Months Ended June 30, 2011
		As previously
	(Dollars in thousands except per share amounts)	reported (1)				Adjustment			Revised
	Depreciation, amortization and accretion	$	293,328		$	(3,411	)	$	289,917
	Total operating expenses		1,973,841			(3,411	)		1,970,430
	Operating income		159,433			3,411			162,844
	Income before income taxes		177,430			3,411			180,841
	Income tax expense		58,169			1,310			59,479
	Net income		119,261			2,101			121,362
	Net income attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		107,999			2,101			110,100
	Basic earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		1.27			0.02			1.29
	Diluted earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		1.26			0.02			1.28
Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows -- Six Months Ended June 30, 2011
		As previously
	(Dollars in thousands)	reported (1)				Adjustment			Revised
	Net income	$	119,261		$	2,101		$	121,362
	Depreciation, amortization and accretion		293,328			(3,411	)		289,917
	Change in Accounts payable-trade		8,588			15,247			23,835
	Change in Accrued taxes		10,215			1,310			11,525
	Change in Other assets and liabilities		(74,549	)		(579	)		(75,128	)
	Cash flows from operating activities		423,432			14,668			438,100
	Cash used for additions to property, plant and equipment		(258,040	)		(7,354	)		(265,394	)
	Cash flows from investing activities		(222,516	)		(7,354	)		(229,870	)
	Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents		134,199			7,314			141,513

• In Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2011, filed on August 8, 2011.