Fair Value Measurements

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Fair Value Measurements [Abstract]

FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

6. FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) guidance defines fair value as the exit price associated with the sale of an asset or transfer of a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Under this guidance, valuation techniques used to measure fair value must maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs. In addition, this guidance establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. These tiers include:

• Level 1 — Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

• Level 2 — Inputs other than Level 1 that are observable, either directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities; quoted prices in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.

• Level 3 — Unobservable inputs (i.e. projections, estimates, interpretations, etc.) that are supported by little or no market activity and that are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities.

As of both September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, the Company held Level 1 cash equivalents as investments in money market funds totaling $1.0 million, and Level 1 available-for-sale securities in highly-rated U.S. Treasury and Corporate bonds of $12.3 million as of December 31, 2011, in accounts held by major financial institutions.