Accounting policies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Significant Accounting Policies [Text Block]

2. Accounting policies

Basis of preparation: The consolidated financial statements presented are prepared in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Use of estimates: The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Significant items subject to estimates and assumptions include the carrying value of property, plant and equipment, intangible assets, goodwill and the fair value of the Company’s investment in affiliate.  Actual results could differ significantly from such estimates.

Basis of consolidation: The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company’s (i) wholly-owned subsidiaries, Aquilex, Inc., Cayman Water Company Limited (“Cayman Water”), Consolidated Water (Asia) Pte Ltd. (“CW-Asia”), Consolidated Water (Belize) Limited (“CW-Belize”), Ocean Conversion (Cayman) Limited (“OC-Cayman”), DesalCo Limited (“DesalCo”), Consolidated Water Cooperatief, U.A. (“CW-Coop”); (ii) majority-owned subsidiaries Consolidated Water (Bahamas) Ltd. (“CW-Bahamas”) and PT Consolidated Water Bali (“CW-Bali”); and (iii) affiliates Consolidated Water (Bermuda) Limited (“CW-Bermuda”) and N.S.C. Agua, S.A. de C.V. (“NSC”), which are consolidated for financial reporting purposes because the Company has a controlling financial interest in these companies. The Company’s investment in its other affiliate, Ocean Conversion (BVI) Ltd. (“OC-BVI”), is accounted for using the equity method of accounting. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Foreign currency: The Company’s reporting currency is the United States dollar. The functional currency of the Company and its foreign subsidiaries (other than its consolidated affiliate NSC) is the currency for each respective country. The functional currency for NSC is the United States dollar. The exchange rates between the Cayman Islands dollar, the Belize dollar, the Bahamian dollar, and the Bermuda dollar are fixed to the United States dollar. Foreign currency gains/losses arising from transactions conducted in foreign currencies were immaterial for each of the years in the three year period ended December 31, 2012.

Cash and cash equivalents: Cash and cash equivalents consist of demand deposits at banks and highly liquid deposits at banks with an original maturity of three months or less.

As of December 31, 2012, the Company had deposits in U.S. banks in excess of federally insured limits of approximately $303,000. As of December 31, 2012, the Company held cash in foreign bank accounts of approximately $36.1 million.

Marketable securities: Marketable securities consist primarily of marketable debt obligations with maturities of less than one year, are accounted for as trading securities and stated at fair value. Any unrealized gains and losses on these securities are recognized in the consolidated statement of income.

Accounts receivable and allowance for doubtful accounts: Accounts receivable are recorded at invoiced amounts based on meter readings or minimum take-or-pay amounts per contractual agreements. The allowance for doubtful accounts is the Company’s best estimate of the amount of probable credit losses in the Company’s existing accounts receivable balance. The Company determines the allowance for doubtful accounts based on historical write-off experience and monthly review of delinquent accounts. Past due balances are reviewed individually for collectability and disconnection. Account balances are charged off against the allowance for doubtful accounts after all means of collection have been exhausted and the potential for recovery is considered by management to be remote.

Inventory: Inventory primarily includes consumables stock and spare parts stock that are valued at the lower of cost or net realizable value with cost determined on the first-in, first-out basis. Inventory also includes potable water held in the Company’s reservoirs. The carrying amount of the water inventory is the lower of the average cost of producing water during the year or its net realizable value.

Loans receivable: Loans receivable relate to notes receivable from customers arising from the construction and sale of water desalination plants. The allowance for loan losses, if any, is the Company’s best estimate of the amount of probable credit losses in the Company’s existing loans and is determined on an individual loan basis.

Property, plant and equipment: Property, plant and equipment is stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is calculated using a straight line method with an allowance for estimated residual values. Rates are determined based on the estimated useful lives of the assets as follows:

Buildings	5 to 40 years
Plant and equipment	4 to 40 years
Distribution system	3 to 40 years
Office furniture, fixtures and equipment	3 to 10 years
Vehicles	3 to 10 years
Leasehold improvements	Shorter of 5 years or operating lease term outstanding
Lab equipment	5 to 10 years

Additions to property, plant and equipment are comprised of the cost of the contracted services, direct labor and materials. Assets under construction are recorded as additions to property, plant and equipment upon completion of the projects. Depreciation commences in the month the asset is placed in service.

Long-lived Assets: Long-lived assets are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the assets might not be recoverable. Conditions that would necessitate an impairment assessment include a significant decline in the observable market value of an asset, a significant change in the extent or manner in which an asset is used, or a significant adverse change that would indicate that the carrying amount of an asset or group of assets is not recoverable. For long-lived assets to be held and used, the Company recognizes an impairment loss only if its carrying amount is not recoverable through its undiscounted cash flows and measures the impairment loss based on the difference between the carrying amount and fair value.

During 2012, the Company determined, after assessing the economic prospects for one of CW-Bahamas’ reverse osmosis desalination plants, that the carrying value of this plant’s assets were likely not recoverable from itsundiscounted future cash flows. Accordingly, the Company recorded an impairment loss of $432,727 for the year ended December 31, 2012 to reduce the carrying value of this plant to its estimated fair value.

Construction in progress: Interest costs directly attributable to the acquisition and construction of qualifying assets, which are assets that necessarily take a substantial period of time to be ready for their intended use, are added to the cost of those assets until such time as the assets are substantially ready for use. Interest capitalized on assets constructed during the year ended December 31, 2011 was $246,851.

Goodwill and intangible assets: Goodwill represents the excess cost over the fair value of the assets of an acquired business. Goodwill and intangible assets acquired in a business combination and determined to have an indefinite useful life are not amortized, but are tested for impairment at least annually. Intangible assets with estimable useful lives are amortized over their respective estimated useful lives to their estimated residual values and reviewed periodically for impairment. The Company annually evaluates the possible impairment of goodwill as part of its financial reporting process for the fourth quarter of each fiscal year. Management identifies its reporting units and determines the carrying value of each reporting unit by assigning the assets and liabilities, including the existing goodwill and intangible assets, to those reporting units. The Company determines the fair value of each reporting unit and compares it to the carrying amount of the reporting unit. To the extent the carrying amount of the reporting unit exceeds the fair value of the reporting unit, the Company is required to perform the second step of the impairment test, as this is an indication that the reporting unit goodwill may be impaired. In this step, the Company compares the implied fair value of the reporting unit goodwill with the carrying amount of the reporting unit goodwill. The implied fair value of goodwill is determined by allocating the fair value of the reporting unit to all the assets (recognized and unrecognized) and liabilities of the reporting unit in a manner similar to a purchase price allocation. The residual fair value after this allocation is the implied fair value of the reporting unit goodwill. If the implied fair value is less than its carrying amount, an impairment loss is recorded.

For the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2012 the Company estimated the fair value of its reporting units by applying the discounted cash flow method, the subject company stock price method, the guideline public company method, the mergers and acquisitions method and, on an exception basis and where necessary and appropriate, the net asset value method.

The discounted cash flow method relied upon seven-year discrete projections of operating results, working capital and capital expenditures, along with a terminal value subsequent to the discrete period. These seven-year projections were based upon historical and anticipated future results, general economic and market conditions, and considered the impact of planned business and operational strategies. The discount rates for the calculations represented the estimated cost of capital for market participants at the time of each analysis. In preparing these seven year projections for 2012 for the retail unit the Company (i) identified various possible outcomes of its on-going negotiations with the Cayman Islands government for the renewal of its retail license; (ii) estimated the cash flows associated with each possible outcome; and (iii) assigned a probability to each outcome and associated estimated cash flows. The weighted average estimated cash flows were then summed to determine the overall fair value of the retail unit under this method. The possible outcomes used for the discounted cash flow method for the retail unit included the implementation of a rate of return on invested capital model, the methodology proposed by Cayman Islands government representatives for the new retail license.

The Company also estimated the fair value of each of its reporting units for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2012 through reference to the quoted market prices for the Company and guideline companies and the market multiples implied by guideline merger and acquisition transactions. For the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company also relied upon net asset values to estimate the fair value of its services unit.

The Company weighted the fair values estimated for each of its reporting units under each method and summed such fair values to estimate the overall fair value for each reporting unit. In recognition of the fact that its common stock has traded during the past two years at prices less than its book value per share the Company changed the relative weightings for 2012 from those used for 2011 to increase the weightings applied to those methods that resulted in more conservative estimates of fair value. The respective weightings the Company applied to each method for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011 are as follows:

	2012									2011
Method	Retail			Bulk			Services			Retail			Bulk			Services
Discounted cash flow		20	%		30	%					20	%		10	%		20	%
Subject company stock price		60	%		50	%		10	%		40	%		10	%		80	%
Guideline public company		10	%		10	%					20	%		40	%
Mergers and acquisitions		10	%		10	%					20	%		40	%
Net asset value								90	%
		100	%		100	%		100	%		100	%		100	%		100	%

The fair values the Company estimated for its retail, bulk and services units exceeded their carrying amounts for the year ended December 31, 2011. The fair values the Company estimated for its retail and bulk units exceeded their carrying amounts by 39% and 6%, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2012. The fair value the Company estimated for its services unit for the year ended December 31, 2012 was 10% less than its carrying amount. As a result of this estimate and the Company’s subsequent step 2 analysis of the implied fair value of the goodwill recorded for its services unit, the Company recorded an impairment charge for the services unit goodwill of $88,717 for the year ended December 31, 2012. Based upon the discounted cash flows and market approach methodologies employed in the Company’s analyses, no other impairment charges were required for its goodwill for any of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2012.

The Company also performed an analysis reconciling the conclusions of value for its reporting units to its market capitalization at October 1, 2012. This reconciliation resulted in an implied control premium for the Company of 32.6%.

Investments: Investments where the Company does not exercise significant influence over the operating and financial policies of the investee and holds less than 20% of the voting stock are recorded at cost. The Company uses the equity method of accounting for investments in common stock where the Company holds 20% to 50% of the voting stock of the investee and has significant influence over its operating and financial policies but does not meet the criteria for consolidation. The Company recognizes impairment losses on declines in the fair value of the stock of investees that are other than temporary.

Other assets: Under the terms of the contract with the Water and Sewerage Corporation of The Bahamas for the purchase of water from the Company’s Blue Hills desalination plant, the Company was required to reduce the amount of water lost by the public water distribution system on New Providence Island, The Bahamas, over a one year period by 438 million gallons, a requirement the Company met during 2007. The Company was solely responsible for the engineering, labor and materials costs incurred to effect the reduction in lost water, which were capitalized and are being amortized on a straight-line basis over the original remaining life of the Blue Hills contract. Such costs are included in other assets and aggregated approximately $3.5 million as of December 31, 2012 and 2011. Accumulated amortization for these costs was approximately $1.1 million and $923,000 as of December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Other liabilities: Other liabilities consist of security deposits and advances in aid of construction. Security deposits are received from large customers as security for trade receivables. Advances in aid of construction are recognized as a liability when advances are received from condominium developers in the licensed area to help defray the capital expenditure costs of the Company. These advances do not represent loans to the Company and are interest free. However, the Company allows a discount of ten percent on future supplies of water to these developments until the aggregate discounts allowed are equivalent to advances received. Discounts are charged against advances received.

Income taxes: The Company accounts for the income taxes arising from the operations of its United States subsidiary, Aquilex, Inc., under the asset and liability method. Deferred tax assets and liabilities, if any, are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases and operating loss and tax credit carryforwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. A valuation allowance is provided to the extent any deferred tax asset may not be realized.

Consolidated Water (Belize) Limited (“CW-Belize”) is liable for business and corporate income taxes. Under the terms of its water supply agreement with Belize Water Services Ltd. (“BWSL”), its sole customer, CW-Belize is reimbursed by BWSL for all taxes that it is required to pay and records this reimbursement as an offset to its tax expense.

The Company is not subject to income taxes in the other countries in which it operates.

Plant construction revenue and cost of plant construction revenue: The Company recognizes revenue and related costs as work progresses on fixed price contracts for the construction of desalination plants to be sold to third parties using the percentage-of-completion method, which relies on contract revenue and estimates of total expected costs. The Company follows this method since it can make reasonably dependable estimates of the revenue and costs applicable to various stages of a contract. Under the percentage-of-completion method, the Company records revenue and recognizes profit or loss as work on the contract progresses. The Company estimates total project costs and profit to be earned on each long term, fixed price contract prior to commencement of work on the contract and updates these estimates as work on the contract progresses. The cumulative amount of revenue recorded on a contract at a specified point in time is that percentage of total estimated revenue that incurred costs to date comprises of estimated total contract costs. If, as work progresses, the actual contract costs exceed estimates, the profit recognized on revenue from that contract decreases. The Company recognizes the full amount of any estimated loss on a contract at the time the estimates indicate such a loss. Any costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings are classified as current assets. Billings in excess of costs and estimated earnings on uncompleted contracts, if any, are classified as current liabilities.

The Company assumes the risk that the costs associated with constructing the plant may be greater than it anticipated in preparing its bid. However, the terms of each of the sales contracts with its customers require the Company to guarantee the sales price for the plant at the bid amount. Because the Company bases its contracted sales price in part on its estimation of future construction costs, the profitability of its plant sales is dependent on its ability to estimate these costs accurately. The cost estimates the Company prepares in connection with the construction of plants to be sold to third parties are subject to inherent uncertainties. The cost of materials and construction may increase significantly after the Company submits its bid for a plant due to factors beyond the Company’s control, which could cause the gross margin for a plant to be less than the Company anticipated when the bid was made. The profit margin the Company initially expects to generate from a plant sale could be further affected by other factors, such as hydro-geologic conditions at the plant site that differ materially from those the Company believes exist and relied upon when the Company submitted its bid.

Revenue from water sales: The Company recognizes revenues from water sales at the time water is supplied to the customer’s facility or storage tank. The amount of water supplied is determined based upon water meter readings performed at the end of each month.  Under the terms of both its license agreement with the government of the Cayman Islands and its bulk water supply contracts, the Company is entitled to charge its customers the greater of a minimum monthly charge or the price for water supplied during the month.

Comparative amounts: Certain amounts presented in the financial statements previously issued for 2011 and 2010 have been reclassified to conform to the current year’s presentation.