Accounting Changes and Error Corrections

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Accounting Changes and Error Corrections

Schedule of New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Table Text Block]

2.     Recently adopted Accounting Guidance

In June 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued guidance on presentation of comprehensive income. The new guidance eliminates the current option to report other comprehensive income and its components in the statement of changes in equity. Instead, an entity will be required to present either a continuous statement of net income and other comprehensive income, or in two separate consecutive statements. The new guidance also requires entities to present reclassification adjustments out of accumulated other comprehensive income by component in both the statement in which net income is presented and the statement in which other comprehensive income is presented. In December 2011, the FASB issued guidance which indefinitely defers the guidance related to the presentation of reclassification adjustments. We adopted the new guidance beginning January 1, 2012, using two consecutive statements for all periods presented.  Adoption of this new guidance only resulted in financial statement presentation changes.

On January 1, 2012, we adopted guidance issued by the FASB on accounting and disclosure requirements related to fair value measurements. The guidance limits the highest-and-best-use measure to nonfinancial assets, permits certain financial assets and liabilities with offsetting positions in market or counterparty credit risks to be measured at a net basis, and provides guidance on the applicability of premiums and discounts. Additionally, the guidance expands the disclosures on Level 3 inputs by requiring quantitative disclosure of the unobservable inputs and assumptions, as well as description of the valuation processes and the sensitivity of the fair value to changes in unobservable inputs. Adoption of this new guidance did not have a material impact on our financial statements.