NOTE 9 – ACCOUNTING STANDARDS UPDATES

ASU 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842) – ASU 2016-02 requires the lease rights and obligations arising from lease contracts, including existing and new arrangements, to be recognized as assets and liabilities on the balance sheet. ASU 2016-02 is effective for the Company January 1, 2019. The Company is currently evaluating the effect that this guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements.

ASU 2016-07, “Investments-Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323) – Simplifying the Transition to the Equity Method of Accounting.” ASU 2016-07 eliminates the requirement that when an investment qualifies for the use of the equity method as a result in the increase in ownership interest, to retroactively apply the equity method of accounting to all previous periods that the investment was held. The amendments require that the equity method investor add the cost of acquiring the additional interest to the current basis of the investment. ASU 2016-07 will be effective for the Company on January 1, 2017 and is not expected to have a significant impact on its financial statements.

ASU 2016-09, “Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting.” Under ASU 2016-09 all excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies related to share-based payment awards should be recognized as income tax expense or benefit in the income statement during the period in which they occur. Previously, such amounts were recorded in the pool of excess tax benefits included in additional paid-in capital, if such pool was available. Because excess tax benefits are no longer recognized in additional paid-in capital, the assumed proceeds from applying the treasury stock method when computing earnings per share should exclude the amount of excess tax benefits that would have previously been recognized in additional paid-in capital. Additionally, excess tax benefits should be classified along with other income tax cash flows as an operating activity rather than a financing activity, as was previously the case. ASU 2016-09 also provides that an entity can make an entity-wide accounting policy election to either estimate the number of awards that are expected to vest (current GAAP) or account for forfeitures when they occur. ASU 2016-09 changes the threshold to qualify for equity classification (rather than as a liability) to permit withholding up to the maximum statutory tax rates (rather than the minimum as was previously the case) in the applicable jurisdictions. ASU 2016-09 will be effective for the Company on January 1, 2017 and is not expected to have a significant impact on its financial statements.