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BASIS OF PRESENTATION
9 Months Ended
Jan. 31, 2013
BASIS OF PRESENTATION
1. BASIS OF PRESENTATION

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (the “Parent”), its wholly-owned subsidiaries and an entity in which it has a controlling financial interest (collectively, “we”, “us” or “our”). For the consolidated subsidiary that is less than wholly-owned, the third-party holding of equity interest is referred to as a noncontrolling interest. The portion of net loss attributable to the noncontrolling interest holder of this subsidiary is presented as net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest in the unaudited consolidated statements of operations and the portion of comprehensive loss attributable to the noncontrolling interest holder of this subsidiary is presented as comprehensive loss attributable to noncontrolling interest in the unaudited consolidated statements of comprehensive loss. The portion of stockholders’ equity of this subsidiary attributable to the noncontrolling interest holder is presented as noncontrolling interest in the unaudited consolidated balance sheets and the unaudited consolidated statement of stockholders’ equity.

We are a regional, vertically-integrated solid waste services company that provides collection, transfer, disposal, landfill, landfill gas-to-energy, recycling and organics services in the northeastern United States. We market recyclable metals, aluminum, plastics, paper and corrugated cardboard, which have been processed at our recycling facilities, as well as recyclables purchased from third parties. We manage our solid waste operations on a geographic basis through two regional operating segments, the Eastern and Western regions, each of which includes a full range of solid waste services, and our larger-scale recycling and commodity brokerage operations through our Recycling segment. Ancillary operations, major customer accounts, discontinued operations and earnings through equity method investees are included in our Other segment.

The consolidated financial statements as of January 31, 2013 and for the three and nine months ended January 31, 2013 and 2012 are unaudited. These unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and in the opinion of management, include all adjustments, which include normal recurring and nonrecurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows for the periods presented. The results for the three and nine months ended January 31, 2013 may not be indicative of the results that may be expected for any other interim period or the fiscal year ending April 30, 2013. The unaudited consolidated financial statements presented herein should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended April 30, 2012, which was filed with the SEC on June 28, 2012.

The preparation of our unaudited consolidated financial statements 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 unaudited consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Our significant accounting policies are more fully discussed in Item 8 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended April 30, 2012.

Certain reclassifications have been made to previously reported amounts. These reclassifications had no effect on the previously reported consolidated financial position, results of operations or retained earnings.

 

We consider events or transactions that have occurred after the unaudited consolidated balance sheet date of January 31, 2013, but prior to the filing of the unaudited consolidated financial statements with the SEC on this Form 10-Q. We have evaluated subsequent events through the date of the filing of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q with the SEC.

Adoption of New Accounting Pronouncements

Comprehensive Income

In June 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) issued an accounting standards update for the presentation of comprehensive income. This guidance requires the presentation of comprehensive income, the components of net income and the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. The updated standard also requires presentation of adjustments for items that are reclassified from other comprehensive income to net income in the statement where the components of net income and the components of other comprehensive income are presented. The FASB deferred certain portions of the accounting standard update related to presentation of reclassification adjustments from other comprehensive income to net income. This guidance, except for the deferred portion noted above, is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2011 with early adoption permitted. We adopted this guidance effective May 1, 2012. It only impacts the presentation of our financial statements and does not impact our consolidated financial position or results of operations.

New Accounting Pronouncements Pending Adoption

Comprehensive Income

In February 2013, the FASB issued an accounting standards update for the reporting of reclassifications out of accumulated other comprehensive income. This guidance requires an entity to report the effect of significant reclassifications out of accumulated other comprehensive income on the respective line items in net income if the amount being reclassified is required under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) to be reclassified in its entirety to net income. For other amounts not required under GAAP to be reclassified in their entirety to net income in the same reporting period, an entity is required to cross-reference other disclosures required under GAAP that provide additional detail about those amounts. This guidance is effective prospectively for annual and interim reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2012 and it will only impact the presentation of our financial statements or require additional disclosure and will not impact our consolidated financial position or results of operations.

Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets Impairment Test

In July 2012, the FASB issued an accounting standards update on indefinite-lived intangible assets impairment testing. This guidance permits an entity to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount as a basis for determining whether it is necessary to perform the quantitative impairment test. If after assessing the totality of events or circumstances, we determine that it is not more likely than not that an indefinite-lived intangible asset is impaired, then we will not need to perform the quantitative impairment test in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 350-30. This guidance is effective for annual and interim indefinite-lived assets impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after September 15, 2012 with early adoption permitted, and we expect that it will have no impact on our consolidated financial position or results of operations.

Disclosures About Offsetting Assets and Liabilities

In December 2011, the FASB issued an accounting standards update regarding the disclosure of offsetting assets and liabilities in financial statements. This guidance requires an entity to disclose both gross information and net information about both instruments and transactions eligible for offset in the statement of financial position and instruments and transactions subject to an agreement similar to a master netting arrangement. The objective of this disclosure is to facilitate comparison between those entities that prepare their financial statements on the basis of GAAP and those entities that prepare their financial statements on the basis of International Financial Reporting Standards. In January 2013, the FASB issued an accounting standards update to address implementation issues about the December 2011 accounting standards update by clarifying the scope of the offsetting disclosures. This guidance is effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2013, and interim periods within those annual periods, and it will only impact the presentation of our financial statements or require additional disclosure and will not impact our consolidated financial position or results of operations.