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Note 4 - Derivative instrument assets/liabilities:
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Text Block]
4. Derivative instrument assets/liabilities:

The Company enters into foreign currency contracts to hedge a portion of the Company’s expected Canadian dollar requirements. All derivative financial instruments are recorded at fair value on our consolidated balance sheet. The fair value of our foreign currency contracts at December 31, 2011 was a net unrealized loss of $0.7 million (as compared to a net unrealized gain of $0.8million at December 31, 2010). The unrealized gains are a result of fluctuations in foreign exchange rates between the date the currency forward contracts were entered into and the valuation date at period end. The net unrealized loss of our foreign currency contracts during the year ended December 31, 2011 is due primarily to the unfavorable movement in exchange rates between the Canadian and U.S. dollars and the settlement of contracts with significant gains.

At December 31, 2010, the Company had forward exchange contracts to trade U.S. dollars in exchange for Canadian dollars as follows:

Maturity date
 
Notional
amount of
U.S. dollars
   
Weighted average
exchange rate of
U.S. dollars
   
Fair value
loss (gain)
 
January - March 2012
  $ 5,100,000       0.9755     $ 211,764  
April - June 2012
    5,100,000       0.9785       206,286  
July - September 2012
    5,100,000       0.9855       178,390  
October - December 2012
    5,100,000       0.9855       184,586  
January – March 2013
    6,000,000       1.0277       (25,371 )
April – May 2013
    4,000,000       1.0385       (56,173 )
Total
  $ 30,400,000       0.9980     $ 699,482  

As of December 31, 2011, we had outstanding foreign currency forward contracts amounting to $30.4 million.

As we do not comply with the documentation requirements for hedge accounting, we account for the fair value of the derivative instruments within the consolidated balance sheet as a derivative financial asset or liability and the corresponding change in fair value is recorded in the consolidated statement of operations. We have no other freestanding or embedded derivative instruments.

The Company is not required to apply hedge accounting and, therefore, for the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company recorded a loss of $0.5 million on currency forward contracts in its consolidated statements of operations. For the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company recorded a gain on currency forward contracts of $0.9 million. For the year ended December 31, 2009, the Company recorded a gain of $3.2 million on currency forward contracts in its consolidated statements of operations.