BASIS OF PRESENTATION	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
BASIS OF PRESENTATION
BASIS OF PRESENTATION	NOTE A BASIS OF PRESENTATION The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America for interim financial information and the instructions to Form 10-Q. Accordingly, they do not include all of the financial information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. References to “we,” “us,” “our,” “its,” or the “Company” refer to TGC Industries, Inc. and our subsidiaries. REVENUE RECOGNITION Seismic Surveys The Company provides seismic data acquisition survey services to its customers under general service agreements which define certain obligations for the Company and for its customers. A supplemental agreement setting forth the terms of a specific project, which may be cancelled by either party upon 30 days’ advance written notice, is entered into for every project. These supplemental agreements are either “turnkey” agreements providing for a fixed fee to be paid for each unit of seismic data acquired or “term” agreements providing for a fixed hourly, daily, or monthly fee during the term of the project. The duration of these projects will vary from a few days to several months. The Company recognizes revenue when services are performed under both types of agreements. Services are defined as the commencement of data acquisition, which is the physical act of laying out seismic equipment or recording contractually determined data points. Under turnkey agreements, the total number of units of seismic data to be gathered is set forth in the agreement. TGC recognizes revenue on turnkey arrangements as services are performed on a per unit of seismic data acquired rate based on the number of data points per square mile obtained compared to the number of square miles set forth in the agreement. Eagle Canada recognizes revenue on turnkey agreements as services are performed on a per unit of seismic data laid-out rate, which is standard industry practice in Canada, based on the number of receiver lines laid out as compared to the estimated total lines to be laid out for the project pursuant to the agreement. Under term agreements, revenue is recognized, by both TGC and Eagle Canada, as services are performed based on the time worked rate provided in the term agreement. Under both turnkey and term agreements, cost of earned revenue is recognized by multiplying total estimated agreement cost by the percentage-of-completion of the agreement. The excess of that amount over the cost of earned revenue reported in prior periods is recognized as cost of earned revenue for the period. Agreements are not segmented or combined for purposes of calculating percentage of completion. The asset “Cost and estimated earnings in excess of billings on uncompleted contracts” represents costs incurred on turnkey agreements in excess of billings on those agreements. The liability “Billings in excess of costs and estimated earnings on uncompleted contracts” represents billings on turnkey agreements in excess of costs on those agreements. RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS In July 2012, the FASB issued ASU No. 2012-02, Intangibles-Goodwill and Other (Topic 350) — Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment (“ASU 2012-02”). This ASU provides entities with an option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether events or circumstances indicate that it is more likely than not that the indefinite-lived intangible asset is impaired. If an entity concludes that it is more than 50% likely that an indefinite-lived intangible asset is not impaired, no further analysis is required. However, if an entity concludes otherwise, it would be required to determine the fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible asset to measure the amount of actual impairment, if any, as currently required under U.S. GAAP. The ASU is effective for annual and interim impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after September 15, 2012. The Company adopted this update in the first quarter of 2013 and it did not have a significant effect on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

NOTE A

BASIS OF PRESENTATION

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America for interim financial information and the instructions to Form 10-Q. Accordingly, they do not include all of the financial information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. References to “we,” “us,” “our,” “its,” or the “Company” refer to TGC Industries, Inc. and our subsidiaries.

REVENUE RECOGNITION

Seismic Surveys

The Company provides seismic data acquisition survey services to its customers under general service agreements which define certain obligations for the Company and for its customers. A supplemental agreement setting forth the terms of a specific project, which may be cancelled by either party upon 30 days’ advance written notice, is entered into for every project. These supplemental agreements are either “turnkey” agreements providing for a fixed fee to be paid for each unit of seismic data acquired or “term” agreements providing for a fixed hourly, daily, or monthly fee during the term of the project. The duration of these projects will vary from a few days to several months. The Company recognizes revenue when services are performed under both types of agreements. Services are defined as the commencement of data acquisition, which is the physical act of laying out seismic equipment or recording contractually determined data points. Under turnkey agreements, the total number of units of seismic data to be gathered is set forth in the agreement. TGC recognizes revenue on turnkey arrangements as services are performed on a per unit of seismic data acquired rate based on the number of data points per square mile obtained compared to the number of square miles set forth in the agreement. Eagle Canada recognizes revenue on turnkey agreements as services are performed on a per unit of seismic data laid-out rate, which is standard industry practice in Canada, based on the number of receiver lines laid out as compared to the estimated total lines to be laid out for the project pursuant to the agreement. Under term agreements, revenue is recognized, by both TGC and Eagle Canada, as services are performed based on the time worked rate provided in the term agreement. Under both turnkey and term agreements, cost of earned revenue is recognized by multiplying total estimated agreement cost by the percentage-of-completion of the agreement. The excess of that amount over the cost of earned revenue reported in prior periods is recognized as cost of earned revenue for the period. Agreements are not segmented or combined for purposes of calculating percentage of completion. The asset “Cost and estimated earnings in excess of billings on uncompleted contracts” represents costs incurred on turnkey agreements in excess of billings on those agreements. The liability “Billings in excess of costs and estimated earnings on uncompleted contracts” represents billings on turnkey agreements in excess of costs on those agreements.

RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

In July 2012, the FASB issued ASU No. 2012-02, Intangibles-Goodwill and Other (Topic 350) — Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment (“ASU 2012-02”). This ASU provides entities with an option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether events or circumstances indicate that it is more likely than not that the indefinite-lived intangible asset is impaired. If an entity concludes that it is more than 50% likely that an indefinite-lived intangible asset is not impaired, no further analysis is required. However, if an entity concludes otherwise, it would be required to determine the fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible asset to measure the amount of actual impairment, if any, as currently required under U.S. GAAP. The ASU is effective for annual and interim impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after September 15, 2012. The Company adopted this update in the first quarter of 2013 and it did not have a significant effect on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.