Matthews International Corporation Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Fair Value Measurements

Fair Value Measurements

9 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2012

Note 3. Fair Value Measurements

Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. A three level fair value hierarchy is used to prioritize the inputs used in valuations, as defined below:

Level 1: Observable inputs that reflect unadjusted quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in active markets.

Level 2: Inputs other than quoted prices included within level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly.

Level 3: Unobservable inputs for the asset or liability.

The fair values of the Company's assets and liabilities measured on a recurring basis are categorized as follows:

	June 30, 2012								September 30, 2011
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Assets:
Trading securities	$	15,676		-		-	$	15,676	$	13,426		-		-	$	13,426
Total assets at fair value	$	15,676		-		-	$	15,676	$	13,426		-		-	$	13,426

Liabilities:
Derivatives (1)		-	$	8,244		-	$	8,244		-	$	7,161		-	$	7,161
Total liabilities at fair value		-	$	8,244		-	$	8,244		-	$	7,161		-	$	7,161

(1) Interest rate swaps are valued based on observable market swap rates.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

+ References

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+ Details