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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)
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3 Months Ended |
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Mar. 31, 2012
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| Accounting Policies [Abstract] | |
| Principles of Consolidation |
Principles of Consolidation
The accompanying consolidated financial statements of Sirius XM Radio Inc. and subsidiaries have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") for interim financial reporting. Accordingly, these interim financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. All significant intercompany transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.
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| Basis of Presentation |
Basis of Presentation
In the opinion of management, all normal recurring adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of our unaudited consolidated financial statements as of March 31, 2012 and for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011 have been made.
Interim results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for a full year. This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q should be read together with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, which was filed with the SEC on February 9, 2012.
We have evaluated events subsequent to the balance sheet date and prior to the filing of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and have determined that no events have occurred that would require adjustment to our unaudited consolidated financial statements. For a discussion of subsequent events refer to Notes 16 and 17.
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| Use of Estimates |
Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and footnotes. Estimates, by their nature, are based on judgment and available information. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates.
Significant estimates inherent in the preparation of the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements include revenue recognition, asset impairment, depreciable lives of our satellites, share-based payment expense, and valuation allowances against deferred tax assets.
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| Income Taxes |
Income Taxes
Deferred income taxes represents the tax consequence related to temporary differences between the carrying amount of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for tax purposes at each reporting period, based on enacted tax laws and statutory tax rates applicable to the periods in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income. A valuation allowance is recognized when, based on the weight of all available evidence, it is considered more likely than not that all, or some portion, of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Income tax expense is the sum of current income tax plus the change in deferred tax assets and liabilities.
As of March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011, we maintained a full valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets due to our historical accumulated pre-tax losses.
ASC 740, Income Taxes, requires a company to first determine whether it is more-likely-than-not that a tax position will be sustained based on its technical merits as of the reporting date, assuming that taxing authorities will examine the position and have full knowledge of all relevant information. A tax position that meets this more-likely-than-not threshold is then measured and recognized at the largest amount of benefit that is greater than fifty percent likely to be realized upon effective settlement with a taxing authority. Changes in recognition or measurement are reflected in the period in which the change in judgment occurs. We record interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions in income tax expense in our unaudited consolidated statements of comprehensive income.
We report revenues net of any tax assessed by a governmental authority that is both imposed on, and concurrent with, a specific revenue-producing transaction between a seller and a customer in our unaudited consolidated statements of comprehensive income.
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| Fair Value of Financial Instruments |
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value for publicly traded instruments is determined using quoted market prices while the fair value for non-publicly traded instruments is based upon estimates from a market maker and brokerage firm.
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| Recent Accounting Pronouncements |
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In May 2011, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-04, Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (Topic 820) — Fair Value Measurement (“ASU 2011-04”), to provide a consistent definition of fair value and ensure that the fair value measurement and disclosure requirements are similar between U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards. ASU 2011-04 changes certain fair value measurement principles and enhances the disclosure requirements particularly for Level 3 fair value measurements. This standard is effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011 and is applied on a prospective basis. We have adopted ASU 2011-04 and the impact of adoption is not material to our unaudited consolidated financial statements.
In June 2011, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-05, Comprehensive Income (Topic 220), Presentation of Comprehensive Income (“ASU 2011-05”), to require an entity to present the total of comprehensive income, the components of net income, and the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statements of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. ASU 2011-05 eliminates the option to present the components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of equity. The standard does not change the items which must be reported in other comprehensive income, how such items are measured or when they must be reclassified to net income. This standard is effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011 and is to be applied retrospectively. The FASB has deferred the requirement to present reclassification adjustments for each component of accumulated other comprehensive income in both net income and other comprehensive income. Companies are required to either present amounts reclassified out of other comprehensive income on the face of the financial statements or disclose those amounts in the notes to the financial statements. During the deferral period, there is no requirement to separately present or disclose the reclassification adjustments into net income. The effective date of this deferral will be consistent with the effective date of the ASU 2011-05. We have adopted ASU 2011-05 and disclosed comprehensive income in our unaudited consolidated statements of comprehensive income and note that this guidance only affects financial statement presentation only and has no impact on our results of unaudited consolidated financial statements.
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