Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Fair Value Measurements

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Fair Value Measurements
12 Months Ended
Sep. 29, 2012
Fair Value Measurements [Abstract]  
Fair Value Measurements

2. Fair Value Measurements

ASC 820 establishes a single authoritative definition of fair value, a framework for measuring fair value and expands disclosure of fair value measurements. ASC 820 requires financial assets and liabilities to be categorized based on the inputs used to calculate their fair values as follows:

Level 1 – Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

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, which reflect the Company’s own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability (including assumptions about risk).

 

Assets and Liabilities Measured at Fair Value on a Recurring Basis

The Company had short- term investments, consisting of bank certificates of deposit, measured at fair value using Level 2 inputs in the fair value hierarchy, as of September 29, 2012.

Assets and Liabilities Measured at Fair Value on a Non-Recurring Basis

Financial assets measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis include short-term held-to-maturity investments that are carried at amortized cost and are not remeasured to fair value on a recurring basis. There were no fair value adjustments to these financial assets during 2012.

The Company measures certain non-financial assets and liabilities, including long-lived assets, goodwill and intangible assets, at fair value on a non-recurring basis. Fair value measurements of non-financial assets and non-financial liabilities are used primarily in the impairment analyses of long-lived assets, goodwill and other intangible assets using discounted cash flows with Level 3 inputs in the fair value hierarchy. In fiscal 2010, the carrying value of $26.9 million of indefinite-lived intangible assets were written down to their estimated fair value of $14.9 million, resulting in an impairment charge of $12.0 million, which was included in earnings for the period.