A Interpreting The New York Times Company's Financial Statements
The 2011 Form 10-K of The New York Times Company includes the following note:
Inventories
Inventories as shown in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets were as follows:
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(In thousands)
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December 25, 2011
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December 26, 2010
|
|
Newsprint and magazine paper
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$16,927
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$12,596
|
|
Other inventory
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4,160
|
3,536
|
|
Total
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$21,087
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$16,132
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Inventories are stated at the lower of cost or current market value. Cost was determined uti- lizing the LIFO method for 71% of inventory in 2011 and 66% of inventory in 2010. The excess of replacement or current cost over stated LIFO value was approximately $5 million as of De- cember 25, 2011 and December 26, 2010. The remaining portion of inventory is accounted for under the FIFO method.
Required:
1. What types of inventory costs does The New York Times Company carry? What about news- papers? Are newspapers considered inventory?
2. Why would the company choose more than one method to value its inventory?