If the fair value of an available-for-sale debt security is below its amortized cost, the Company assesses whether it intends to sell the security or if it is more likely than not the Company will be required to sell the security before recovery. If either of those two conditions is met, the Company would recognize a charge in earnings equal to the entire difference between the security's amortized cost basis and its fair value. If the Company does not intend to sell a security or it is not more likely than not that it will be required to sell the security before recovery, the unrealized loss is separated into an amount representing the credit loss, which is recognized in earnings, and the amount related to all other factors, which is recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). Premiums and discounts are amortized or accreted over the life of the related available-for-sale security as an adjustment to yield using the effective-interest method. Dividend and interest income are recognized when earned. G. Fair Value Measurements.  Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date and is based upon the Company’s principal, or most advantageous, market for a specific asset or liability. U.S. GAAP provides for a three-level hierarchy of inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value, defined as follows: The Company's corporate investments and funds held for clients (see Note 7) are measured at fair value on a recurring basis as described below. Over 99% of the Company's available-for-sale securities included in Level 2 are valued based on prices obtained from an independent pricing service. To determine the fair value of the Company's Level 2 investments, the independent pricing service uses various pricing models for each asset class that are consistent with what other market participants would use, including the market approach. Inputs and assumptions to the pricing model of the independent pricing service are derived from market observable sources including: benchmark yields, reported trades, broker/dealer quotes, issuer spreads, benchmark securities, bids, offers and other market-related data. Since many fixed income securities do not trade on a daily basis, the independent pricing service applies available information, as applicable, through processes such as benchmark curves, benchmarking of like securities, sector groupings and matrix pricing to prepare valuations. For the purposes of valuing the Company’s asset-backed securities, as well as the mortgage-backed securities that are included within Other securities in Note 7, the independent pricing service includes additional inputs to the model such as monthly payment information, new issue data, and collateral performance. For the purposes of valuing the Company’s Municipal bonds, the independent pricing service includes Municipal Market Data benchmark yield curves as additional inputs to the model. While the Company is not provided access to the proprietary models of the third party pricing service, each quarterly reporting period, the Company reviews the inputs utilized by the independent pricing service and compares the valuations received from the independent pricing service to valuations from at least one other observable source for reasonableness. The Company has not adjusted the prices obtained from the independent pricing service and the Company believes the prices received from the independent pricing service are representative of the prices that would be received to sell the assets at the measurement date (exit price). The Company has no available-for-sale securities included in Level 1 and Level 3. In fiscal 2016, the Company issued fixed-rate notes with 5-year and 10-year maturities for an aggregate principal amount of $2.0 billion (collectively the "Notes"). The fair value of the Notes are estimated in Note 11 utilizing a variety of inputs obtained from an independent pricing service, including benchmark yields, reported trades, non-binding broker/dealer quotes, issuer spreads, two-sided markets, benchmark securities, bids, offers, and reference data. The Company reviews the values generated by the independent pricing service for reasonableness by comparing the valuations received from the independent pricing service to valuations from at least one other observable source. The Company has not adjusted the prices obtained from the independent pricing service. Level 1 Fair value is determined based upon quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities that are traded in active markets. Level 3 Fair value is determined based upon inputs that are unobservable and reflect the Company’s own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability based upon the best information available in the circumstances (e.g., internally derived assumptions surrounding the timing and amount of expected cash flows). 52 Level 2 Fair value is determined based upon inputs other than quoted prices included in Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly, for substantially the full term of the asset or liability, including: · quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets; · quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active; · inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability; or · inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data by correlation or other means.