D. Deferred Costs. Incremental costs of obtaining a contract (e.g., sales commissions) that are expected to be recovered are capitalized and amortized on a straight-line basis over a period of three to eight years, depending on the Company's business unit. Incremental costs of obtaining a contract include only those costs the Company incurs to obtain a contract that it would not have incurred if the contract had not been obtained. These costs are included in selling, general and administrative expenses. The Company capitalizes costs incurred to fulfill its contracts that i) relate directly to the contract ii) are expected to generate resources that will be used to satisfy the Company's performance obligations under the contract and iii) are expected to be recovered through revenue generated under the contract. Costs incurred to implement clients on our solutions (e.g. direct labor) are capitalized and amortized on a straight-line basis over the expected client relationship period if the Company expects to recover those costs. The expected client relationship period ranges from three to eight years. These costs are included in operating expenses. The Company has estimated the amortization periods for the deferred costs by using its historical retention by business units to estimate the pattern during which the service transfers. E. Cash and Cash Equivalents.  Highly liquid investment securities with a maturity of ninety days or less at the time of purchase are considered cash equivalents. The fair value of our cash and cash equivalents approximates carrying value. F. Corporate Investments and Funds Held for Clients.  All of the Company's marketable securities are considered to be “available-for-sale” and, accordingly, are carried on the Consolidated Balance Sheets at fair value. Unrealized gains and losses, net of the related tax effect, are excluded from earnings and are reported as a separate component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) on the Consolidated Balance Sheets until realized. Realized gains and losses from the sale of available-for-sale securities are determined on an aggregate approach basis and are included in other (income)/expense, net on the Statements of Consolidated Earnings. 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: Level 1 Fair value is determined based upon quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities that are traded in active markets. 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: 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 · 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. Incremental Costs of Obtaining a Contract Costs to fulfill a Contract