21.    INCOME TAXES

Income before income taxes consisted of the following:

A reconciliation between income tax expense and taxes computed by applying the applicable statutory federal income tax rate to income before income taxes follows:

The Company reinvests the undistributed earnings of its foreign subsidiaries, with the exception of its subsidiary in Ecuador. Accordingly, deferred U.S. federal and state income taxes are provided only on the undistributed earnings of the Company’s Ecuador subsidiary. As of December 31, 2011, the cumulative amount of undistributed earnings of the foreign subsidiaries on which the Company has not recognized income taxes was approximately $293,000. Determination of the amount of any unrecognized deferred income tax liability on this temporary difference is not practicable because of the complexities of the hypothetical calculation.

Deferred Income Taxes

The tax effects of significant temporary differences and tax loss and tax credit carryforwards comprising the net long-term deferred income tax liabilities as of December 31, 2010 and 2011 consisted of the following:

The Company’s foreign tax credit carryforwards begin expiring in 2015. Some foreign net operating losses will expire in the next reporting period; however, some losses may be carried forward indefinitely. State net operating losses may be carried forward for periods of between five and twenty years with the last expiring year being 2029.

Uncertain Tax Positions

The following is a reconciliation of the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits excluding interest and penalties, for the years ended December 31, 2009, 2010 and 2011:

The Company had $19,788 and $22,411 of gross unrecognized tax benefits, including interest and penalties, as of December 31, 2010 and December 31, 2011, respectively. Of these amounts, $14,339 and $16,274 represent the amount of unrecognized tax benefits that if recognized would impact the effective income tax rate for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2011, respectively. The Company had $4,591 and $3,751 accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2010 and 2011, respectively.

The Company and its subsidiaries file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction, and multiple state and foreign jurisdictions, and the Company is routinely under audit by many different tax authorities. The Company believes that its accrual for tax liabilities is adequate for all open audit years based on its assessment of many factors including past experience and interpretations of tax law. This assessment relies on estimates and assumptions and may involve a series of complex judgments about future events. The Company is no longer subject to income tax audits from the Internal Revenue Service for years before 2007. The Company is no longer subject to state income tax examinations by tax authorities in its major state jurisdictions for years before 2007. Certain state returns were amended as a result of the Internal Revenue Service examination closures for 2002 through 2006, and the statutes remain open for those amendments. The Company is no longer subject to non-U.S. income tax examinations by tax authorities in its major non-U.S. tax jurisdictions for years before 2004.

The Company is currently under examination by the Internal Revenue Service for the 2007, 2008 and 2009 tax years. We do not believe that these audits will be completed within the next twelve months.