Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited reported the following information about contingencies in the notes to its December 31, 2011, financial statements:
CANADIAN TIRE CORPORATION, LIMITED
Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2011
23. Contingencies
Legal matters
The Company and certain of its subsidiaries are party to a number of legal proceedings. The Company has determined that each such proceeding constitutes a routine legal matter incidental to the business conducted by the Company and that the ultimate disposition of the proceedings will not have a material effect on its consolidated earnings, cash flows, or financial position.
The Canadian Tire Bank (a wholly-owned subsidiary) is the subject of two class action proceedings regarding allegations that certain fees charged on the Bank issued credit cards are not permitted under the Quebec Consumer Protection Act. The Bank has determined that it has a solid defense to both actions on the basis that banking and cost of borrowing disclosure is a matter of exclusive federal jurisdiction. Accordingly, no provision has been made for amounts, if any, that would be payable in the event of an adverse outcome. If adversely decided, the total aggregate exposure to the Company would have been approximately $24.4 million at December 31, 2011.
Instructions
(a) Why would Canadian Tire disclose information about these legal disputes, including the amount of the potential loss, in the notes to the financial statements instead of accruing an amount for these as liabilities in its accounting records?
(b) Canadian Tire also discloses that it has made "provisions for the cost of legal issues that have not yet been settled. The provisions are based on the Company's best estimate of the expected settlement amount. The amount of the provisions for legal issues is $11.1 million at December 31, 2011 (2010 - $0.3 million)." Why would Canadian Tire accrue for this amount when it hasn't made an accrual for the related legal dispute?