11.    DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS AND HEDGING ACTIVITIES

Risk Management Objective of Using Derivatives

The Company is exposed to certain risk arising from both its business operations and economic conditions. To manage this risk, the Company enters into derivative financial instruments from time to time. Certain of the Company’s foreign operations expose the Company to fluctuations of foreign interest rates and exchange rates. These fluctuations may impact the value of the Company’s cash receipts and payments in terms of the Company’s functional currency. The Company enters into derivative financial instruments from time to time to protect the value or fix the amount of certain obligations in terms of its functional currency, the U.S. dollar.

Hedges of Foreign Exchange Risk

The Company is exposed to fluctuations in various foreign currencies against its functional currency, the US dollar. The Company uses foreign currency derivatives, specifically vanilla foreign currency forwards, to manage its exposure to fluctuations in the USD-CAD and AUD-USD exchange rates. Currency forward agreements involve fixing the foreign currency exchange rate for delivery of a specified amount of foreign currency on a specified date. The currency forward agreements are typically cash settled in US dollars for their fair value at or close to their settlement date.

The Company does not currently designate any of these foreign exchange forwards under hedge accounting, but rather reflects the changes in fair value immediately in earnings. Derivatives not designated as hedges are not speculative and are used to manage the Company’s exposure to foreign exchange rates. Changes in the fair value of derivatives not designated in hedging relationships are recorded directly in earnings and were equal to a net gain of $0.5 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2018 and a net loss of $0.3 million in 2017. As of December 31, 2018, the Company had the following outstanding derivatives that were not designated as hedges in qualifying hedging relationships (in thousands except for number of instruments):

Non- Designated Derivatives Summary

The table below presents the fair value of the Company’s derivative financial instruments as well as their classification on the Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 (in thousands):

The table below presents the effect of the Company’s derivative financial instruments on the Income Statement as of December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 (in thousands):

Effect of Derivative Instruments on the Income Statement for Derivatives Not Designated
as Hedging Instruments for the Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2018 and 2017