NATURE OF OPERATIONS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

Nature of Business

The terms “United Fire,” “we,” “us,” or “our” refer to United Fire Group, Inc., and its consolidated subsidiaries and affiliates, as the context requires. We are engaged in the business of writing property and casualty insurance and life insurance and selling annuities through a network of independent agencies. We report our operations in two business segments: property and casualty insurance and life insurance. We are licensed as a property and casualty insurer in 43 states plus the District of Columbia and as a life insurer in 35 states.

Basis of Presentation

We maintain our records in conformity with the accounting practices prescribed or permitted by the insurance departments of the states in which we are domiciled. To the extent that certain of these practices differ from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), we have made adjustments to present the accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements in conformity with GAAP. Certain financial information that is included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, including certain financial statement footnote disclosures, are not required by the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial reporting and have been condensed or omitted.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The financial statement categories that are most dependent on management estimates and assumptions include: investments; deferred policy acquisition costs; reinsurance receivables and recoverables (for net realizable value); goodwill and intangible assets (for recoverability); and future policy benefits and losses, claims and loss settlement expenses.

In the preparation of the accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements, we have evaluated all material subsequent events or transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date through the date on which the financial statements were issued for potential recognition or disclosure.

Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation.

In the opinion of the management of United Fire, the accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements contain all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) necessary to present fairly the financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented. All significant intercompany transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The results reported for the interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations that may be expected for the year. The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011. The review report of Ernst & Young LLP as of and for the three-month period ended March 31, 2012, accompanies the unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 “Financial Statements.”

Cash and Cash Equivalents

For purposes of reporting cash flows, cash and cash equivalents include cash, money market accounts, and non-negotiable certificates of deposit with original maturities of three months or less.

For the three-month period ended March 31, 2012, we made payments for income taxes totaling $0.2 million, compared to no income tax payments for the same period of 2011. We received no tax refunds in either period. On April 6, 2012 we received a federal tax refund of $15.5 million. The refund resulted from the utilization of our 2009 net operating losses and net capital losses in the carryback period.

For the three-month period ended March 31, 2012, we made interest payments totaling $0.4 million, compared to no payments for interest for the same period of 2011. These payments exclude interest credited to policyholders’ accounts.

Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs

The costs associated with underwriting new business – primarily commissions, premium taxes and variable underwriting and policy issue expenses associated with successful acquisition efforts – are deferred and amortized over the terms of the underlying policies. The table below shows the reconciliation of the components of our deferred policy acquisition costs asset, including the related amortization recognized for the three-month period ended March 31, 2012.



(In Thousands)	Property & Casualty			Life Insurance			Total
Deferred policy acquisition costs at December 31, 2011	$	60,668		$	45,986		$	106,654
Amortization of value of business acquired	(1,674		)	—			(1,674		)
Current deferred costs	31,279			1,745			33,024
Current amortization	(30,739		)	(2,138		)	(32,877		)
Ending unamortized deferred policy acquisition costs	$	59,534		$	45,593		$	105,127
Change in "shadow" deferred policy acquisition costs	—			104			104
Recorded deferred policy acquisition costs at March 31, 2012	$	59,534		$	45,697		$	105,231

In October 2010, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued updated accounting guidance to address the diversity in practice for the accounting for costs associated with acquiring or renewing insurance contracts. This guidance modifies the definition of acquisition costs to specify that a cost must be incremental and directly related to the successful acquisition of a new or renewal insurance contract in order to be deferred. Acquisition costs that are not eligible for deferral are to be charged to expense in the period incurred. If application of this guidance would result in the capitalization of acquisition costs that had not previously been capitalized by a reporting entity, the entity may elect not to capitalize those costs.

Effective January 1, 2012, we adopted the updated accounting guidance and elected to do so on a prospective basis. As a result of the change, the amount of underwriting expenses eligible for deferral has decreased. After consideration of our normal recoverability assessment, which we refer to as a premium deficiency charge, and the amortization pattern of our deferred policy acquisition costs, we recognized approximately $4.2 million of additional expense on a pretax basis, in the three-month period ended March 31, 2012 than we would have recognized had the rules remained the same. The impact of the adoption on the Consolidated Statements of Income and Comprehensive Income for the three-month period ended March 31, 2012 was an increase to other underwriting expenses of $6.5 million, a decrease to amortization of deferred policy acquisition recoverability of $2.3 million and a decrease to net income of $2.7 million. The decrease to net income represents $0.11 per share.

The impact of the new accounting rules on our results for the full year will be influenced by a number of factors including: the volume of premiums written; our assessment of successful acquisition efforts; the profitability of our lines of property and casualty business, which impacts the level of premium deficiency charge recorded; and the normal amortization pattern of these deferred policy acquisition costs, which is generally over one year. The greatest impact will be experienced in the most current quarter as the recorded deferred policy acquisitions costs would amortize to expense in succeeding quarters to offset a portion of the initial impact when assessed on an annual basis. Accordingly, the impact of the new accounting rules on our results reported for the three-month period ended March 31, 2012 should not be considered to be representative of the impact for the full year.

Income Taxes

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are established based on differences between the financial statement bases of assets and liabilities and the tax bases of those same assets and liabilities, using the currently enacted statutory tax rates. Deferred income tax expense is measured by the year-to-year change in the net deferred tax asset or liability, except for certain changes in deferred tax amounts that affect stockholders’ equity and do not impact federal income tax expense.

We reported a federal income tax expense of $5.7 million and $1.1 million for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively. Our effective tax rate is different than the federal statutory rate of 35.0 percent due principally to the effect of tax-exempt municipal bond interest income and non-taxable dividend income.

We have recognized no liability for unrecognized tax benefits at March 31, 2012 or December 31, 2011. In addition, we have not accrued for interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits. However, if interest and penalties would need to be accrued related to unrecognized tax benefits, such amounts would be recognized as a component of federal income tax expense.

We file a consolidated federal income tax return. We also file income tax returns in various state jurisdictions. We are no longer subject to federal or state income tax examination for years before 2006. There is an ongoing examination of income tax returns by the State of Florida of the 2008 through 2010 tax years.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

Adopted Accounting Standards

Comprehensive Income

In June and December 2011, the FASB issued guidance amending the presentation of comprehensive income and its components. Under the new guidance, a reporting entity has the option to present comprehensive income in a single continuous statement or in two separate but consecutive statements. This new guidance is to be applied retrospectively. We adopted the new guidance in the first quarter of 2012 by electing to report comprehensive income in a single continuous statement as shown in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Income and Comprehensive Income. The new guidance affects presentation only and therefore had no impact on our results of operations or financial position.

Fair Value Measurements

In May 2011, the FASB issued updated accounting guidance that changes the wording used to describe many of the requirements in GAAP for measuring fair value and for disclosing information about fair value measurements to ensure consistency between GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards. The guidance also expands the disclosures for fair value measurements that are estimated using significant unobservable (i.e., Level 3) inputs. We adopted the updated guidance on a prospective basis effective January 1, 2012. The adoption did not have any impact on our financial position or results of operations. The additional disclosures required have been provided in "Note 3. Fair Value of Financial Instruments".