Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Note 1. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Principles of Consolidation and Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania (the Corporation) and its wholly owned subsidiaries; the Corporation’s primary subsidiary is Univest Bank and Trust Co. (the Bank). All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The unaudited interim consolidated financial statements included herein have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP) have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations for interim financial information. The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments which are of a normal recurring nature and are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation of the financial statements for the interim periods presented. Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current-year presentation. Operating results for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2011 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2011. It is suggested that these unaudited consolidated financial statements be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and the notes thereto included in the registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, which was filed with the SEC on March 4, 2011.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the unaudited consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant changes include fair value measurement of investment securities available for sale and assessment for impairment of certain investment securities, reserve for loan and lease losses, valuation of goodwill and other intangible assets, mortgage servicing rights, deferred tax assets and liabilities, benefit plans and stock-based compensation expense.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In August 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued an Accounting Standards Update (ASU) to simplify testing goodwill for impairment. The amendments will allow an entity to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the two-step quantitative goodwill impairment test. An entity no longer will be required to calculate the fair value of a reporting unit unless the entity determines, based on a qualitative assessment, that it is more likely than not, that its fair value is less than its carrying amount. This update is effective for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2011 or March 31, 2012 for the Corporation. Early adoption is permitted. The Corporation expects to early adopt this updated standard during the fourth quarter of 2011 and does not anticipate the guidance will have a material impact on its financial statements.

In June 2011, the FASB issued an ASU regarding the presentation of comprehensive income and to increase the prominence of items reported in other comprehensive income and facilitate the convergence of U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The guidance requires entities to report the total of comprehensive income, the components of net income and the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous financial statement or in two separate but consecutive financial statements. This update is effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2011, or March 31, 2012 for the Corporation, and is to be applied retrospectively. The Corporation does not expect the guidance will have a material impact on its financial statements but will result in a revised format for the presentation of comprehensive income and the components of other comprehensive income.

In May 2011, the FASB issued an ASU regarding fair value measurements which establishes a global standard in U.S. GAAP and IFRS for applying fair value measurements and disclosures. Consequently, the amendments in this update change the wording to describe many of the requirements for measuring fair value and for disclosing information about fair value measurements. The amendments do not require additional fair value measurements and most of the amendments are not intended to result in a change of the application of fair value measurement requirements. Additional disclosures required include: 1) for fair value measurements categorized within Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy: a) the valuation processes used by the reporting entity; and b) the sensitivity of the fair value measurement to changes in unobservable inputs and the interrelationships between those unobservable inputs, if any; and 2) the categorization by level of the fair value hierarchy for items that are not measured at fair value in the statement of financial position but for which the fair value is required to be disclosed. This amendment is effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2011, or March 31, 2012 for the Corporation, and is to be applied prospectively. The Corporation does not anticipate the guidance will have a material impact on its financial statements but will result in revised and expanded disclosures.

In April 2011, the FASB issued an ASU regarding a creditor’s determination of whether a restructuring is a troubled debt restructuring. In evaluating whether a restructuring constitutes a troubled debt restructuring, a creditor must separately conclude that the restructuring constitutes both a concession and the borrower is experiencing financial difficulties under the guidance provided by this update. In addition, the amendments clarify that a creditor is precluded from using the effective interest rate test in the borrower’s guidance on restructuring of payables when evaluating whether a restructuring constitutes a troubled debt restructuring. The guidance on identifying and disclosing troubled debt restructurings was effective for interim and annual periods beginning on or after June 15, 2011, or September 30, 2011 for the Corporation, and applied retrospectively to restructurings occurring on or after the beginning of the year or January 1, 2011 for the Corporation. The guidance on measuring the impairment of a receivable restructured in a troubled debt restructuring was effective on a prospective basis. The applications of the provisions of this standard did not have a material impact on the Corporation’s financial statements.

In July 2010, the FASB issued an ASU for improving disclosures about the credit quality of financing receivables and the allowance for credit losses. Disclosures must be disaggregated by portfolio segment, the level at which an entity develops and documents a systematic method for determining its allowance for credit losses, and class of financing receivable. The required disclosures include, among other things, a rollforward of the allowance for credit losses as well as information about modified, impaired, nonaccrual and past due loans and credit quality indicators. For disclosures required as of the end of a reporting period, the update was effective and implemented commencing as of December 31, 2010 for the Corporation’s financial statements. Disclosures that relate to activity during a reporting period were required for financial statements that include periods beginning on or after January 1, 2011, or March 31, 2011 for the Corporation. The guidance related to troubled debt restructurings was effective for interim and annual periods beginning after June 15, 2011, or September, 30, 2011 for the Corporation, in order to be concurrent with the effective date of guidance under the ASU issued in April 2011 regarding a creditor’s determination of whether a restructuring is a troubled debt restructuring. The application of the provisions of these standards did not have a material impact on the Corporation’s financial statements although it resulted in expanded disclosures effective March 31, 2011 and September 30, 2011, which are included under Note 4, “Credit Quality of Loans and Leases and the Reserve for Loans and Lease Losses.”