Note 7 - New Accounting Pronouncements

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Abstract]

New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Text Block]

Note 7: New Accounting Pronouncements

In January 2015, the Company adopted Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-01, which amends FASB ASC Topic 323, Investments – Equity Method and Joint Ventures. The ASU impacts the Company’s accounting for investments in flow-through limited liability entities that manage or invest in affordable housing projects that qualify for the low-income housing tax credit. The amendments in the update permit reporting entities to make an accounting policy election to account for their investments in qualified affordable housing projects using the proportional amortization method if certain conditions are met. Under the proportional amortization method, an entity amortizes the initial cost of the investment in proportion to the tax credits and other tax benefits received and recognizes the net investment performance in the income statement as a component of income tax expense. The Company does have significant investments in such qualified affordable housing projects that meet the conditions for utilizing the proportional amortization method. The Company’s adoption of this ASU did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial position or results of operations, except that the investment amortization expense which was included in Other Non-interest Expense in the Consolidated Statements of Income, is now included in Provision for Income Taxes in the Consolidated Statements of Income.

In June 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-11 “Transfers and Servicing (Topic 860)-Repurchase to Maturity Transactions, Repurchase Financings, and Disclosures.” ASU 2014-11 aligns the accounting for repurchase to maturity transactions and repurchase agreements executed as a repurchase financing with the accounting for other typical repurchase agreements. Going forward, these transactions would all be accounted for as secured borrowings. ASU 2014-11 is effective for the first interim or annual period beginning after December 15, 2014. In addition, the disclosure of certain transactions accounted for as a sale is effective for the first interim or annual period beginning on or after December 15, 2014 and the disclosure for transactions accounted for as secured borrowings is required for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2014, and interim periods beginning March 15, 2015. Early adoption is prohibited. The Company adopted ASU 2014-11 on January 1, 2015 and it did not have an impact on its accounting and disclosures.

In January 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-04 to amend FASB ASC Topic 310, Receivables – Troubled Debt Restructurings by Creditors. The objective of the amendments in this update is to reduce diversity by clarifying when an in substance repossession or foreclosure occurs, that is, when a creditor should be considered to have received physical possession of residential real estate property collateralizing a consumer mortgage loan such that the loan receivable should be derecognized and the real estate property recognized. The amendments in this update clarify that an in substance repossession or foreclosure occurs, and a creditor is considered to have received physical possession of residential real estate property collateralizing a consumer mortgage loan, upon either (1) the creditor obtaining legal title to the residential real estate property upon completion of a foreclosure or (2) the borrower conveying all interest in the residential real estate property to the creditor to satisfy that loan through completion of a deed in lieu of foreclosure or through a similar legal agreement. Additionally, the amendments require interim and annual disclosure of both (1) the amount of foreclosed residential real estate property held by the creditor and (2) the recorded investment in consumer mortgage loans collateralized by residential real estate property that are in the process of foreclosure according to local requirements of the applicable jurisdiction. The update was effective for the Company beginning January 1, 2015, and did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial position or results of operations.