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SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND PRACTICES
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
SIGNIFICANT OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND PRACTICES
2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND PRACTICES

Our significant accounting policies were described in Note 2 of our 2017 Form 10-K. Other than the changes noted in "Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements, Adopted" below, there have been no significant changes in our significant accounting policies for the nine months ended September 30, 2018.

Accounting Estimates and Assumptions

The Company prepares the accompanying consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP, which requires management to make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Future events and their effects cannot be determined with absolute certainty. Therefore, the determination of estimates requires the exercise of judgment. Actual results may materially differ from those estimates.

Similar to other property and casualty insurers, the Company’s liability for loss and loss adjustment expenses ("LAE") reserves, although supported by actuarial projections and other data, is ultimately based on management’s reasoned expectations of future events. Although considerable variability is inherent in these estimates, the Company believes that the liability and LAE reserve is adequate. The Company reviews and evaluates its estimates and assumptions regularly and makes adjustments, reflected in current operations, as necessary, on an ongoing basis.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements, Adopted

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASU 2014-09”). ASU 2014-09 requires an entity to recognize the amount of revenue to which it expects to be entitled for the transfer of promised goods or services to customers. The update replaces all general and most industry specific revenue recognition guidance (excluding insurance) currently prescribed by GAAP. The core principle is that an entity recognizes revenue to reflect the transfer of a promised good or service to customers in an amount that reflects that consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for that good or service. The Company adopted this update and the other related revenue standard clarifications and technical guidance effective January 1, 2018, using the modified retrospective approach. The Company completed the analysis of its non-insurance revenues and has concluded that the implementation did not have any impact on the Company’s consolidated financial condition or results of operations.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-01, Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities (“ASU 2016-01”), which addresses certain aspects of recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of financial instruments.  In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-03, Technical Corrections and Improvements to Financial Instruments-Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities. Most notably, the combined new guidance required equity investments (except those accounted for under the equity method of accounting or those that result in consolidation of the investee) to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income. The Company adopted the guidance effective January 1, 2018, by reflecting a cumulative adjustment, which increased retained earnings and decreased accumulated other comprehensive income by $1.0 million. This adjustment represented the level of net unrealized gains and losses associated with our equity investments with readily determinable market values as of January 1, 2018. The adoption also resulted in the recognition of $2.6 million in our consolidated statements of operations and statements of comprehensive income (loss), which represented the change in net unrealized gains and losses on our equity securities for the first nine months of 2018. This new guidance increases our earnings volatility compared to the prior accounting rules.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230), Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments (a consensus of the Emerging Issues Task Force) to improve the diversity in practice in how certain cash receipts and cash payments are presented and classified in the statement of cash flows. The update provides guidance on specific cash flow classification issues including the following: (1) debt prepayment or debt extinguishment costs; (2) settlement of zero-coupon debt instruments or other debt instruments with coupon interest rates that are insignificant in relation to the effective interest rate of the borrowing; (3) contingent consideration payments made after a business combination; (4) proceeds from the settlement of insurance claims; (5) proceeds from the settlement of corporate-owned life insurance policies, including bank-owned life insurance policies; (6) distributions received from equity method investees; (7) beneficial interests in securitization transactions; and (8) separately identifiable cash flows and application of the predominance principle. Previous GAAP did not include specific guidance on these eight cash flow classification issues. The Company adopted the guidance effective January 1, 2018, and the provisions of this update did not have an impact on our consolidated statements of cash flows or results of operations.

In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-02, Income Statement-Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income. The update allowed a reclassification from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings for stranded tax effects resulting from the Tax Cuts and Job Act of 2017 ("Tax Act"). Guidance had previously required the effect of a change in tax laws or rates on deferred tax balances to be reported in income from continuing operations in the accounting period that includes the period of enactment, even if the related income tax effects were originally charged or credited directly to accumulated other comprehensive income. The Company adopted the guidance effective January 1, 2018, by reflecting a cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings with an off-setting adjustment to accumulated other comprehensive income for less than $0.1 million.

In June 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-07, Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Non-employee Share-Based Payment Accounting. The update expands the scope of Topic 718 to include share-based payment transactions for acquiring goods and services from non-employees. The guidance requires non-employee share-based payments awards to be measured consistently with the accounting for employee share-based payment awards, which is the grant date fair value of the equity security, with measurement at the grant date. Previously, non-employee share-based payment awards were measured at either the fair value of consideration received or the fair value of the equity, at the earlier of the date the non-employee committed to perform or the date of performance completion. The Company adopted the guidance effective June 30, 2018, and the provisions of this update did not have an impact on our consolidated financial position or results of operations.

In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-03, Technical Corrections and Improvements to Financial Instruments-Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities. The update provides corrections and improvements and clarifies certain aspects of the guidance issued in ASU 2016-01. The Company adopted the guidance effective July 1, 2018, and the provisions of this update did not have an impact on our consolidated financial position or results of operations.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements, Not Yet Adopted

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842).  The update will supersede the current lease guidance in Topic 840, Leases and lessees will be required to recognize for all leases, with the exception of short-term leases, a lease liability, which is a lessee’s obligation to make lease payments arising from a lease, measured on a discounted basis.  Concurrently, lessees will be required to recognize a right-of-use asset, which is an asset that represents the lessee’s right to use, or control the use of, a specified asset for the lease term.  The update is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted.  The guidance is required to be applied using a modified retrospective transition approach for leases existing at, or entered into after, the beginning of the earliest comparative periods presented in the financial statements. All of the Company’s leases are classified as operating leases under current lease accounting guidance.  The Company intends to elect the optional transition method and the package of practical expedient, which will allow us to recognize our leases as of January 1, 2019 through a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings, with no adjustment to comparative prior periods presented.  We established a comprehensive approach to implement this standard, and have gathered and assessed the necessary data to determine the scope of impact and now completing our evaluation of processes to meet the accounting and disclosure requirements.  The Company expects to recognize a right-of-sue asset and lease liability on our consolidated balance sheets, however the amount will depend on our leases in existence on January 1, 2019.  However, we do not expect there to be a significant difference in our pattern of lease expense recognition on our consolidated statements of operations, under this ASU.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, which significantly changes the measurement of credit losses for most financial assets and certain other instruments that are not measured at fair value through net income. The update requires entities to record allowances for available-for-sale debt securities rather than reduce the carrying amount, as currently performed under the other-than-temporary impairment ("OTTI") model. The update also require enhanced disclosures for financial assets measured at amortized cost and available-for-sale debt securities to help the financial statement users better understand significant judgments used in estimating credit losses, as well as the credit quality and underwriting standards of an entity’s portfolio. The update is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. The Company is in the early stage of evaluating the impact that the update will have on the Company’s consolidated financial position or results of operations.