SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Accounting Pronouncements Recently Adopted

Accounting Standard Update (“ASU” or “Update”) No. 2010-06 — Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures — Improving Disclosures about Fair Value Measurements. In January of 2010, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU No. 2010-06 — Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures — Improving Disclosures about Fair Value Measurements. This Update provides amendments to Subtopic 820-10 that requires the following new disclosures. 1) A reporting entity should disclose separately the amounts of significant transfers in and out of Level 1 and Level 2 fair value measurements and describe the reasons for the transfers. 2) In the reconciliation for fair value measurements using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3), a reporting entity should present separately information about purchases, sales, issuances, and settlements (that is, on a gross basis rather than as one net number).

This Update provides amendments to Subtopic 820-10 that clarifies existing disclosures. 1) A reporting entity should provide fair value measurement disclosures for each class of assets and liabilities. 2) A reporting entity should provide disclosures about the valuation techniques and inputs used to measure fair value for both recurring and nonrecurring fair value measurements. Those disclosures are required for fair value measurements that fall in either Level 2 or Level 3. This Update also includes conforming amendments to the guidance on employers’ disclosures about postretirement benefit plan assets (Subtopic 715-20). The conforming amendments to Subtopic 715-20 change the terminology from major categories of assets to classes of assets and provide a cross reference to the guidance in Subtopic 820-10 on how to determine appropriate classes to present fair value disclosures. This Update is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2009, which the Company adopted for the period ending March 31, 2010, except for the disclosures about purchases, sales, issuances, and settlements in the roll forward of activity in Level 3 fair value measurements. Those disclosures were adopted by the Company as of January 1, 2011. This Update did not have an impact on the Company’s results of operations or financial position.

ASU No. 2010-15 — Financial Services—Insurance — How Investments Held through Separate Accounts Affect an Insurer’s Consolidation Analysis of Those Investments. The amendments in this Update clarify that an insurance entity should not consider any separate account interests held for the benefit of policy holders in an investment to be the insurer’s interests. The entity should not combine general account and separate account interests in the same investment when assessing the investment for consolidation. Additionally, the amendments do not require an insurer to consolidate an investment in which a separate account holds a controlling financial interest if the investment is not or would not be consolidated in the standalone financial statements of the separate account. The amendments in this Update also provide guidance on how an insurer should consolidate an investment fund in situations in which the insurer concludes that consolidation is required. This Update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2010. For the Company this Update became effective January 1, 2011. This Update did not have an impact on the Company’s results of operations or financial position.

ASU No. 2010-20 — Receivables — Disclosures about the Credit Quality of Financing Receivables and the Allowance for Credit Losses. The objective of this Update is to require disclosures that facilitate financial statement users in evaluating the nature of credit risk inherent in the portfolio of financing receivables (loans); how that risk is analyzed and assessed in arriving at the allowance for credit losses; and any changes and the reasons for those changes to the allowance for credit losses. The Update requires several new disclosures regarding the reserve for credit losses which was effective on December 31, 2010 and provisions related to troubled debt restructurings which became effective for fiscal periods beginning after June 30, 2011. The Company adopted the new disclosures in this Update for the annual reporting period ending December 31, 2010 and adopted the provisions related to troubled debt restructuring in the third quarter of 2011. This Update did not have an impact on the Company’s results of operations or financial position.

ASU No. 2010-28 — Intangibles — Goodwill and Other — When to Perform Step 2 of the Goodwill Impairment Test for Reporting Units with Zero or Negative Carrying Amounts. The amendments in this Update modify Step 1 of the goodwill impairment test for reporting units with zero or negative carrying amounts. For those reporting units, an entity is required to perform Step 2 of the goodwill impairment test if it is more likely than not that a goodwill impairment exists. In determining whether it is more likely than not that a goodwill impairment exists, an entity should consider whether there are any adverse qualitative factors indicating that an impairment may exist. This Update is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2010. This Update was effective for the Company as of January 1, 2011. This Update did not have an impact on the Company’s results of operations or financial position.

ASU No. 2010-29—Business Combinations—Disclosure of Supplementary Pro Forma Information for Business Combinations.  This Update does not change current accounting for business combinations, however it clarifies the current guidance regarding pro forma disclosures and requires a description of the nature and amount of material, nonrecurring pro forma adjustments to arrive at pro forma revenue and earnings. The amendments in this Update were effective prospectively for business combinations for which the acquisition date is on or after January 1, 2011. The Company applied this guidance to the pro forma information related to the reinsurance transaction with Liberty Life Insurance Company as disclosed in Note 3 — Significant Acquisitions. We will apply the guidance to all future acquisitions. There was no material impact to the adoption of this Update.

ASU No. 2011-02 — Receivables — A Creditor’s Determination of Whether a Restructuring Is a Troubled Debt Restructuring. The objective of this Update is to evaluate whether a restructuring constitutes a troubled debt restructuring. In evaluating whether a restructuring constitutes a troubled debt restructuring, a creditor must separately conclude that both of the following exist: 1) the restructuring constitutes a concession and 2) the debtor is experiencing financial difficulties. This Update also clarifies the guidance on a creditor’s evaluation of whether it has granted a concession. The amendments in this Update are effective for the first interim or annual period beginning on or after June 15, 2011, and should be applied retrospectively to the beginning of the annual period of adoption. For the Company, this Update became effective on July 1, 2011. This Update did not have an impact on the Company’s results of operations or financial position.

Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted

ASU No. 2010-26 — Financial Services — Insurance - Accounting for Costs Associated with Acquiring or Renewing Insurance Contracts. The objective of this Update is to address diversity in practice regarding the interpretation of which costs relating to the acquisition of new or renewal insurance contracts qualify for deferral. This Update prescribes that certain incremental direct costs of successful initial or renewal contract acquisitions may be deferred. It defines incremental direct costs as those costs that result directly from and are essential to the contract transaction and would not have been incurred by the insurance entity had the contract transaction not occurred. This Update also clarifies the definition of the types of incurred costs that may be capitalized and the accounting and recognition treatment of advertising, research, and other administrative costs related to the acquisition of insurance contracts. This Update is effective for periods beginning after December 15, 2011 and is to be applied prospectively. Early adoption and retrospective application are optional. The Company’s expected retrospective adoption of this Update will result in a reduction in its deferred acquisition cost asset as well as a decrease in the amortization associated with those previously deferred costs. There will also be a reduction in the level of costs the Company defers subsequent to adoption. The Company is evaluating the full effects of implementing this Update, but the Company currently estimates that its retrospective adoption will result in a cumulative effect adjustment to the opening balance of shareowners’ equity of between 8% and 10% as of January 1, 2012, including a reduction of between approximately 20% and 22% of its existing deferred acquisition cost asset balance as of January 1, 2012. The Company currently estimates that if the change were in effect at September 30, 2011, the adoption of this Update would have resulted in a year-to-date decrease to net income in 2011 of between 8% and 10%.

ASU No. 2011-03 — Transfers and Servicing - Reconsideration of Effective Control for Repurchase Agreements. This Update amends the assessment of effective control for repurchase agreements to remove 1) the criterion requiring the transferor to have the ability to repurchase or redeem the financial assets on substantially the agreed terms, even in the event of default by the transferee, and 2) the collateral maintenance implementation guidance related to the criterion. The Boards determined that these criterion should not be a determining factor of effective control. This Update is effective for the first interim or annual period beginning on or after December 15, 2011. For the Company, the Update will be applied to all repurchase agreements beginning January 1, 2012. The Company is currently evaluating the impact this Update will have on its results of operations or financial position.

ASU No. 2011-04 — Fair Value Measurement - Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRSs. The amendments in this Update result in common fair value measurement and disclosure requirements in GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRSs”). The amendments change the wording used to describe many of the requirements for measuring fair value and for disclosing information about fair value measurements. The intent of this Update was not to change the application of the requirements in Topic 820. Some of the amendments clarify the intent regarding the application of existing fair value measurement requirements. The Update did modify several principles or requirements for measuring fair value or for disclosing information about fair value measurements. These changes are effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. The Company is currently evaluating the impact this Update will have on its results of operations or financial position.

ASU No. 2011-05 — Comprehensive Income — Presentation of Comprehensive Income. In this Update, a company has the option to present the total of comprehensive income, the components of net income, and the components of other comprehensive income either in 1) a single continuous statement of comprehensive income, or 2) in two separate but consecutive statements. In both choices, a company is required to present each component of net income along with total net income, each component of other comprehensive income along with a total for other comprehensive income, and a total amount for comprehensive income. The amendments in this Update do not change the items that must be reported in other comprehensive income, or the timing of its subsequent reclassification to net income. This Update is effective January 1, 2012. The Company is currently evaluating the appropriate format to which it will adhere.

ASU No. 2011-08 — Intangibles — Goodwill and Other: Testing Goodwill for Impairment. This Update is intended to reduce the complexity and cost of goodwill impairment testing by allowing an entity the option to make a qualitative evaluation about the likelihood of goodwill impairment prior to the quantitative calculation required by current guidance. Under the amendments to Topic 350, an entity has the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether the existence of events or circumstances leads to a determination that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. If an entity determines it is not more likely than not that the fair value is less than the carrying amount, the two-step impairment process is not required. However, if an entity concludes otherwise, the two-step impairment test outlined in current guidance is required to be completed. This Update does not change the requirements or implementation of the current two-step impairment test. This Update is effective January 1, 2012. The Company is currently evaluating the appropriate process to which it will adhere.

Significant Accounting Policies

For a full description of significant accounting policies, see Note 2 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. There were no significant changes to the Company’s accounting policies during the nine months ended September 30, 2011, except as noted above. See Note 5, Mortgage Loans for additional information on the accounting policies for mortgage loans.