Basis of Presentation

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2022

Accounting policies and error corrections [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements of Unum Group and its subsidiaries (the Company) have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. For further information, refer to the consolidated financial statements and footnotes included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.

In 2021, we changed the presentation of policyholder account deposits and withdrawals related to our universal life products to present the activity on a gross basis within the financing activities section of the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. As a result of this change, we determined that certain historical adjustments related to the cost of insurance, policy administration expenses and surrender charges for these products were incorrectly presented as a component of net cash used by financing activities rather than as a component of net cash provided by operating activities. We determined that the impact of the error to the previously issued Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows was not material and we have corrected the error. The impact of this correction for the six months ended June 30, 2021 was a decrease to the change in insurance reserves and liabilities within net cash used by operating activities of $62.0 million, with a corresponding decrease to net cash used by financing activities. Within net cash used by financing activities, the other, net line item was adjusted as a result of the error correction to separately present proceeds from policyholder account deposits and payments for policyholder account withdrawals. The error had no impact on our financial position or our results of operations.

In our opinion, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of full year performance, particularly when considering the risks and uncertainties associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the impacts it may have on our financial position, results of operations, liquidity and capital resources, and overall business operations.