New Accounting Standards

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2012

Notes to Financial Statements [Abstract]

New Accounting Standards

2.  New Accounting Standards

Adoption of New Accounting Standards

Comprehensive Income Topic

In June 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2011-05, “Presentation of Comprehensive Income” (“ASU 2011-05”), with an objective of increasing the prominence of items reported in other comprehensive income (“OCI”); however, in December 2011, the FASB deferred a portion of the presentation requirements by issuing ASU No. 2011-12, “Deferral of the Effective Date for Amendments to the Presentation of Reclassifications of Items Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income in Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-05” (“ASU 2011- 12”). For a more detailed description of ASU 2011-05 and ASU 2011-12, see “Future Adoption of New Accounting Standards – Comprehensive Income Topic” in Note 2 of our 2011 Form 10-K. We adopted the provisions of ASU 2011-05 as of January 1, 2012, after considering the deferral in ASU 2011-12, and have included a single continuous statement of comprehensive income in Item 1 of this quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2012.

Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures Topic

In May 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-04, “Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards” (“ASU 2011-04”), which was issued to create a consistent framework for the application of fair value measurement across jurisdictions. For a more detailed description of ASU 2011-04 see “Future Adoption of New Accounting Standards – Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures Topic” in Note 2 of our 2011 Form 10-K. We adopted the provisions of ASU 2011-04 effective January 1, 2012, and have included the additional disclosures required for fair value measurements in Note 12 for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2012.

Financial Services – Insurance Industry Topic

In October 2010, the FASB issued ASU No. 2010-26, “Accounting for Costs Associated with Acquiring or Renewing Insurance Contracts” (“ASU 2010-26”), which clarifies the types of costs incurred by an insurance entity that can be capitalized in the acquisition of insurance contracts. Only those costs incurred that result directly from and are essential to the successful acquisition of new or renewal insurance contracts may be capitalized as deferrable acquisition costs. The determination of deferability must be made on a contract-level basis.

Prior to the adoption of ASU 2010-26, we defined deferred acquisition costs (“DAC”) as commissions and other costs of acquiring UL insurance, VUL insurance, traditional life insurance, annuities and other investments contracts that vary with and are related primarily to new or renewal business, regardless of whether the acquisition efforts were successful or unsuccessful. Upon the adoption of ASU 2010-26, we revised our accounting policy to only defer acquisition costs directly related to successful contract acquisitions or renewals, and excluded from DAC those costs incurred for soliciting potential customers, market research, training, administration, management of distribution and underwriting functions, unsuccessful acquisition or renewal efforts and product development. In addition, indirect acquisition costs including administrative costs, rent, depreciation, occupancy costs, equipment costs and other general overhead are excluded from DAC. The costs that are considered non-deferrable acquisition costs under ASU 2010-26 are expensed in the period incurred.

We adopted the provisions of ASU 2010-26 as of January 1, 2012, and elected to retrospectively restate all prior periods. The following summarizes the prior period increases (decreases) (in millions) reflected in our Consolidated Balance Sheets and Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity related to the adoption:

				As of December 31,
				2011		2010
Assets
Deferred acquisition costs				$	(1,415)	$	(1,516)
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
Other liabilities - deferred income taxes				$	(490)	$	(524)
Stockholders' equity:
	Retained earnings				(1,157)		(1,095)
	Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)				232		103
		Total stockholders' equity			(925)		(992)
			Total liabilities and stockholders' equity	$	(1,415)	$	(1,516)

The following summarizes the prior period increases (decreases) to income from continuing operations and earnings (loss) per share (“EPS”) (in millions, except per share data) reflected in our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) for the three andsixmonths ended June 30, 2011, related to the adoption:

			For the Three				For the Six
			Months			Months
			Ended			Ended
			June 30,			June 30,
			2011			2011
Revenues
Realized gain (loss)				$	4		$	8
Expenses
Commissions and other expenses					(37)			(81)
	Income (loss) from continuing operations before taxes				(33)			(73)
	Federal income tax expense (benefit)				12			26
		Income (loss) from continuing operations		$	(21)		$	(47)
Earnings (Loss) Per Common Share - Basic				$	(0.07)		$	(0.15)
Earnings (Loss) Per Common Share - Diluted				$	(0.07)		$	(0.15)

Intangibles – Goodwill and Other Topic

In September 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-08, “Testing Goodwill for Impairment” (“ASU 2011-08”), which provides an option to first assess qualitative factors to determine if it is necessary to complete the two-step goodwill impairment test. For a more detailed description of ASU 2011-08, see “Future Adoption of New Accounting Standards – Intangibles – Goodwill and Other Topic” in Note 2 of our 2011 Form 10-K. We adopted the provisions of ASU 2011-08 effective January 1, 2012. The adoption did not have a material effect on our consolidated financial condition and results of operations.

Transfers and Servicing Topic

In April 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-03, “Reconsideration of Effective Control for Repurchase Agreements” (“ASU 2011-03”), which revises the criteria for assessing effective control for repurchase agreements and other agreements that both entitle and obligate a transferor to repurchase or redeem financial assets before their maturity. For a more detailed description of ASU 2011-03, see “Future Adoption of New Accounting Standards – Transfers and Servicing Topic” in Note 2 of our 2011 Form 10-K. We adopted the provisions of ASU 2011-03 effective January 1, 2012. The adoption did not have a material effect on our consolidated financial condition and results of operations.

Future Adoption of New Accounting Standards

Balance Sheet Topic

In December 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-11, “Disclosures about Offsetting Assets and Liabilities” (“ASU 2011-11”), to address certain comparability issues between financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP and those prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. For a more detailed description of ASU 2011-11, see “Future Adoption of New Accounting Standards – Balance Sheet Topic” in Note 2 of our 2011 Form 10-K. We will adopt the disclosure requirements in ASU 2011-11 beginning with our first quarter 2013 financial statements and are currently evaluating the appropriate location for these disclosures in the notes to our financial statements.