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New Accounting Standards
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020
New Accounting Standards NEW ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

The disclosures in this note apply to all Registrants unless indicated otherwise.

During the FASB’s standard-setting process and upon issuance of final standards, management reviews the new accounting literature to determine its relevance, if any, to the Registrants’ business. The following standards will impact the financial statements.

ASU 2016-13 “Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments” (ASU 2016-13)

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13 requiring the recognition of an allowance for expected credit losses for financial instruments within its scope. Examples of financial instruments that are in scope include trade receivables, certain financial guarantees and held-to-maturity debt securities. The allowance for expected credit losses should be based on historical information, current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts. Entities are required to evaluate, and if necessary, recognize expected credit losses at the inception or initial acquisition of a financial instrument (or pool of financial instruments that share similar risk characteristics) subject to ASU 2016-13, and subsequently as of each reporting date. The new standard also revises the other-than-temporary impairment model for available-for-sale debt securities.

New standard implementation activities included: (a) the identification and evaluation of the population of financial instruments within the AEP system that are subject to the new standard, (b) the development of supporting valuation models to also contemplate appropriate metrics for current and supportable forecasted information and (c) the development of disclosures to comply with the requirements of ASU 2016-13. As required by ASU 2016-13, the financial instruments subject to the new standard were evaluated on a pool-basis to the extent such financial instruments shared similar risk characteristics.

Management adopted ASU 2016-13 and its related implementation guidance effective January 1, 2020, by means of an immaterial cumulative-effect adjustment to Retained Earnings on the balance sheets. The adoption of the new standard did not have a material impact to financial position and had no impact on the results of operations or cash flows. Additionally, the adoption of the new standard did not result in any changes to current accounting systems.

ASU 2020-04 “Reference Rate Reform: Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting” (ASU 2020-04)

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-04 providing guidance to ease the potential burden in accounting for Reference Rate Reform on financial reporting. The new standard is elective and applies to all entities, subject to meeting certain criteria, that have contracts, hedging relationships, and other transactions that reference the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) or another reference rate expected to be discontinued because of Reference Rate Reform. The new standard establishes a general contract modification principle that entities can apply in other areas that may be affected by Reference Rate Reform and certain elective hedge accounting expedients. Under the new standard, an entity may make a one-time election to sell or to transfer to the available-for-sale or trading classifications (or both sell and transfer), debt securities that both reference an affected rate, and were classified as held-to-maturity before January 1, 2020.

The new accounting guidance is effective for all entities as of March 12, 2020 through December 31, 2022. The amendments may be applied to contract modifications as of any date from the beginning of an interim period that includes or is subsequent to March 12, 2020, or prospectively from a date within an interim period that includes or is subsequent to March 12, 2020, up to the date that the financial statements are available to be issued. The amendments may be applied to eligible hedging relationships existing as of the beginning of the interim period that includes March 12, 2020 and to new eligible hedging relationships entered into after the beginning of the interim period that includes March 12, 2020. The one-time election to sell, transfer, or both sell and transfer debt securities classified as held-to-maturity may be made at any time after March 12, 2020 but no later than December 31, 2022. Management has yet to apply the amendments in the new standard to any contract modifications, hedging relationships, or debt securities. Management is analyzing the impact of this new standard and at this time, cannot estimate the impact of adoption on results of operations, financial position or cash flows.