Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

1. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited consolidated interim financial statements of United Bankshares, Inc. and Subsidiaries (“United” or “the Company”) have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles for interim financial information generally accepted in the United States (GAAP) and with the instructions for Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, the financial statements do not contain all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. In preparing the consolidated financial statements, management is required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The financial statements presented as of September 30, 2019 and 2018 and for the three-month and nine-month periods then ended have not been audited. The consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2018 has been extracted from the audited financial statements included in United’s 2018 Annual Report to Shareholders. The accounting and reporting policies followed in the presentation of these financial statements are consistent with those applied in the preparation of the 2018 Annual Report of United on Form 10-K. In the opinion of management, all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of financial position and results of operations for the interim periods have been made. Such adjustments are of a normal and recurring nature.

The accompanying consolidated interim financial statements include the accounts of United and its wholly owned subsidiaries. United operates in two business segments: community banking and mortgage banking. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in the consolidated financial statements. Information is presented in these notes to the unaudited consolidated interim financial statements with dollars expressed in thousands, except per share or unless otherwise noted.

New Accounting Standards

In April 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued ASU No. 2019-04 “Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses, Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and Topic 825, Financial Instruments.” The amendments clarify the scope of the credit losses standard and address issued related to accrued interest receivable balances, recoveries, variable interest rates and prepayments. The amendments also address partial-term fair valued hedges, fair value hedge basis adjustments. The amendments to the credit losses and hedging standards have the same effective dates as those standards, unless an entity has already adopted the standards. The amendments to recognition and measurement guidance are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019; early adoption is permitted. Management is currently evaluating the possible impact this standard may have on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-14 “Compensation – Retirement Benefits—Defined Benefits – General (Topic 715-20): Disclosure Framework – Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Defined Benefit Plans.” This update amends ASC Topic 715 to add, remove, and clarify disclosure requirements related to defined benefit pension and other post retirement plans. The ASU’s changes related to disclosures are part of the FASB’s disclosure framework project, which the FASB launched in 2014 to improve effectiveness of disclosures in notes to financial statements. ASU No. 2018-14 is effective for public companies for fiscal years, and interim fiscal periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2020; early adoption is permitted. ASU No. 2018-14 is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-13 “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820), Disclosure Framework – Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement.” This amendment changes the fair value measurement disclosure requirements of ASC Topic 820 and is the result of a broader disclosure project called FASB Concepts Statement, Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting – Chapter 8: Notes to Financial Statements, which was finalized in August 2018. ASU No. 2018-13 is effective for all entities for fiscal years, and interim fiscal periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019; early adoption is permitted for any eliminated or modified disclosure upon issuance of this ASU. ASU No. 2018-13 is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

In June 2018, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2018-07 “Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting.” This update has been issued as part of a simplification initiative which will expand the scope of ASC Topic 718 to include share-based payment transactions for acquiring goods and services from non-employees and expands the scope through the amendments to address and improve aspects of the accounting for non-employee share-based payment transactions. Consequently, the accounting for share-based payments to nonemployees and employees will be substantially aligned. ASU No. 2018-07 is effective for public companies for fiscal years, and interim fiscal periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2018; early adoption is permitted. ASU No. 2018-07 was adopted by United on January 1, 2019. The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-12, “Targeting Improvement to Accounting for Hedging Activities.” This ASU amends ASC 815 and its objectives are to improve the transparency and understandability of information conveyed to financial statement users about an entity’s risk management activities by better aligning the entity’s financial reporting for hedging relationships with those risk management activities and reduce the complexity and simplify the application of hedge accounting by preparers. This ASU makes certain targeted improvements to simplify the application of the hedge accounting, including to derivative instruments as well as allow a one-time election to reclassify fixed-rate, prepayable debt securities from a held to maturity classification to an available for sale classification. ASU No. 2017-12 is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018; early adoption is permitted. United adopted the standard on January 1, 2019 using the modified retrospective approach. As part of this adoption, the Company made a one-time election to transfer eligible HTM securities to the AFS category. The Company transferred HTM securities with a carrying amount of $11,544, which resulted in a decrease of $1,098 to AOCI.

In July 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-11, “Part I, Accounting for Certain Financial Instruments with Down Round Features and Part II, Replacement of the Indefinite Deferral for Mandatorily Redeemable Financial Instruments of Certain Nonpublic Entities and Certain Mandatorily Redeemable Noncontrolling interests with a Scope Exception.” Part I of this ASU simplifies the accounting for financial instruments that include down round features while the amendments in Part II, which do not have an accounting effect, address the difficulty of navigating the guidance in ASC 480, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity”, due to the existence of extensive pending content in the Codification. ASU No. 2017-11 is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018. ASU No. 2017-11 was adopted by United on January 1, 2019.

In March 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-08, “Receivables – Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20): Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities.” This update amends the amortization period for certain purchased callable debt securities held at a premium. FASB is shortening the amortization period for the premium to the earliest call date. The amendments in this update became effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim reporting periods within those annual reporting periods. ASU No. 2017-08 was adopted by United on January 1, 2019. The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-04, “Intangibles – Goodwill and Other (Topic 350).” ASU 2017-04 eliminates the requirement to calculate the implied fair value of goodwill to measure a goodwill impairment charge. Instead, entities will record an impairment charge based on the excess of a reporting unit’s carrying amount over its fair value. ASU 2017-04 is effective for United on January 1, 2020, with early adoption permitted, and management is currently evaluating the possible impact this standard may have on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, “Financial Instruments – Credit Losses” which changes the impairment model for most financial assets and certain other instruments that are not measured at fair value through net income. The standard will replace today’s “incurred loss” approach with an “expected loss” model for instruments measured at amortized cost and require entities to record allowances for available-for-sale debt securities rather than reduce the carrying amount under the current other-than-temporary impairment (OTTI) model. ASU No. 2016-13 also simplifies the accounting model for purchased credit-impaired debt securities and loans. Entities will apply the standard’s provisions as a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the beginning of the first reporting period in which the guidance is effective. In May 2019, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2019-05 “Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Targeted Transition Relief” which amends ASU 2016-13 to allow companies to irrevocably elect, upon adoption of ASU 2016-13, the fair value option on financial instruments that were previously recorded at amortized cost and are within the scope of ASC 326-20 if the instruments are eligible for the fair value option under ASC 825-10. The fair value option election does not apply to held-to-maturity debt securities. Entities are required to make this election on an instrument-by-instrument basis. ASU No. 2019-05 is effective on the same date as ASU No. 2016-13, which is January 1, 2020 for United, with early adoption permitted. To this point, United has engaged a third-party service provider to assist with the implementation of the new accounting standard. In addition, United has selected loss estimation methodologies for its allowance for credit losses, evaluated and addressed data gaps within the model, performed testing on the chosen methodologies and determined a qualitative adjustment methodology that aligns with the requirements of the new standard. Implementation, testing and validation is in process surrounding United’s reasonable methodologies and supportable forecast period, model assumptions and subsequent reversion period to historical loss rates. Progress continues regarding the documentation of the new standard and internal controls as well as changes to financial statement disclosures. United will address validation findings and perform parallel runs when appropriate to evaluate the impact that the adoption of ASU 2016-13 will have on the financial statements and disclosures.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842)”. ASU No. 2016-02 includes a lessee accounting model that recognizes two types of leases, finance leases and operating leases, while lessor accounting will remain largely unchanged from the current GAAP. ASU No. 2016-02 requires, amongst other things, that a lessee recognize on the balance sheet a right-of-use asset and a lease liability for leases with terms of more than twelve months. The recognition, measurement, and presentation of expenses and cash flows arising from a lease by a lessee will depend on its classification as a finance or operating lease. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-11 “Leases (Topic 842), Targeted Improvements.” This update creates an additional transition method, and a lessor practical expedient to not separate lease and non-lease components if specified criteria are met. The new transition method allows companies to use the effective date of the new leases standard as the date of initial application transition. Companies that elect this transition option will not adjust their comparative period financial information for the effect of ASC Topic 842, nor will they make the new required lease disclosure for periods before the effective date. In addition, these companies will carry forward their ASC Topic 840 disclosures for comparative periods. The practical expedient permits lessors to make an accounting policy election by class of underlying asset to not separate lease and non-lease components if specified criteria are met. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-10 “Codification Improvements to ASC Topic 842, Leases.” This update includes narrow amendments to clarify how to apply certain aspects of the new leases standard. The amendments address the rate implicit in the lease, impairment of the net investment in the lease, lessee reassessment of lease classification, lessor reassessment of lease term and purchase options, variable payments that depend on an index or rate and certain transition adjustments. ASU 2018-10 does not make any substantive changes to the core provisions or principals of the new leases standard. United adopted

the standard using the modified retrospective transition method on January 1, 2019. The Company evaluated and elected the package of practical expedients, which allows for existing leases to be accounted for consistent with current guidance, with the exception of the balance sheet recognition for lessees. The Company has also elected the practical expedient on not separating lease and nonlease components and instead treating them as a single lease component. Adoption of the standard resulted in the recognition of additional net lease assets and lease liabilities of $67,040 and $70,692, respectively, as of January 1, 2019. Of the difference between these two amounts, $1,049 was recorded as an adjustment to retained earnings.