Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of Accounting

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of American National Bankshares Inc. (the "Company") and its wholly owned subsidiary, American National Bank and Trust Company (the "Bank"). The Bank offers a wide variety of retail, commercial, secondary market mortgage lending, and trust and investment services which also include non-deposit products such as mutual funds and insurance policies.

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP") requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant change in the near term relate to the determination of the allowance for loan losses, goodwill and intangible assets, other-than-temporary impairment of securities, accounting for merger and acquisition activity, accounting for acquired loans with specific credit-related deterioration, and the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities.

All significant inter-company transactions and accounts are eliminated in consolidation, with the exception of the AMNB Trust and the MidCarolina Trusts, as detailed in Note 11.

In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements contain all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) necessary to present fairly the results of the interim periods. The results of operations for the interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results that may occur for any other period. Certain reclassifications have been made to prior period balances to conform to the current period presentation.

Adoption of New Accounting Standards and Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Adoption of New Accounting Standards

On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-02, "Leases (Topic 842)." Among other things, in the amendments in ASU 2016-02, lessees are required to recognize the following for all leases (with the exception of short-term leases) at the commencement date: (i) a lease liability, which is a lessee's obligation to make lease payments arising from a lease, measured on a discounted basis; and (ii) a right-of-use asset, which is an asset that represents the lessee's right to use, or control the use of, a specified asset for the lease term. Under the new guidance, lessor accounting is largely unchanged. Certain targeted improvements were made to align, where necessary, lessor accounting with the lessee accounting model and Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Lessees (for capital and operating leases) and lessors (for sales-type, direct financing, and operating leases) must apply a modified retrospective transition approach for leases existing at, or entered into after, the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented in the financial statements. The modified retrospective approach would not require any transition accounting for leases that expired before the earliest comparative period presented. Lessees and lessors may not apply a full retrospective transition approach. The Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") made subsequent amendments to Topic 842 in July 2018 through ASU 2018-10 ("Codification Improvements to Topic 842, Leases.") and ASU 2018-11 ("Leases (Topic 842): Targeted Improvements."). Among these amendments is the provision in ASU 2018-11 that provides entities with an additional (and optional) transition method to adopt the new leases standard. Under this new transition method, an entity initially applies the new leases standard at the adoption date and recognizes a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption. Consequently, an entity's reporting for the comparative periods presented in the financial statements in which it adopts the new leases standard continue to be in accordance with current GAAP (Topic 840, Leases). The Company adopted using the additional (and optional) transition method. The effect of adopting this standard on January 1, 2019 was an approximately $4.4 million increase in assets and liabilities on the Company's consolidated balance sheet.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, "Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments." The amendments in this ASU, among other things, require the measurement of all expected credit losses for financial assets held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. Financial institutions and other organizations will now use forward-looking information to better inform their credit loss estimates. Many of the loss estimation techniques applied today will still be permitted, although the inputs to those techniques will change to reflect the full amount of expected credit losses. In addition, the ASU amends the accounting for credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities and purchased financial assets with credit deterioration. At the FASB’s October 16, 2019 meeting, the board amended the effective date of this ASU for many companies. Public business entities that are Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filers, excluding those meeting the smaller reporting company definition, will retain the initial required implementation date of fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019.  All other entities will be required to apply the guidance for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2022. As a smaller reporting company, the Company has elected to defer adoption until January, 2023. The Company will continue to validate its models that will be used upon future adoption of the standard. The implementation of this ASU will likely result in increases to the Company's reserves when implemented.

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-04, "Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment." The amendments in this ASU simplify how an entity is required to test goodwill for impairment by eliminating Step 2 from the goodwill impairment test. Step 2 measures a goodwill impairment loss by comparing the implied fair value of a reporting unit's goodwill with the carrying amount of that goodwill. Instead, under the amendments in this ASU, an entity should perform its annual, or interim, goodwill impairment test by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount. An entity still has the option to perform the qualitative assessment for a reporting unit to determine if the quantitative impairment test is necessary. Public business entities that are SEC filers should adopt the amendments in this ASU for annual or interim goodwill impairment tests in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted for interim or annual goodwill impairment tests performed on testing dates after January 1, 2017. The Company does not expect the adoption of ASU 2017-04 to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, "Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework-Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement." The amendments in this ASU modify the disclosure requirements in Topic 820 to add disclosures regarding changes in unrealized gains and losses, the range and weighted average of significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements and the narrative description of measurement uncertainty. Certain disclosure requirements in Topic 820 are also removed or modified. The amendments are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, and interim periods within those fiscal years. Certain of the amendments are to be applied prospectively while others are to be applied retrospectively. Early adoption is permitted. The Company does not expect the adoption of ASU 2018-13 to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-14, "Compensation-Retirement Benefits-Defined Benefit Plans-General (Subtopic 715-20): Disclosure Framework-Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Defined Benefit Plans." The amendments in this ASU modify the disclosure requirements for employers that sponsor defined benefit pension or other postretirement plans. Certain disclosure requirements have been deleted while the following disclosure requirements have been added: the weighted-average interest crediting rates for cash balance plans and other plans with promised interest crediting rates and an explanation of the reasons for significant gains and losses related to changes in the benefit obligation for the period. The amendments also clarify the disclosure requirements in paragraph 715-20-50-3, which state that the following information for defined benefit pension plans should be disclosed: the projected benefit obligation ("PBO") and fair value of plan assets for plans with PBOs in excess of plan assets and the accumulated benefit obligation ("ABO") and fair value of plan assets for plans with ABOs in excess of plan assets. The amendments are effective for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2020. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact that ASU 2018-14 will have on its consolidated financial statements.

In April 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-04, "Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses, Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and Topic 825, Financial Instruments." The amendments in this ASU clarify and improve areas of guidance related to the recently issued standards on credit losses, hedging, and recognition and measurement including improvements resulting from various Transition Resource Group meetings. The amendments are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, and interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact that ASU 2019-04 will have on its consolidated financial statements.

In May 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-05, "Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Targeted Transition Relief." The amendments in this ASU provide entities that have certain instruments within the scope of Subtopic 326-20 with an option to irrevocably elect the fair value option in Subtopic 825-10, applied on an instrument-by-instrument basis for eligible instruments, upon the adoption of Topic 326. The fair value option election does not apply to held-to-maturity debt securities. An entity that elects the fair value option should subsequently measure those instruments at fair value with changes in fair value flowing through earnings. The amendments are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, and interim periods within those fiscal years. The amendments should be applied on a modified-retrospective basis by means of a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings balance in the balance sheet. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact that ASU 2019-05 will have on its consolidated financial statements.

Derivatives Instruments and Hedging

The Company uses derivative financial instruments ("derivatives") primarily to manage risks to the Company associated with changing interest rates. The Company's derivatives are hedging instruments in a qualifying hedge accounting relationship (cash flow or fair value hedge).

The Company designates derivatives as cash flow hedges when they are used to manage exposure to variability in cash flows on variable rate borrowings such as the Company's trust preferred capital notes. The Company uses interest rate swap agreements as part of its hedging strategy by exchanging variable-rate interest payments on a notional amount equal to the principal amount of the borrowings for fixed-rate interest payments, with such interest rates set based on benchmarked interest rates.

All interest rate swaps were entered into with counterparties that met the Company's credit standards and the agreements contain collateral provisions protecting the at-risk party. The Company believes that the credit risk inherent in these derivative contracts is not significant.

Terms and conditions of the interest rate swaps vary and amounts receivable or payable are recognized as accrued under the terms of the agreements. The Company assesses the effectiveness of each hedging relationship on a periodic basis. In accordance withASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging, the effective portions of the derivatives' unrealized gains or losses are recorded as a component of other comprehensive income. Based on the Company's assessment, its cash flow hedges are highly effective, but to the extent that any ineffectiveness exists in the hedge relationships, the amounts would be recorded in interest income and interest expense in the Company's consolidated statements of income.