New Accounting Pronouncements

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2014

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

New Accounting Pronouncements

New Accounting Pronouncements

The following new accounting pronouncements were adopted in 2014:

• Unrecognized Tax Benefits In July 2013, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued an Accounting Standards Update that provides guidance on financial statement presentation of an unrecognized tax benefit when a net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforward, a similar tax loss, or a tax credit carryforward exists in the same tax jurisdiction. The standard requires an entity to present the unrecognized tax benefit as a reduction of the deferred tax asset for an NOL or tax credit carryforward whenever the NOL or tax credit carryforward would be available to reduce the additional taxable income or tax due if the tax position is disallowed. However, the standard requires an entity to present an unrecognized tax benefit on the balance sheet as a liability if certain conditions are met. The new guidance is effective for all annual and interim periods beginning January 1, 2014. The adoption of this guidance did not have an impact on our unrecognized tax benefit liability.

• Accounting for Investments in Qualified Housing Projects In January 2014, the FASB issued an Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") which permits, but does not require, an investor to amortize its Low Income Housing Tax Credit ("LIHTC") investments in proportion to the allocated Low Income Housing Federal tax benefits and present such tax benefits net of investment amortization in the income tax line. The ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2014 to be applied retrospectively with early adoption permitted. We elected to early adopt the ASU on January 1, 2014 due to its improvement in the presentation of the economic benefits of this investment class. The early adoption of the ASU required the previous period to also be restated and resulted in a reduction to operating expenses of $21 million in both of the three month periods ended March 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively, with a corresponding increase to income tax expense. There was no overall impact to net income.

There were no accounting pronouncements issued during the first three months of 2014, other than those discussed above, that are expected to have a significant impact on our financial position or results of operations.