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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Note A - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Description of Business:  Protective Insurance Corporation (the "Company"), based in Carmel, Indiana, is a property-casualty insurer specializing in marketing and underwriting property, liability and workers' compensation coverage for trucking and public transportation fleets, as well as coverage for trucking industry independent contractors.  The Company offers a range of products and services, the most significant being commercial automobile and workers' compensation insurance products.  The Company operates as one reportable property and casualty insurance segment based on how its operating results are regularly reviewed by its chief operating decision maker when making decisions about how resources are allocated and assessing performance.

The term “Insurance Subsidiaries,” as used throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, refers to Protective Insurance Company, Protective Specialty Insurance Company, Sagamore Insurance Company and B&L Insurance, Ltd.

Effective August 1, 2018, the Company changed its name to Protective Insurance Corporation to better align its holding company's and Insurance Subsidiaries' identities and to reflect its position within the insurance industry.

Basis of Presentation:  The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries.  Inter-company transactions and accounts have been eliminated in consolidation.

Use of Estimates:  Preparation of the consolidated financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes.  Actual results will differ from those estimates.

Cash and Cash Equivalents:  The Company considers investments in money market funds to be cash equivalents.  Carrying amounts for these instruments approximate their fair values.

Investments: Carrying amounts for fixed income securities represent fair value and are based on quoted market prices, where available, or broker/dealer quotes for specific securities where quoted market prices are not available.  Equity securities are carried at quoted market prices (fair value).

Commercial mortgage loans are carried primarily at amortized cost along with an allowance for losses when necessary. These investments represent interests in commercial mortgage loans originated and serviced by a third party of which the Company shares, on a pro-rata basis, in all related cash flows of the underlying mortgage loans. The Company recorded an allowance of $195 on its commercial mortgage loans as of December 31, 2020 in conjunction with the adoption of the credit losses accounting standard discussed below.

The Company accounts for investments in limited partnerships using the equity method of accounting, which requires an investor in a limited partnership to record its proportionate share of the limited partnership's net income.  To the extent the limited partnerships include both realized and unrealized investment gains or losses in the determination of net income or loss, then the Company would also recognize, through its consolidated statements of operations, its proportionate share of the investee's unrealized, as well as realized, investment gains or losses within net unrealized gains (losses) on equity securities and limited partnership investments.

Short-term and other investments are carried at cost, which approximates their fair values.

Fixed income securities are considered to be available-for-sale. The related unrealized net gains or losses (net of applicable tax effects) on fixed income securities are reflected directly in other comprehensive income (loss) within shareholders' equity.  Included within available-for-sale fixed income securities are convertible debt securities.  A portion of the changes in the fair values of convertible debt securities is reflected as a component of net realized gains (losses) on investments, excluding impairment losses within the consolidated statements of operations.  Realized gains and losses on disposals of fixed income securities are recorded on the trade date.  Realized gains and losses on fixed income securities are determined by the specific identification of the cost of investments sold and are included in net realized gains (losses) on investments, excluding impairment losses.

Equity securities are recorded at fair value, with unrealized net gains or losses reflected as a component of net unrealized gains (losses) on equity securities and limited partnership investments within the consolidated statements of operations.  Realized gains and losses on disposals of equity securities are recorded on the trade date and included in net realized gains (losses) on investments, excluding impairment losses.

Investment Impairments:  For a fixed income security in an unrealized loss position where the Company has the intent to sell the fixed income security, or it is more likely than not that the Company will have to sell the fixed income security before recovery of its amortized cost basis, the decline in value is recorded within impairment losses on investments in the consolidated statements of operations.  The new cost basis of the investment is the previous amortized cost basis less the impairment recognized.  The new cost basis is not adjusted for any subsequent recoveries in fair value.

For a fixed income security that the Company does not intend to sell or in cases where it is more likely than not that the Company will not have to sell the security, the Company separates the credit loss component of the impairment from the amount related to all other factors and reports the credit loss component within net realized gains (losses) on investments, excluding impairment losses in the consolidated statements of operations.  The impairment related to all other factors (non-credit factors) is reported in other comprehensive income (loss). The allowance is adjusted for any additional credit losses and subsequent recoveries. Upon recognizing a credit loss, the cost basis is not adjusted.

The Company considers the extent to which fair value is below amortized cost in determining whether a credit-related loss exists. The Company also considers the credit quality rating of the security, focusing on those below investment grade, with emphasis on securities downgraded below investment grade.  The credit loss is determined by comparing the net present value of projected future cash flows with the amortized cost basis of the fixed income security.  The net present value is calculated by discounting the Company's best estimate of projected future cash flows at the appropriate effective interest rate.  Additionally, the Company may conclude that a qualitative analysis is sufficient to support its conclusion that the present value of the expected cash flows equals or exceeds a security’s amortized cost.

The Company reports investment income due and accrued separately from available-for-sale fixed income securities and has elected not to measure an allowance for credit losses for investment income due and accrued. Investment income due and accrued is written off through net realized gains (losses) on investments, excluding impairment losses at the time the issuer defaults or is expected to default on payments.

Deductible Receivables: Under certain workers’ compensation insurance contracts with deductible features, the Company is obligated to pay the claimant for the full amount of the claim. The Company is subsequently reimbursed by the policyholder for the deductible amount. These amounts are included on a net of allowance basis in the consolidated balance sheets within accounts receivable.  The allowance is based upon the Company’s ongoing review of amounts outstanding, changes in policyholder credit standing, and other relevant factors.  A probability-of-default methodology, which reflects current and forecasted economic conditions, is used to estimate the allowance for expected credit losses for uncollateralized deductible receivables.  As of December 31, 2020, the Company recorded an allowance for expected credit losses of $16,500 ($13,035, net of tax). See Note T – Litigation, Commitments and Contingencies for further discussion.

Property and Equipment: Property and equipment are carried at cost, less accumulated depreciation.  Depreciation is computed principally by the straight-line method.

Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets: In the fourth quarter of 2018, the Company concluded the entire goodwill balance was impaired, resulting in an impairment loss of $3,152.  See Note M for further discussion.  This impairment charge is included within other operating expenses in the consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2018.  Intangible assets determined to have finite lives, such as customer relationships and employment agreements, are amortized over their estimated useful lives in a manner that best reflects the economic benefits of the intangible asset.  In addition, impairment testing is performed on these amortizing intangible assets if impairment indicators are noted..

Reserves for Losses and Loss Expenses:  The reserves for losses and loss expenses are determined using case basis evaluations and statistical analyses and represent estimates of the ultimate cost of all reported and unreported losses which are unpaid at year-end.  These reserves include estimates of future trends in claim severity and frequency and other factors which could vary as the losses are ultimately settled.  While actual results will differ from such estimates, management believes that the reserves for losses and loss expenses are adequate.  The estimates are continually reviewed, and as adjustments to these reserves become necessary, such adjustments are reflected in current operations.

Recognition of Revenue and Costs:  Premiums are earned over the period for which insurance protection is provided.  A reserve for unearned premiums is established to reflect amounts applicable to subsequent accounting periods.  Commissions to unaffiliated companies and premium taxes applicable to unearned premiums are deferred and expensed as the related premiums are earned.  The Company does not defer acquisition costs that are not directly variable with the production of premiums.  If it is determined that expected losses and deferred expenses will likely exceed the related unearned premiums, the asset representing deferred policy acquisition costs is reduced and an expense is charged against current operations to reflect any such premium deficiency.  In the event that the expected premium deficiency exceeds deferred policy acquisition costs, an additional liability would be recorded with a corresponding expense to current operations for the amount of the excess premium deficiency.  Anticipated investment income is considered in determining recoverability of deferred acquisition costs.  The Company had no material contract assets, contract liabilities, or deferred contract costs recorded on its consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2020.

Reinsurance:  Reinsurance premiums, commissions, expense reimbursements and reserves related to the Company's reinsured business are accounted for on bases consistent with those used in accounting for the original policies issued and the terms of the reinsurance contracts.  Premiums ceded to other insurers have been reported as a reduction of premiums earned.  Amounts applicable to reinsurance ceded for unearned premiums and claim loss reserves have been reported as reinsurance recoverable assets.  Certain reinsurance contracts provide for additional or return premiums and commissions based upon profits or losses to the reinsurer over prescribed periods.  Estimates of additional or return premiums and commissions are adjusted quarterly to recognize actual loss experience to date, as well as projected loss experience applicable to the various contract periods.  Estimates of reinstatement premiums on reinsurance contracts covering catastrophic events are, to the extent reasonably determinable, recorded concurrently with the related loss.

Should impairment in the ability of a reinsurer to satisfy its obligations to the Company be determined to exist, current year operations would be charged in amounts sufficient to provide for the Company's additional liability.  Such charges, when incurred, are included in other operating expenses, rather than losses and loss expenses incurred, because the inability of the Company to collect from reinsurers is a credit risk rather than a deficiency associated with the loss reserving process.

Deferred Taxes:  Deferred income tax assets and liabilities are recognized for temporary differences between the financial statement and tax return bases of assets and liabilities based on enacted tax rates and laws.  The deferred tax benefits of the deferred tax assets are recognized to the extent realization of such benefits is more likely than not.  Valuation allowances are established when necessary to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.  Deferred income tax expense or benefit generally represents the net change in deferred income tax assets and liabilities during the year.  Current income tax expense represents the tax liability associated with revenues and expenses currently taxable or deductible on various income tax returns for the year reported.

Restricted Stock:  Shares of restricted stock vest over the vesting period from the date of grant and certain shares of restricted stock are accelerated for retirement-eligible recipients in accordance with the non-substantive, post-grant date vesting clause of Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 715, Compensation—Retirement Benefits.  Restricted stock is valued based on the closing price of the Company's Class B Common Stock on the day the award is granted. 

Earnings (Loss) Per Share:  Diluted earnings (loss) per share of common stock are based on the average number of shares of Class A and Class B Common Stock outstanding during the year, adjusted for the dilutive effect, if any, of restricted stock awards outstanding.  Basic earnings (loss) per share are presented exclusive of the effect of share-based awards outstanding.

Comprehensive Income (Loss): The Company records accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) from unrealized gains and losses on available-for-sale securities and from foreign exchange adjustments as a separate component of shareholders' equity.  A reclassification adjustment to other comprehensive income (loss) is made for gains or losses during the period included in net income (loss).

Fair Value Measurements: The Company provides disclosures related to recurring and non-recurring fair value measurements with separate disclosures for the amounts of significant transfers in and out of Level 1 and Level 2 fair value measurements, along with an explanation for the transfers. Additionally, separate disclosures are provided for purchases, sales, issuances and settlements on a gross basis for Level 3 fair value measurements as well as additional clarification for both the level of disaggregation reported for each class of assets or liabilities and disclosures of inputs and valuation techniques used to measure fair value for both recurring and non-recurring fair value measurements for assets and liabilities categorized as Level 2 or Level 3.

Insurance Company-Owned Life Insurance:   Included within other assets on the consolidated balance sheets at December 31, 2020 and 2019 was $11,458 and $11,049 of company-owned life insurance. The carrying value of the company-owned life insurance policies represents the cash surrender value as reported by the respective insurer, which approximates fair value.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements:  In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-01, Financial Instruments - Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities, or ASU 2016-01. The amendments in ASU 2016-01 changed the accounting for non-consolidated equity investments that are not accounted for under the equity method of accounting by requiring changes in fair value to be recognized in income.  Previously, the Company's equity securities were classified as available-for-sale and changes in fair value were recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) as a component of shareholders' equity.  The Company adopted ASU 2016-01 as of January 1, 2018 using the modified retrospective approach and recorded a cumulative-effect adjustment to reclassify unrealized gains on equity securities of $71,012 ($46,157, net of tax) from other comprehensive income (loss) to retained earnings within the consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2018.  Unrealized gains or losses on equity securities are now recognized in the consolidated statements of operations within net unrealized gains (losses) on equity securities and limited partnership investments.

In February 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), or ASU 2016-02.  ASU 2016-02 superseded the prior lease guidance in ASC Topic 840, Leases.  Under the new guidance, lessees are required to recognize for all leases, with the exception of short-term leases, a lease liability, which is a lessee's obligation to make lease payments arising from a lease, measured on a discounted basis.  Concurrently, lessees are required to recognize 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.  The guidance provided for a modified retrospective transition approach for leases existing at, or entered into after, the beginning of the earliest comparative periods presented in the financial statements.  In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-11, Leases (Topic 842): Targeted Improvements, or ASU 2018-11, which provided adopters an additional transition method by allowing entities to initially apply ASU 2016-02, and subsequent related standards, at the adoption date and recognize a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption.  The Company adopted the new guidance on January 1, 2019 utilizing the transition method allowed per ASU 2018-11, and accordingly, comparative period financial information was not adjusted for the effects of the new guidance.  No cumulative-effect adjustment was required to the opening balance of retained earnings on the adoption date. The Company's adoption of the new standard did not have any impact on the Company's consolidated statements of operations or cash flows.  As of December 31, 2020 the Company had a right-of-use asset and a lease liability recorded within the consolidated balance sheet, each of approximately $120, which are included within other assets and accounts payable and other liabilities.

In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-09, Codification Improvements.  This update provided clarification, corrected errors in and made minor improvements to various ASC topics.  Many of the amendments in this update had transition guidance with effective dates for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2018, and some amendments in this update did not require transition guidance and were effective upon issuance of this update.  The adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, or ASU 2016-13.  ASU 2016-13 introduced a current expected credit loss (CECL) model for measuring expected credit losses for certain types of financial instruments held at the reporting date requiring significant judgment in application based on historical experience, current conditions and reasonable supportable forecasts, but is not prescriptive about certain aspects of estimating expected losses.  The guidance replaced the current incurred loss model for measuring expected credit losses and provided for additional disclosure requirements.  Subsequently, the FASB issued additional ASUs on Topic 326 that did not change the core principle of the guidance in ASU 2016-13, but provided clarification and implementation guidance on certain aspects of ASU 2016-13, and have the same effective date and transition requirements as ASU 2016-13.  The Company adopted the guidance using a modified retrospective approach as of January 1, 2020 and recognized an pre-tax cumulative effect adjustment of $15,545 ($12,281, net of tax), to the opening balance of retained earnings.  The adjustment was primarily related to estimating credit losses on the Company’s accounts receivable balances, reinsurance recoverable balances and commercial mortgage loans at the date of adoption with $15,000 ($11,850, net of tax) attributed to the ongoing litigation with Personnel Staffing Group ("PSG") discussed in Note T - Litigation, Commitments and Contingencies.

The updated guidance in ASU 2016-13 also amended the previous other-than-temporary impairment (“OTTI”) model for available-for-sale fixed income securities by requiring the recognition of impairments relating to credit losses through an allowance account and limits the amount of credit loss to the difference between a security’s amortized cost basis and its fair value.  In addition, the length of time a security has been in an unrealized loss position will no longer impact the determination of whether a credit loss exists.  The Company adopted the guidance related to available-for-sale fixed income securities on January 1, 2020 using a prospective transition approach for available-for-sale fixed income securities that were purchased with credit deterioration or had recognized an OTTI write-down prior to the effective date.  The effect of the prospective transition approach was to maintain the same amortized cost basis before and after the effective date.

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, or ASU 2018-13.  This update removed the disclosure requirements for the amounts of and the reasons for transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 and disclosure of the policy for timing of transfers between levels. This update also removed disclosure requirements for the valuation processes for Level 3 fair value measurements. Additionally, this update added disclosure requirements for the changes in unrealized gains and losses for recurring Level 3 fair value measurements and quantitative information for certain unobservable inputs in Level 3 fair value measurements. The Company adopted ASU 2018-13 as of January 1, 2020.  As the requirements of this guidance are applicable to disclosure only, the adoption of ASU 2018-13 had no material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements:  In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes, or ASU 2019-12.  Among other items, the amendments in ASU 2019-12 simplify the accounting treatment of tax law changes and year-to-date losses in interim periods.  An entity generally recognizes the effects of a change in tax law in the period of enactment; however, there is an exception for tax laws with delayed effective dates.  Under current guidance, an entity may not adjust its annual effective tax rate for a tax law change until the period in which the law is effective.  This exception was removed under ASU 2019-12, thereby providing that all effects of a tax law change are recognized in the period of enactment, including adjustment of the estimated annual effective tax rate.  Regarding year-to-date losses in interim periods, an entity is required to estimate its annual effective tax rate for the full fiscal year at the end of each interim period and use that rate to calculate its income taxes on a year-to-date basis.  However, current guidance provides an exception that when a loss in an interim period exceeds the anticipated loss for the year, the income tax benefit is limited to the amount that would be recognized if the year-to-date loss were the anticipated loss for the full year.  ASU 2019-12 removes this exception and provides that in this situation, an entity would compute its income tax benefit at each interim period based on its estimated annual effective tax rate.  ASU 2019-12 became effective on January 1, 2021 and is not expected to have a material effect on the Company's consolidated financial statements.