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BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2018
Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES | Basis of Presentation These unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements (the "financial statements") have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("U.S. GAAP") for interim financial information and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X and include AXIS Capital Holdings Limited ("AXIS Capital") and its subsidiaries (the "Company"). Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and notes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and related notes included in AXIS Capital's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, as filed with the SEC. In the opinion of management, these financial statements reflect all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) considered necessary for a fair presentation of the Company's financial position and results of operations for the periods presented. The results of operations for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results for a full year. All inter-company accounts and transactions have been eliminated. To facilitate comparison of information across periods, certain reclassifications have been made to prior year amounts to conform to the current year's presentation. These reclassifications did not impact results of operations, financial condition or liquidity. Tabular dollar and share amounts are in thousands, except per share amounts. All amounts are reported in U.S. dollars. Significant Accounting Policies There was one notable change to the Company's significant accounting policies subsequent to its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017.
a) | Investments
Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities Fixed maturities and equity securities are reported at fair value at the balance sheet date (see Note 4 'Fair Value Measurements'). Effective January 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU 2016-01 "Financial Instruments - Overall (Subtopic 825-10) - Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities," which:
• | requires equity investments (except those accounted for under the equity method of accounting, investments that are consolidated or those that meet a practicability exception) to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income,
• | simplifies the impairment assessment of equity investments without readily determinable values by requiring a qualitative assessment to identify impairment, eliminates the requirement to disclose the methods and significant assumptions used to estimate the fair value for financial instruments measured at amortized cost,
• | requires the use of the exit price notion when measuring the fair value of financial instruments for disclosure purposes,
• | requires separate presentation in other comprehensive income of the portion of the total change in the fair value of a liability resulting from a change in the instrument-specific credit risk when the organization has elected to measure the liabilities in accordance with the fair value option,
• | requires the separate presentation of financial assets and financial liabilities by measurement category and form of financial asset on the balance sheet or the accompanying notes to the financial statements; and
• | clarifies that the reporting organization should evaluate the need for a valuation allowance on a deferred tax asset related to available for sale securities in combination with the organization’s other deferred tax assets.
Upon adoption of this guidance, net unrealized investment gains on equity securities of $70 million, net of deferred income taxes of $13 million, were reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings. As prescribed, the prior period has not been restated to conform to the current presentation. New Accounting Standards Adopted in 2018 Revenue From Contracts With Customers Effective January 1, 2018, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2014-09 "Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)," using the modified retrospective transition approach. This guidance affects any entity that either enters into contracts with customers to transfer goods or services or enters into contracts for the transfer of nonfinancial assets unless those contracts are within the scope of other standards, such as accounting for insurance contracts. The core principle of the guidance is that an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The Company generated fee income of $31 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 which is within the scope of this ASU. These fees represent service fees earned by the Company's reinsurance segment related to services provided to strategic capital partners and are recognized when the related services have been performed. Given that the timing and measurement of revenue associated with impacted contracts did not change, the adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company's results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments Effective January 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU 2016-15, "Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230) - Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments," which addresses diversity in practice in how eight specific cash receipts and cash payments should be presented and classified on the statement of cash flows. The adoption of this guidance did not impact the Company's results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. Restricted Cash Effective January 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU 2016-18, "Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230) - Restricted Cash," which addresses diversity in practice in the classification and presentation of changes in restricted cash on the statement of cash flows. This guidance requires a statement of cash flows to explain the change during the period in the total of cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents. Transfers between cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents will no longer be presented on the statement of cash flows. To facilitate comparison of the Company's Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, the Company adopted this guidance utilizing the full retrospective approach for all periods presented in the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements. As a result, the Company's Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows now explains the change during the period in the total of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash. Therefore, restricted cash is now included with cash and cash equivalents in the reconciliation of the beginning of period and end of period total amounts shown on the statement of cash flows. The adoption of this guidance did not impact the Company's results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. Stock Compensation - Scope of Modification Accounting Effective January 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU 2017-09 "Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718) - Scope of Modification Accounting," which provides clarity and reduces diversity in practice of applying the guidance in Topic 718 to a change to the terms or conditions of a share-based payment award. This ASU provides guidance about which changes to the terms or conditions of a share-based payment award require an entity to apply modification accounting in Topic 718. The guidance states that an entity should account for the effects of a modification unless all the following are met:
1. | the fair value of the modified award is the same as the fair value of the original award immediately before the original award is modified;
2. | the vesting conditions of the modified award are the same as the vesting conditions of the original award immediately before the original award is modified; and the classification of the modified award as an equity instrument or a liability instrument is the same as the classification of the original award immediately before the original award is modified.
The current disclosure requirements in Topic 718 apply regardless of whether an entity is required to apply modification accounting under the amendments in this Update. The adoption of this guidance did not impact the Company's results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income Effective January 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU 2018-02 "Income Statement - Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220) - Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income" which was a response to a financial reporting issue that arose as a consequence of the U.S. federal government tax bill, H.R.1, An Act to Provide for Reconciliation Pursuant to Titles II and V of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2018 ("U.S. Tax Reform"), which was enacted on December 22, 2017. U.S. GAAP currently requires deferred tax liabilities and assets to be adjusted for the effect of a change in tax laws or rates with the effect included in income from continuing operations in the reporting period that includes the enactment date. This guidance is applicable even in situations in which the related income tax effects of items in accumulated other comprehensive income were originally recognized in other comprehensive income rather than in income from continuing operations. As the adjustment of deferred taxes due to the reduction of the historical corporate income tax rate to the newly enacted corporate income tax rate is required to be included in income from continuing operations, the tax effects of items within accumulated other comprehensive income (referred to as stranded tax effects for purposes of this Update) do not reflect the appropriate tax rate. The amendments in this Update allow a reclassification from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings for stranded tax effects resulting from U.S. Tax Reform. Consequently, the amendments eliminate the stranded tax effects resulting from U.S. Tax Reform and will improve the usefulness of information reported to financial statement users. However, because the amendments only relate to the reclassification of the income tax effects of U.S. Tax Reform, the underlying guidance that requires that the effect of a change in tax laws or rates be included in income from continuing operations is not affected. As a consequence of U.S. Tax Reform, the Company recognized a tax benefit of $2 million related to the revaluation of net deferred tax liabilities associated with the reduction in the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, attributable to net unrealized investment gains associated with investments held by the Company's U.S. domiciled entities. Upon adoption of this guidance, the tax benefit of $2 million was reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income into retained earnings. Recently Issued Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted Leases In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, "Leases (Topic 842)" which provides a new comprehensive model for lease accounting. Topic 842 will require a lessee to recognize a liability to make lease payments (the lease liability) and a right-of-use asset representing its right to use the underlying asset for the lease term. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-11, "Leases (Topic 842) - Targeted Improvements" which provides an additional (and optional) transition method to adopt the new lease guidance. Under the new transition method, companies will initially apply the new guidance by recognizing a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption. As a result, a company's reporting for the comparative periods presented in the financial statements in which the company adopts the new lease guidance will continue to be in accordance with the current lease accounting standard (Topic 840). A company electing this additional (and optional) transition method must provide the required Topic 840 disclosures for all periods that continue to be in accordance with Topic 840. However, these amendments do not change the existing disclosure requirements in Topic 840, in particular these amendments do not create interim disclosure requirements. This guidance is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted. The Company plans to adopt Topic 842 effective January 1, 2019, by electing the additional transition method provided in ASU 2018-11. The Company will also elect the package of practical expedients permitted under the transition guidance of Topic 842, which must be elected as a package and applied consistently to all leases. The package of practical expedients permits the Company not to reassess the following:
1. | whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases;
2. | the lease classification for any expired or existing leases; and
3. | initial direct costs for any existing leases.
In addition to electing the package of practical expedients, the Company will make an accounting policy election not to record leases with an initial term of 12 months or less (short-term) in the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company will recognize expense for short-term lease payments on a straight-line basis over the lease term in the Company's Consolidated Statements of Operations. The Company continues to evaluate all potential impacts of this guidance and expects its adoption will result in a significant increase to assets and liabilities in the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheets related to existing office property and equipment leases. The adoption of this guidance will not impact the Company's results of operations and liquidity. Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instrument In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, "Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326) - Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments" which replaces the "incurred loss" impairment methodology with an approach based on "expected losses" to estimate credit losses on certain types of financial instruments and requires consideration of a broader range of reasonable and supportable information to inform credit loss estimates. The guidance requires financial assets measured at amortized cost to be presented at the net amount expected to be collected. The allowance for credit losses is a valuation account that is deducted from the amortized cost of the financial asset to present the net carrying value at the amount expected to be collected on the financial asset. Credit losses relating to available-for-sale debt securities will be recorded through an allowance for credit losses. The guidance also provides for a simplified accounting model for purchased financial assets with credit deterioration since their origination. This guidance is effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2018. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this guidance on its results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-04, "Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350) - Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment" that eliminates the requirement to calculate the implied fair value of goodwill (i.e. Step 2 of the current goodwill impairment test) to measure a goodwill impairment charge. Instead, an impairment charge will be based on the excess of a reporting unit's carrying amount over its fair value (i.e. measure the charge based on Step 1 of the current goodwill impairment test). This guidance is effective for annual and interim impairment tests performed in periods beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted for annual and interim goodwill impairment testing dates after January 1, 2017. The guidance will be adopted on a prospective basis. Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities In March 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-08 "Receivables - Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20) - Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities" which shortens the amortization period for certain purchased callable debt securities held at a premium. This guidance is effective for interim and annual reporting periods, beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this guidance on its results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. Changes to Disclosures on Fair Value Measurement 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" to improve the effectiveness of fair value measurement disclosures. This guidance is effective for interim and annual reporting periods, beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. As this guidance relates solely to financial statement disclosures, the adoption of ASU 2016-18, will not impact the Company's results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for the basis of presentation and significant accounting policies concepts. Basis of presentation describes the underlying basis used to prepare the financial statements (for example, US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, Other Comprehensive Basis of Accounting, IFRS). Accounting policies describe all significant accounting policies of the reporting entity. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2122369 + Details
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