Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Activity for Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

The following table presents activity for goodwill and other intangible assets (in thousands):



	Goodwill			Core deposit and other intangible assets			Total
Balance at December 31, 2016	$	551,594		$	15,104		$	566,698
Acquisitions	1,256,455			50,422			1,306,877
Amortization	—			(8,816		)	(8,816		)
Change in purchase price allocation of previous acquisitions	—			—			—
Other changes ⁽¹⁾	(47		)	—			(47		)
Balance at December 31, 2017	$	1,808,002		$	56,710		$	1,864,712


⁽¹⁾	Represents options exercised related to acquisitions which occurred prior to the adoption of ASC 718-20 Compensation.

Gross Carrying Amount and Accumulated Amortization for the Core Deposit and Other Intangible Assets

The following table presents the gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization for the core deposit and other intangible assets, which are subject to amortization (in thousands):



	December 31, 2017			December 31, 2016
Gross carrying amount	$	92,787		$	42,365
Accumulated amortization	(36,077		)	(27,261		)
Net book value	$	56,710		$	15,104

Supplemental Cash Flow Information

Cash Equivalents and Cash Flows — Cash on hand, cash items in process of collection, amounts due from banks, Federal funds sold, short-term discount notes and securities purchased under agreements to resell, with original maturities within ninety days, are included in cash and cash equivalents. The following supplemental cash flow information addresses certain cash payments and noncash transactions for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2017 as follows:



	For the years ended December 31,
	2017		2016		2015
Cash Payments:
Interest	$	91,628,041	$	37,002,870	$	17,435,292
Income taxes paid	81,538,510		49,503,637		45,715,968
Noncash Transactions:
Loans charged-off to the allowance for loan losses	22,046,511		31,112,118		21,148,034
Loans foreclosed upon with repossessions transferred to other real estate	6,227,509		4,453,060		341,342
Loans foreclosed upon with repossessions transferred to other repossessed assets	645,737		1,842,318		8,259,368
Other real estate sales financed	907,931		—		—
Common stock issued in connection with acquisitions	1,850,968,026		222,162,640		269,492,990

Basic and Diluted Earnings Per Share Calculations

The following is a summary of the basic and diluted earnings per share calculation for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2017:



	December 31, 2017		December 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Basic earnings per share calculation:
Numerator - Net income	$	173,979,487	$	127,224,695	$	95,509,402

Denominator – Weighted average common shares outstanding	63,760,578		43,037,083		37,015,468
Basic net income per common share	$	2.73	$	2.96	$	2.58

Diluted earnings per share calculation:
Numerator - Net income	$	173,979,487	$	127,224,695	$	95,509,402

Denominator – Weighted average common shares outstanding	63,760,578		43,037,083		37,015,468
Dilutive shares contingently issuable	567,611		694,909		958,320
Weighted average diluted common shares outstanding	64,328,189		43,731,992		37,973,788
Diluted net income per common share	$	2.70	$	2.91	$	2.52