Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Principles of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Kingstone and its wholly owned subsidiaries: (1) KICO and its wholly owned subsidiaries, CMIC Properties, Inc. (“Properties”) and 15 Joys Lane, LLC (“15 Joys Lane”), which together own the land and building from which KICO operates, and (2) Cosi. All significant inter-company account balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Loss and Loss Adjustment Expenses ("LAE") Reserves

Loss and Loss Adjustment Expenses (“LAE”) Reserves

The liability for loss and LAE represents management’s best estimate of the ultimate cost of all reported and unreported losses that are unpaid as of the balance sheet date. The liability for loss and LAE is estimated on an undiscounted basis, using individual case-basis valuations, statistical analyses and various actuarial reserving methodologies. The projection of future claim payment and reporting is based on an analysis of the Company’s historical experience, supplemented by analyses of industry loss data. Management believes that the reserves for loss and LAE are adequate to cover the ultimate cost of losses and claims to date; however, because of the uncertainty from various sources, including changes in reporting patterns, claims settlement patterns, judicial decisions, legislation, and economic conditions, actual loss experience may not conform to the assumptions used in determining the estimated amounts for such liability at the balance sheet date. Adjustments to these estimates are reflected in expense for the period in which the estimates are changed. Because of the nature of the business historically written, management believes that the Company has limited exposure to environmental claim liabilities.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less to be cash equivalents. The Company maintains its cash balances at several financial institutions.

Premiums Receivable

Premiums receivable include balances due currently or in the future and are presented net of an allowance for doubtful accounts of approximately $233,000 and $390,000 as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The allowance for uncollectible amounts is based on an analysis of amounts receivable giving consideration to historical loss experience and current economic conditions and reflects an amount that, in management’s judgment, is adequate. Uncollectible premiums receivable balances of approximately $160,000 and $129,000 were written off for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Intangible Assets

The Company has recorded acquired identifiable intangible assets. The cost of a group of assets acquired in a transaction is allocated to the individual assets including identifiable intangible assets based on their fair values. Identifiable intangible assets with a finite useful life are amortized over the period that the asset is expected to contribute directly or indirectly to the future cash flows of the Company. Intangible assets with an indefinite life are not amortized, but are subject to impairment testing if events or changes in circumstances indicate that it is more likely than not the asset is impaired. All identifiable intangible assets are tested for recoverability whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that a carrying amount may not be recoverable. No impairment losses from intangible assets were recognized for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Income Taxes

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of assets and liabilities and their respective tax basis and for operating loss and tax credit carry forwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income (loss) in the period that includes the enactment date. The Company files a consolidated tax return with its subsidiaries. At December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company had no material unrecognized tax benefits and no adjustments to liabilities or operations were required.

Concentration, Credit Risk and Market Risk

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk are primarily cash and cash equivalents, investments, and premium and reinsurance receivables. At times, cash may be uninsured or in deposit accounts that exceed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) insurance limits. The Company has not experienced any losses on such accounts and management believes the Company is not exposed to any significant credit risk.

Stressed conditions, volatility and disruptions in capital markets or financial asset classes can have an adverse effect on the Company, in part because the Company has a large investment portfolio supporting the Company’s insurance liabilities, which are sensitive to changing market factors. These market factors, which include interest rates, credit spread, equity prices, and the volatility and strength of the capital markets, all affect the business and economic environment and, ultimately, the profitability of the Company’s business. The Company manages its investments to limit credit and other market risks by diversifying its portfolio among various security types and industry sectors based on KICO’s investment committee guidelines, which employ a variety of investment strategies.

As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company’s cash equivalents were as follows:

	December 31,		December 31,
	2021		2020

Collateralized bank repurchase agreement (1)	$	142,258	$	2,228,779
Money market funds		992,347		17,272,985
Total	$	1,134,605	$	19,501,764

(1)

The Company has a security interest in certain of the bank's holdings of direct obligations of the United States or one or more agencies thereof. The collateral is held in a hold-in-custody arrangement with a third party who maintains physical possession of the collateral on behalf of the bank.

At December 31, 2021, the outstanding premiums receivable balance is generally diversified due to the large number of individual insureds comprising the Company’s customer base.

The Company also has receivables from its reinsurers. Reinsurance contracts do not relieve the Company of its obligations to policyholders. Failure of reinsurers to honor their obligations could result in losses to the Company. The Company periodically evaluates the financial condition of its reinsurers to minimize its exposure to significant losses from reinsurer insolvencies. See Note 7 for reinsurance recoverables on unpaid and paid losses by reinsurer. Management’s policy is to review all outstanding receivables quarterly as well as the bad debt write-offs experienced in the past and establish an allowance for doubtful accounts, if deemed necessary.

Direct premiums earned from lines of business in excess of 10% of the total subject the Company to concentration risk for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 as follows:

	Years ended December 31,
	2021			2020
Personal Lines		95.3	%		92.9	%
Premiums earned not subject to concentration (1)		4.7	%		7.1	%
Total premiums earned		100.0	%		100.0	%

(1)

For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, premiums earned not subject to concentration is comprised of one and two different lines of business, respectively.

Earnings per share

Basic earnings per common share is computed by dividing income available to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding. Diluted earnings per common share reflects, in periods in which they have a dilutive effect, the impact of common shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options as well as non-vested restricted stock awards. The computation of diluted earnings per share excludes those options with an exercise price in excess of the average market price of the Company’s common shares during the periods presented. Additionally, the computation of diluted earnings per share excludes unvested restricted stock awards as calculated using the treasury stock method.

Stock-based Compensation

Stock-based compensation expense in 2021 and 2020 is the estimated fair value of restricted stock awards and options granted, amortized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period for the entire portion of the award less an estimate for anticipated forfeitures. The Company uses the “simplified” method to estimate the expected term of the options because the Company’s historical share option exercise experience does not provide a reasonable basis upon which to estimate expected term.

Leases

The Company records operating leases in accordance with ASU 2016-02 – Leases (Topic 842) (“ASU 2016-02”). Under this ASU, the Company recognized a right-of-use-asset and corresponding liability on the balance sheet for all leases, except for leases covering a period of fewer than 12 months. The liability has been measured at the present value of the future minimum lease payments taking into account renewal options if applicable plus initial incremental direct costs such as commissions. The minimum payments are discounted using the Company’s incremental borrowing rate. The right-of-use asset is amortized as rent expense on a straight-line basis.

Accounting changes

Accounting Changes

In December 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2019-12, Income Taxes - Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes (“ASU 2019-12”). Among other items, the amendments in ASU 2019-12 simplified 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 previous 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, previous 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 removed 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. The Company adopted ASU 2019-12 effective January 1, 2021 and the Company did not have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

The Company has determined that it was not subject to any other new accounting pronouncements that became effective during the year ended December 31, 2021.