XML 44 R28.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.20.4
Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Segment Reporting, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Segment information: The Company uses the “management approach” for reporting information about segments in annual and interim financial statements. The “management approach” is based on the way the chief operating decision-maker organizes segments within a company for making operating decisions and assessing performance. Based on the “management approach” model, the Company has determined that its business is comprised of one operating segment: banking. The banking segment generates revenues through personal, business, agricultural and commercial lending, management of the investment securities portfolio, deposit account services and wealth management services.

 
Consolidation, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Consolidation: The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Ames National Corporation (the Parent Company) and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, First National Bank, Ames, Iowa (FNB); State Bank & Trust Co., Nevada, Iowa (SBT); Boone Bank & Trust Co., Boone, Iowa (BBT); Reliance State Bank, Story City, Iowa (RSB); United Bank & Trust NA, Marshalltown, Iowa (UBT); and Iowa State Savings Bank, Creston, Iowa (ISSB) (collectively, the Banks). All significant intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

 
Use of Estimates, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Use of estimates: The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant change in the near term relate to the determination of the allowance for loan losses, the assessment of goodwill impairment and the fair value and assessment of other-than-temporary impairment for certain financial instruments.

 
Cash and Cash Equivalents, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Cash and due from banks: For purposes of reporting cash flows, cash and due from banks include cash on hand and amounts due from banks. The Company reports net cash flows for customer loan transactions, deposit transactions and short-term borrowings with maturities of 90 days or less.

 
Marketable Securities, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Securities available-for-sale: The Company classifies all securities as available-for-sale. Securities available-for-sale are those securities the Company may decide to sell if needed for liquidity, asset-liability management or other reasons. Securities available-for-sale are reported at fair value, with the change in the net unrealized gains reported as other comprehensive income and as accumulated other comprehensive income, net of taxes, a separate component of stockholders’ equity.

 

Gains and losses on the sale of securities are determined using the specific identification method based on amortized cost and are reflected in results of operation at the time of sale. Interest and dividend income, adjusted by amortization of purchase premium or discount over the estimated life of the security using the level yield method, is included in income as earned.

 

Declines in the fair value of securities available-for-sale below their cost that are deemed to be other-than-temporary are reflected in earnings as realized losses. In estimating other-than-temporary impairment losses, management considers (i) the intent to sell the investment securities and the more likely than not requirement that the Company will be required to sell the investment securities prior to recovery, (ii) the length of time and the extent to which the fair value has been less than cost and (iii) the financial condition and near-term prospects of the issuer. Due to potential changes in conditions, it is at least reasonably possible that change in management’s assessment of other-than-temporary impairment will occur in the near term and that such changes could be material to the amounts reported in the Company’s financial statements.

 
FHLB and FRB [Policy Text Block]

FHLB and FRB stock: The Banks, as members of the FHLB system, are required to maintain an investment in capital stock of the FHLB in an amount equal to 0.12 percent of the member bank’s total assets plus 4.00 percent of outstanding advances from the FHLB and the outstanding principal balance of loans previously issued through the Mortgage Partnership Finance Program (MPF). All shares of FHLB stock are issued and redeemed at par value. The Banks, as members of the FRB system, must subscribe to the capital stock of its District Federal Reserve Bank in an amount equal to 6 percent of the member bank's paid-up capital and surplus and must pay in half of that amount. The other half is subject to call by the Board of Governors. The stock is issued and redeemed at par value. No ready market exists for the FHLB and FRB stock, and it has no quoted market value. The Company evaluates these assets for impairment on a quarterly basis and determined there was no impairment as of December 31, 2020.

 
Receivable [Policy Text Block]

Loans: Loans are stated at the principal amount outstanding, net of deferred loan fees, deferred loan costs, and the allowance for loan losses. Interest on loans is credited to income as earned based on the principal amount outstanding. The Banks’ policy is to discontinue the accrual of interest income on any loan 90 days or more past due unless the loans are well collateralized and in the process of collection. Income on nonaccrual loans is subsequently recognized only to the extent that cash payments are received and principal obligations are expected to be recoverable. Nonaccrual loans are returned to an accrual status when, in the opinion of management, the financial position of the borrower indicates there is no longer any reasonable doubt as to timely payment of principal or interest.

 

The restructuring of a loan is considered a “troubled debt restructuring” (“TDR”) if both the borrower is experiencing financial difficulties and the creditor has granted a concession. Section 4013 of the CARES Act, “Temporary Relief From Troubled Debt Restructurings,” allows financial institutions the option to temporarily suspend certain requirements under U.S. GAAP related to TDRs for a limited period of time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal banking regulators also issued interagency statements that include similar guidance on loan modifications and reporting for financial institutions working with customers affected by COVID-19.

 
Loans and Leases Receivable, Allowance for Loan Losses Policy [Policy Text Block]

Allowance for loan losses: The allowance for loan losses is established through a provision for loan losses and maintained at a level deemed appropriate by management to provide for known and inherent risks in the loan portfolio. The allowance is based upon an ongoing review of past loan loss experience, current economic conditions, the underlying collateral value securing the loans and other adverse situations that may affect the borrower’s ability to repay. Loans which are deemed to be uncollectible are charged-off and deducted from the allowance. Recoveries on loans charged-off are added to the allowance. This evaluation is inherently subjective and requires estimates that are susceptible to significant revisions as more information becomes available. Due to potential changes in conditions, it is at least reasonably possible that changes in estimates will occur in the near term and that such changes could materially affect the amounts reported in the Company’s financial statements.

 

The Company’s allowance for loan losses consists of two components (i) specific reserves based on probable losses on specific loans and (ii) a general allowance based on historical loan loss experience, general economic conditions and other qualitative risk factors both internal and external to the Company.

 

The allowances established for probable losses on specific loans are based on a regular analysis and evaluation of problem loans. Loans are classified based on an internal credit risk rating process that evaluates, among other things: (i) the obligor’s ability to repay; (ii) the underlying collateral, if any; and (iii) the economic environment and industry in which the borrower operates. A loan is considered impaired when, based on current information and events, it is probable that the Company will be unable to collect the scheduled payments of principal or interest when due according to the contractual terms of the loan agreement. Factors considered by management in determining impairment include payment status, collateral value, and the probability of collecting scheduled principal and interest payments when due. Smaller balance homogeneous loans are evaluated for impairment in total. Such loans include residential first mortgage loans secured by one-to-four family residences, residential construction loans, and automobile loans. Commercial and agricultural loans and mortgage loans secured by other properties are evaluated individually for impairment when analysis of borrower operating results and financial condition indicates that underlying cash flows of the borrower’s business are not adequate to meet its debt service requirements. Often this is associated with a delay or shortfall in payments of 90 days or more. Nonaccrual loans are often also considered impaired. Impaired loans or portions thereof, are charged-off when deemed uncollectible.

 

The general component of the allowance for loan losses is based on historical loan loss experience, general economic conditions and other qualitative risk factors both internal and external to the Company. The general component is determined by evaluating, among other things: (i) actual charge offs; (ii) the experience, ability and effectiveness of the Company’s lending management and staff; (iii) the effectiveness of the Company’s loan policies, procedures and internal controls; (iv) changes in asset quality; (v) changes in loan portfolio volume; (vi) the composition and concentrations of credit; (vii) the impact of competition on loan structuring and pricing; (viii) the effectiveness of the internal audit loan review function; (ix) the impact of environmental risks on portfolio risks; and (x) the impact of rising interest rates on portfolio risk (collectively, the variables). Management evaluates the degree of risk that each one of these variables has on the quality of the loan portfolio on a quarterly basis. Each variable is determined to have either a high, moderate or low degree of risk. The results are then input into a “general allocation matrix” to determine an appropriate general allocation of the allowance for losses. Also included in the general component is an allocation for groups of loans with similar risk characteristics.

 
Financing Receivable, Held-for-sale [Policy Text Block]

Loans held for sale: Loans held for sale are the loans the Banks have the intent to sell in the foreseeable future. They are carried at the lower of aggregate cost or fair value. Net unrealized losses, if any, are recognized through a valuation allowance by charges to income. Gains and losses on sales of loans are determined by the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the loans, recognized at settlement date and recorded as noninterest income.

 
Property, Plant and Equipment, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Bank premises and equipment: Premises and equipment are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation expense is computed using straight-line and accelerated methods over the estimated useful lives of the respective assets. Depreciable lives range from 3 to 7 years for equipment and 15 to 39 years for premises.

 
Other Real Estate Owned, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Other real estate owned: Real estate properties acquired through or in lieu of foreclosure are initially recorded at the fair value less estimated selling cost at the date of foreclosure. Any write-downs based on the asset’s fair value at the date of acquisition are charged to the allowance for loan losses. Costs of significant property improvements are capitalized, whereas costs relating to holding property are expensed. The portion of interest costs relating to development of real estate is capitalized. Valuations are periodically performed by management and property held for sale is carried at the lower of the new cost basis or fair value less cost to sell and any subsequent write-downs are charged to operations. This evaluation is inherently subjective and requires estimates that are susceptible to significant revisions as more information becomes available.

 
Bank Owned Life Insurance [Policy Text Block]

Bank-owned life insurance: The carrying amount of bank-owned life insurance consists of the initial premium paid, plus increases in cash value, less the carrying amount associated with any death benefit received. Death benefits paid in excess of the applicable carrying amount are recognized as income. A portion of the increases in cash value and the death benefits recognized as income are exempt from income taxes.

 
Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Goodwill and other intangible assets: Goodwill represents the excess of cost over fair value of net assets acquired. Goodwill resulting from acquisitions is not amortized, but is tested for impairment annually or whenever events change and circumstances indicate that it is more likely than not that impairment has occurred. Goodwill is tested for impairment and begins with an estimation of the fair value of a reporting unit. Impairment would arise if the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value.

 

Significant judgment is applied when goodwill is assessed for impairment. This judgment includes developing cash flow projections, selecting appropriate discount rates, identifying relevant market comparables, incorporating general economic and market conditions and selecting an appropriate control premium. Due to the economic weakness resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company completed a quantitative assessment of goodwill as of May 31, 2020 which indicated that goodwill was not impaired. Subsequently, the Company determined there were no adverse changes in criteria and key considerations to the previous assessment. Accordingly, the Company concluded that there is no impairment of goodwill as of December 31, 2020. Further goodwill impairment evaluations, which may result in goodwill impairment, may be necessary if events or circumstance changes would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying amount.

 

The only other significant intangible assets are core deposit intangible and customer list assets. The core deposit intangible and customer list asset is determined to have a definite life and is amortized over the estimated useful life. The core deposit intangible asset and customer list asset are both customer-based relationship valuation attributed to the expectation of a lower net cost of these deposits versus alternative sources of funds. The core deposit intangible and customer list asset are reviewed for impairment whenever events occur or circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable.

 
Trust Department Assets, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Wealth management department assets: Property held for customers in fiduciary or agency capacities are not included in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets, as such items are not assets of the Banks.

 
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Policy Text Block]

Revenue from contracts with customers: Interest revenue from loans and investments is recognized on the accrual basis of accounting as the interest is earned according to the terms of the particular loan or investment. Income from service and other customer charges is recognized as earned.  Revenue from service charges are earned in accordance with the terms of the various products or services provided. Services within the scope of Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 606 include service charges on deposits, interchange income, wealth management fees, investment brokerage fees, and the net gain on sale of foreclosed assets.

 
Advertising Cost [Policy Text Block]

Advertising costs: Advertising costs are expensed as incurred.

 
Income Tax, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Income taxes: Deferred income taxes are provided on temporary differences between financial statement and income tax reporting. Temporary differences are differences between the amounts of assets and liabilities reported for financial statement purposes and their tax bases. Deferred tax assets are recognized for temporary differences that will be deductible in future years’ tax returns and for operating loss and tax credit carry forwards. Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance if it is deemed more likely than not that some or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Deferred tax liabilities are recognized for temporary differences that will be taxable in future years’ tax returns. Accounting for uncertainty in income taxes sets out a consistent framework to determine the appropriate level of tax reserves to maintain for uncertain tax positions. Benefits from tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return are not recognized if the likelihood that the tax position would be sustained upon examination by a taxing authority is considered to be 50 percent or less. Interest and penalties are accounted for as a component of income tax expense.

 

The Company files a consolidated federal income tax return, with each entity computing its taxes on a separate company basis. For state tax purposes, the Banks file franchise tax returns, while the Parent Company files a corporate income tax return.

 
Comprehensive Income, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Comprehensive income: Accounting principles generally require that recognized revenue, expenses, gains and losses be included in net income. Certain changes in assets and liabilities, such as unrealized gains and losses on securities available-for-sale, are reported as accumulated other comprehensive income, a separate component of the stockholders’ equity section of the consolidated balance sheet, and such items, along with net income, are components of the statement of comprehensive income. Gains and losses on securities available-for-sale are reclassified to net income as the gains or losses are realized upon sale of the securities. Other-than-temporary impairment charges are reclassified to net income at the time of the charge.

 
Off-Balance-Sheet Credit Exposure, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Financial instruments with off-balance-sheet risk: The Company, in the normal course of business, makes commitments to make loans which are not reflected in the consolidated financial statements. A summary of these commitments is disclosed in Note 15.

 
Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets, Transfers of Financial Assets, Aggregation, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Transfers of financial assets and participating interests: Transfers of an entire financial asset or a participating interest in an entire financial asset are accounted for as sales when control over the assets has been surrendered. Control over transferred assets is deemed to be surrendered when (1) the assets have been isolated from the Company, (2) the transferee obtains the right (free of conditions that constrain it from taking advantage of that right) to pledge or exchange the transferred assets, and (3) the Company does not maintain effective control over the transferred assets through an agreement to repurchase them before their maturity.

 

The transfer of a participating interest in an entire financial asset must also meet the definition of a participating interest. A participating interest in a financial asset has all of the following characteristics: (1) from the date of the transfer, it must represent a proportionate (pro rata) ownership in the financial asset; (2) from the date of transfer, all cash flows received, except any cash flows allocated as any compensation for servicing or other services performed, must be divided proportionately among participating interest holders in the amount equal to their share ownership; (3) the rights of each participating interest holder must have the same priority; and (4) no party has the right to pledge or exchange the entire financial asset unless all participating interest holders agree to do so.

 
Earnings Per Share, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Earnings per share: Basic earnings per share computations for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 were determined by dividing net income by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the years then ended. The Company had no potentially dilutive securities outstanding during the periods presented.

 

The following information was used in the computation of basic earnings per share (EPS) for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:

 

  

2020

  

2019

 

Basic earning per share computation:

        

Net income

 $18,850,063  $17,194,169 

Weighted average common shares outstanding

  9,148,244   9,236,989 

Basic EPS

 $2.06  $1.86 

 
New Accounting Pronouncements, Policy [Policy Text Block]

New and Pending Accounting Pronouncements: In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. The ASU requires an organization to measure all expected credit losses for financial assets held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. Financial institutions and other organizations will use forward-looking information to better inform their credit loss estimates. Many of the loss estimation techniques applied today will still be permitted, although the inputs to those techniques will change to reflect the full amount of expected credit losses. Organizations will continue to use judgment to determine which loss estimation method is appropriate for their circumstances. Additionally, the ASU amends the accounting for credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities and purchased financial assets with credit deterioration. In October 2019, the FASB voted to approve amendments to the effective date of ASU No. 2016-13 for smaller reporting companies, as defined by the SEC, and other non-SEC reporting entities. The amendment delays the effective date for our Company until interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2022. The Company continues collecting and retaining loan and credit data and evaluating various loss estimation models, along with refining the implementation of a software product and its approach for determining the expected credit losses under the new guidance. The Company’s preliminary evaluation indicates the provisions of ASU No. 2016-13 are expected to impact the Company’s financial statements. The Company is continuing to evaluate the extent of the potential impact.

 

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-04, Intangibles-Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment. The guidance in this update eliminates the Step 2 from the goodwill impairment test. For public companies, this update became effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company adopted this guidance effective January 1, 2020 and the adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

 

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. The amendments in this update modify the disclosure requirements for fair value measurements by removing, modifying, or adding certain disclosures. The update became effective for interim and annual periods in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted for the removed disclosures and delayed adoption until fiscal year 2020 permitted for the new disclosures. The removed and modified disclosures were adopted on a retrospective basis, and the new disclosures were adopted on a prospective basis. The Company adopted this guidance effective January 1, 2020 and the adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.