v3.19.2
Significant Accounting Policies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2019
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Significant Accounting Policies Significant Accounting Policies
There have been no material changes to the significant accounting policies as described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 except for the following:
Recently Adopted Accounting Standards Updates
Improvements to Non-employee Share-Based Payment Accounting
In June 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2018-07 guidance that simplifies the accounting for share-based payments granted to non-employees for goods and services. Under the guidance, most of the guidance on such payments to non-employees would be aligned with the requirements for share-based payments granted to employees as the board viewed the awards to both employees and non-employees to be economically similar and that two different accounting models are not justified. The Company currently measures directors’ share-based payment awards at fair value as at their grant date; therefore the adoption of this standard on January 1, 2019 did not have any impact on the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
Codification Improvements
In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-09 which includes clarifications to existing codifications or corrections of unintended application of guidance that is not expected to have a significant effect on current accounting practice or create a significant administrative cost to most entities. The amendments in this update include items raised for board consideration through the codification's feedback system that met the scope of this project, making due process necessary. The amendments affect a wide variety of topics in the codification. The amendments apply to all reporting entities within the scope of the affected accounting guidance. None of the topics deemed applicable upon adoption of this standard on January 1, 2019 have a material impact in the Company's interim consolidated financial statements.
2. Significant Accounting Policies (continued)
Topic 842, Leases
In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-11 for targeted improvements related to ASU 2016-02 which provides entities with an additional transition method to apply the new standard. Under the new optional transition method, an entity initially applies Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 842 at the adoption date and recognizes a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption. Topic 842 became effective for the Company during the first quarter of 2019 and was applied using a modified retrospective approach by electing the additional transition method permitted by ASU 2018-11. Under the additional transition method, the Company's reporting for the comparative periods presented in its financial statements will be in accordance with the pre-effective date lease accounting requirements under Topic 840.
The Company adopted Topic 842 effective on January 1, 2019, by electing as a package the practical expedients permitted under the transition guidance of Topic 842, and applied consistently to all leases that had commenced before the effective date of adoption. The package of practical expedients allowed the Company not to reassess the following: whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases; the lease classification for any expired or existing leases; and initial direct costs for any existing leases. In addition to electing the package of practical expedients, the Company made an accounting policy election to account for non-lease components separately from lease components. Furthermore, the Company made an accounting policy election not to record leases with an initial term of twelve months or less in the Company's Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The adoption of this standard on January 1, 2019 has impacted the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets but did not have any impact on its results of operations or cash flows.
Please refer to "Note 10. Commitments and Contingencies a) Operating Lease Commitments" for further disclosures regarding the impact of the adoption of Topic 842 in 2019.
Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities
In March 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-08 to amend the amortization period for certain purchased callable debt securities held at a premium. Current U.S. GAAP excludes certain callable debt securities from consideration of early repayment of principal even if the holder is certain that the call will be exercised. As a result, upon the exercise of a call on a callable debt security held at a premium, the unamortized premium is recorded as a loss in earnings.The amendments in ASU 2017-08 affect all entities that hold investments in callable debt securities that have an amortized cost basis in excess of the amount that is repayable by the issuer at the earliest call date. The amendments shorten the amortization period for certain callable debt securities held at a premium and require the premium to be amortized to the earliest call date. The amendments do not require an accounting change for securities held at a discount; the discount continues to be amortized to maturity. For public business entities, the amendments are effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2018. An entity should apply the amendments on a modified retrospective basis through a cumulative-effect adjustment directly to retained earnings as of the beginning of the period of adoption. Additionally, in the period of adoption, an entity should provide disclosures about a change in accounting principle.
The Company holds a number of fixed maturities with callable features on its Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets and this includes certain securities that have been purchased at a premium that are being amortized to their contractual maturity dates. The Company has always handled the amortization of any premiums by amortizing to the earliest effective maturity; therefore, the adoption of this guidance on January 1, 2019 did not have any impact on its Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted
Accounting for Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments
In April 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-04 for targeted improvements related to 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. The Update also modified the accounting for available-for-sale ("AFS") debt securities, which must be individually assessed for credit losses when fair value is less than the amortized cost basis, in accordance with Subtopic 326-30, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses—Available-for-Sale Debt Securities. Credit losses relating to AFS debt securities will be recorded through an allowance for credit losses.
The codification improvements in ASU 2019-04 clarify that an entity should include recoveries when estimating the allowance for credit losses. The amendments specify that expected recoveries of amounts previously written off and expected to be written off should be included in the valuation account and should not exceed the aggregate of amounts previously written off and expected to be written off by the entity. In addition, for collateral dependent financial assets, the amendments clarify that an allowance for credit losses that is added to the amortized cost basis of the financial asset(s) should not exceed amounts previously written off. The amendment also clarifies FASB’s intent to include all reinsurance recoverables that are within the scope of Topic 944 to be within the scope of Subtopic 326-20, regardless of the measurement basis of those recoverables.The guidance is effective for public business entities for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2019, and interim periods therein. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this guidance on its results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.