On September 30, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) finalized a rule to defer the effective date of the updated long-term insurance standard for a second time. The deferral will give insurers more time to properly implement the changes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Need for change
After 12 years of work, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2018-12, Financial Services — Insurance (Topic 944): Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts, in August 2018 to improve and simplify the highly complex, nuanced reporting requirements for long-term insurance policies. The rules were designed to simplify targeted areas in reporting life insurance, disability income, long-term care and annuity payouts.
Specifically, the update requires insurers to:
- Review annually the assumptions they make about their policyholders, and
- Update the liabilities on their balance sheets if the assumptions change.