NOTES TO UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
1. Principles of Consolidation
The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of AmeriServ Financial, Inc. (the Company) and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, AmeriServ Financial Bank (the Bank) and AmeriServ Trust and Financial Services Company (the Trust Company). The Bank is a Pennsylvania state-chartered full service bank with 16 locations in Pennsylvania and 1 location in Maryland. The Trust Company offers a complete range of trust and financial services and administers assets valued at $2.4 billion and $2.3 billion that are not reported on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets at September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively.
In addition, the Parent Company is an administrative group that provides support in such areas as audit, finance, investments, loan review, general services, and marketing. Intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in preparing the Consolidated Financial Statements. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes. Actual results may differ from these estimates and the differences may be material to the Consolidated Financial Statements. The Company’s most significant estimates relate to the allowance for credit losses (related to investment securities, loans, and unfunded commitments), intangible assets, income taxes, pension, derivatives (interest rate swaps/hedges), and the fair value of financial instruments.
2. Basis of Preparation
The unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America for interim financial information. In the opinion of management, all adjustments consisting of normal recurring entries considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. They are not, however, necessarily indicative of the results of consolidated operations for a full-year.
For further information, refer to the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022.
3. Adoption of Accounting Standards
In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (ASU 2016-13) and subsequent related updates. This ASU replaces the incurred loss methodology for recognizing credit losses and requires businesses and other organizations to measure the current expected credit losses (CECL) on financial assets measured at amortized cost, including loans and held to maturity (HTM) securities, off-balance sheet credit exposures such as unfunded commitments, and other financial instruments. In addition, ASU 2016-13 requires credit losses on available for sale (AFS) debt securities to be presented as an allowance rather than as a write-down when management does not intend to sell or believes that it is not more likely than not they will be required to sell. This guidance became effective on January 1, 2023 for the Company. The results reported for periods beginning after January 1, 2023 are presented under ASU 2016-13 while prior period amounts continue to be reported in accordance with previously applicable accounting standards.
The Company adopted ASU 2016-13, and subsequent related updates, using the modified retrospective approach for all financial assets measured at amortized cost, including loans and held to maturity debt securities, as well as unfunded commitments. On January 1, 2023, the Company recorded a cumulative effect decrease to retained earnings of $1.2 million, net of tax, of which $951,000 related to loans, $90,000 related to held to maturity debt securities, and $140,000 related to unfunded commitments. In addition, the Company adopted the provisions of ASU 2016-13 related to presenting other-than-temporary impairment on available for sale debt securities on January 1, 2023, though no such charges were recorded on the securities held by the Company as of the date of adoption.
It should be noted that the Company expanded the pooling utilized under the legacy incurred loss method to include additional segmentation based on risk within the loan portfolio. The following table presents the impact of the change from the incurred loss model to the current expected credit loss model.