Insurers, Auditors Back Tweak to New Insurance Accounting Rules

Insurance companies, trade groups, and the Big Four audit firms back a US accounting rulemaker proposal that aims to ease compliance headaches as companies gear up for major new insurance accounting rules.

The proposal, released in July, allows insurers that recently sold off life, annuity, or other long-term insurance business lines to skip following the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s new rules retroactively when the rules go live next year.

“We agree that such contracts are no longer relevant to a company’s continuing operations, future cash flows, and overall economics of the business,” the ...