DFS-24-16-00004-P Financial Statement Filings and Accounting Practices and Procedures

6/15/16 N.Y. St. Reg. DFS-24-16-00004-P

NEW YORK STATE REGISTER

VOLUME XXXVIII, ISSUE 24

June 15, 2016

RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES

DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

PROPOSED RULE MAKING

NO HEARING(S) SCHEDULED

 

I.D No. DFS-24-16-00004-P

Financial Statement Filings and Accounting Practices and Procedures

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following proposed rule:

Proposed Action:

This is a consensus rule making to amend Part 83 (Regulation 172) of Title 11 NYCRR.

Statutory authority:

Financial Services Law, sections 202 and 302; Insurance Law, sections 107(a)(2), 301, 307, 308, 1109, 1301, 1302, 1308, 1404, 1405, 1407, 1411, 1414, 1501, 1505, 3233, 4117, 4233, 4239, 4301, 4310, 4321-a, 4322-a, 4327 and 6404; Public Health Law, sections 4403, 4403-a, 4403-(c)(12) and 4408-a; L. 2002, ch. 599; L. 2008, ch. 311

Subject:

Financial Statement Filings and Accounting Practices and Procedures.

Purpose:

To update citations in Part 83 to the Accounting practices and Procedures Manual as of March 2014 (instead of 2013).

Text of proposed rule:

Subdivision (c) of section 83.2 is amended to read as follows:

(c) To assist in the completion of the financial statements, the NAIC also adopts and publishes from time to time certain policy, procedures and instruction manuals. The latest of these manuals, the Accounting Practices and Procedures Manual as of March [2015] 2016 * (accounting manual) includes a body of accounting guide-lines referred to as statements of statutory accounting principles (SSAPs). The accounting manual shall be used in the preparation of quarterly statements and the annual statement for [2015] 2016, which will be filed in [2016] 2017.

* ACCOUNTING PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES MANUAL AS OF MARCH [2015] 2016. © Copyright 1999 – [2015] 2016 by National Association of Insurance Commissioners, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Text of proposed rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:

Sally Geisel, New York State Department of Financial Services, 1 State Street, New York, NY 10004, [phone], email: [e-mail]

Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:

Same as above.

Public comment will be received until:

45 days after publication of this notice.

Consensus Rule Making Determination

No person is likely to object to amendment of the rule that adopts the most recent edition of the Accounting Practices and Procedures Manual As of March 2016 (“2016 Accounting Manual”), published by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”), and replaces the rule’s current reference to the Accounting Practices and Procedures Manual As of March 2015.

All states require insurers to comply with the 2016 Accounting Manual, which establishes uniform practices and procedures for U.S.-licensed insurers. Adoption of the rule is necessary for the Department to maintain its accreditation status with the NAIC. The NAIC-accreditation standards require that state insurance regulators have adequate statutory and administrative authority to regulate insurers’ corporate and financial affairs, and that they have the necessary resources to carry out that authority.

The Department determines this rule to be a consensus rule, as defined in State Administrative Procedure Act § 102(11) (SAPA), and is proposed pursuant to SAPA § 202(1)(b)(i). Accordingly, this rulemaking is exempt from the requirement to file a Regulatory Impact Statement, Regulatory Flexibility Analysis for Small Businesses and Local Governments or a Rural Area Flexibility Analysis.

Job Impact Statement

The Department of Financial Services (“Department”) does not believe that this rulemaking will have any impact on jobs and employment opportunities, including self-employment opportunities. The amendment adopts the most recent edition published by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) of the Accounting Practices and Procedures Manual As of March 2016 (“2016 Accounting Manual”), replacing the rule’s current reference to the Accounting Practices and Procedures Manual As of March 2015.

All states require insurers to comply with the 2016 Accounting Manual, which establishes uniform practices and procedures for U.S.-licensed insurers. Adoption of the rule is necessary for the Department to maintain its accreditation status with the NAIC. The NAIC accreditation standards require that state insurance regulators have adequate statutory and administrative authority to regulate insurers’ corporate and financial affairs, and that they have the necessary resources to carry out that authority.