CECL.
It’s a four-letter word that fills credit union officials with dread. It’s an accounting standard that few people understand that was issued by an accounting board nobody ever heard of. And like a pesky animal eating your petunias, all efforts to get rid of it have failed.
The NCUA recently issued a letter to credit unions, to announce the new tool aimed at helping smaller-asset credit unions comply with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s accounting standard on current expected credit loss, or CECL, which goes into effect for most credit unions at the start of 2023.
The CECL tool is intended for use by credit unions with under $100 million in assets, although it could be used by larger credit unions based on the discretion of their management and auditors, according to the NCUA.
“The simplified CECL tool gives small credit unions a valuable resource to help them implement CECL without having to hire an econometrician or to use complicated models,” said Todd Harper, NCUA chairman. “With an uncertain economic picture, this tool provides relief for smaller credit unions, so they can focus on serving their members and communities. The NCUA will continue to provide CECL-related information on our website, and our staff is available to assist credit unions with using the tool and with other CECL-related questions.”
The CECL tool and its supporting documentation are available on the NCUA’s CECL Resources page.
