Topics Key to CECL Transition Headline MST’s 2017 National ALLL Conference

The National ALLL Conference focuses on  actionable information needed both today for current GAAP and tomorrow with the transition to CECL. The second morning of the MST 2017 National ALLL Conference picks up where the first morning’s sessions left off, with discussions led by panels with a wide range of both expertise and experience. The topics are key to your transition to CECL, and the panels feature an unprecedented assembly of knowledge and know-how.

Here’s a rundown on what’s waiting for you on Conference Day #2, Wednesday, May 24:

Click for full conference agenda. 

The Board, Investors and Expected Credit Loss

CECL will touch every aspect of your business. It is likely to have substantial effect on your bottom line. So it is essential that your board and, your investors understand CECL, how it will impact your institution’s processes and profits, and what you are doing to prepare for the new accounting standard. The session’s panel will address these issues from a position of particularly rich experience – and from all key perspectives.

Michael Gullette, the panel moderator, is vice president of accounting and financial management for the American Bankers Association (ABA). He has been the voice of the ABA, and therefore the industry, to FASB throughout the development of CECL.

Garry Rank, a consultant working with MST Advisory, spent three decades at a top 30 regional accounting firm, specializing in corporate financial auditing, accounting and financial reporting as well as consultation on governance, financial systems and internal controls. Garry is a highly regarded veteran speaker, presenting accounting updates at previous National ALLL Conferences.

Chad Keller is a partner in Crowe Horwath’s Advisory Services business unit focusing on transaction advisory, valuation, accounting consultation, and model validation services.  Chad is one of the firm’s subject matter experts on the valuation and accounting for financial instruments and is in charge of Crowe’s CECL Implementation Services.

Ben Hoffman is a managing director with KPMG’s Credit Risk Group and leads the firm’s ALLL specialist group in support of KPMG’s external audit clients, and is a co-chair of KPMG’s CECL steering committee.

Walter McNairy is the managing partner of DHG Financial Services. He leads a team of 35-plus partners and more than 300 audit, tax and consulting professionals, overseeing the work done for clients throughout DHG’s footprint.

Bankers Share CECL Transition Experiences

Many larger financial instituitons are already well underway in their CECL preparations. Session panelists from Comerica, Chemical and Renasant banks are managing their institutions’ CECL projects and will share the issues they are encountering and the practices they have found helpful as they transition. A fourth panel member, Hans Pettit, will provide insights on what institutions other than the big banks are doing.

Mike Gullette will serve as panel moderator.

Munera Carr is the Chief Accounting Office and Controller at Comerica Bank, responsible for overseeing external financial and regulatory reporting, planning & forecasting, tax, accounting operations, and accounting policy and research.

Dave Cogswell serves as Senior Vice President, Credit Administration Director at Chemical Bank.  In his current position, he is responsible for the Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses, Credit Policy, and Credit Risk Modeling and Reporting.  He serves on the Bank’s CECL Implementation Committee, SOX Committee, Credit Policy Committee, Bank Loan Administration Committee, Senior Loan Committee, and Directors Loan Committee.

Mark Williams is Chief Executive of Operations and Credit at Renasant Bank. He has and continues to be instrumental in taking the lead and setting strategy to prepare for CECL.

Hans Pettit is a partner in HORNE LLP’s Financial Institutions practice with 19 years of specialized experience helping HORNE clients in growth opportunity planning and assessment, risk management and design, and internal control framework design and effectiveness.

 Get more information on the National ALLL Conference.

Signals or Noise? An Economic Forecast

The economic forecast is a highlight of each year’s conference. Tom Cunningham, recently retired Atlanta Fed senior economist, returns this year to interpret the economic indicators that reveal how our economy is doing and where it is likely headed. MST’s Max Oberkofler will demonstrate how economic indicators impact today’s allowance estimations and how that may differ under CECL.

Tom Cunningham joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta as an economist with the macropolicy group in 1985. He was promoted to senior economist in 1989, and to research officer and senior economist with responsibility for the regional group in 1992. He retired from the Fed in 2015 and currently works with MST Advisory as a consultant.

Max Oberkofler is a member of the MST team assisting financial institutions with ALLL automation and the transition to CECL. Besides his experience with a variety of banks, methodologies and models, Max is instrumental in the development of the MST Virtual Economist, a powerful tool that simplifies correlation analysis and forecasting utilizing a lender’s internal data and Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED).

Governance Best Practices

If you have responsibilities related to managing the transition to CECL at your institution, you will benefit from the knowledge and insights of three experts who have spoken and written extensively on governance.

Graham Dyer, a Grant Thornton Partner, is a member of FASB’s CECL Transition Resource Group and the IASB’s IFRS 9 Impairment Transition Group (ITG).

Dorsey Baskin is recently retired from the National Professional Standards Group of Grant Thornton LLP and serves as aconsultant to MST Advisory clients. His roles at Grant Thornton included national leadership of the firm’s innovation function, technical accounting and audit advisor for the banking industry audit and consulting practice, and national professional practice director.

Walter McNairy is the managing partner of DHG Financial Services. He leads a team of 35-plus partners and more than 300 audit, tax and consulting professionals, overseeing their work for clients throughout the DHG footprint.

Workshops.

Wednesday afternoon’s workshops will provide additional insights on subjects key to CECL implementation. “Connecting Stress Testing to CECL,” led by DHG Partner Robin Sawyer will address the parallels between the data used to estimate CECL and stress testing. “Factoring the Quantitative,” led by Garry Rank, will reveal how Q factors will impact your allowance under CECL. “Applying an Economic Outlook to Your Allowance,” led by Tom Cunningham, will help you employ economic indicators appropriately in your current estimates as well as under CECL. “Keeping the Score on Risk,” by Bart Smith, managing director of Performance Trust Capital Partners, and a former FDIC examiner and field office manager, will discuss various tools and models for identifying, measuring and tracking significant risk trends. And “Defending Your CECL Implementation,” led by John Hurlock, president of SMARTER Risk Management, will help you develop your approach to demonstrating to your regulators the effectiveness of your planning, transition and implementation of CECL.

Click here for more details on the MST 2017 National ALLL Conferencee, including sessions and speaker bios.