SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Nature of Operations: Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (“Guaranty”) is a bank holding company headquartered in Mount Pleasant, Texas that provides, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Guaranty Bank & Trust, N.A. (the “Bank”), a broad array of financial products and services to individuals and corporate customers, primarily in its markets of East Texas, Bryan/College Station and the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. The terms “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” mean Guaranty and its subsidiaries, when appropriate. The Company’s main sources of income are derived from granting loans throughout its markets and investing in securities issued by the U.S. Treasury, U.S. government agencies and state and political subdivisions. The Company’s primary lending products are real estate, commercial and consumer loans. Although the Company has a diversified loan portfolio, a substantial portion of its debtors’ abilities to honor contracts is dependent on the economy of the State of Texas and primarily the economies of East Texas, Bryan/College Station and the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. The Company primarily funds its lending activities with deposit operations. The Company’s primary deposit products are checking accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit.

Basis of Presentation: The consolidated financial statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (this “Report”) include the accounts of Guaranty, the Bank, and their respective other direct and indirect subsidiaries and any other entities in which Guaranty has a controlling interest. The Bank has six wholly-owned non-bank subsidiaries, Guaranty Company, Inc., G B COM, INC., 2800 South Texas Avenue LLC, Pin Oak Realty Holdings, Inc., Pin Oak Energy Holdings, LLC and White Oak Aviation, LLC. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The accounting and financial reporting policies followed by the Company conform, in all material respects, to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and to general practices within the financial services industry.

The consolidated financial statements in this Report have not been audited by an independent registered public accounting firm, but in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of the Company’s financial position and results of operations. All such adjustments were of a normal and recurring nature. The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Accordingly, the financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the Company’s consolidated financial statements, and notes thereto, for the year ended December 31, 2017, included in Guaranty’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017. Operating results for the interim periods disclosed herein are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for a full year or any future period.

All dollar amounts referenced and discussed in the notes to the consolidated financial statements in this Report are presented in thousands, unless noted otherwise.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. These estimates and assumptions may also affect disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

KSOP Repurchase Right: In accordance with applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, the terms of Guaranty’s employee stock ownership plan with 401(k) provisions (“KSOP”), provided that, for so long as Guaranty was a privately-held company without a public market for its common stock, KSOP participants would have the right, for a specified period of time, to require Guaranty to repurchase shares of its common stock that are distributed to them by the KSOP. This repurchase obligation terminated upon the consummation of Guaranty’s initial public offering and listing of its common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market in May 2017. However, because Guaranty was privately-held without a public market for its common stock as of and for the quarter ended March 31, 2017, the shares of common stock held by the KSOP are reflected in the Company’s consolidated statement of changes in shareholders' equity for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 as a line item called “KSOP-owned shares”. As a result, the KSOP-owned shares are deducted from the consolidated statement of changes in shareholders' equity for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 includes an adjustment for the inclusion of such KSOP-owned shares in total shareholders' equity as "terminated KSOP put option." For all periods following Guaranty’s initial public offering and continued listing of the Company’s common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, the KSOP-owned shares are included in, and not be deducted from, shareholders’ equity.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements:

In February 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2018-02, Income Statement — Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income. ASU 2018-02 was issued to address the income tax accounting treatment of the stranded tax effects within other comprehensive income due to the prohibition of backward tracing due to an income tax rate change that was initially recorded in other comprehensive income. This issue came about from the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on December 22, 2017 that changed the Company’s income tax rate from 35% to 21%. The ASU changed current accounting whereby an entity may elect to reclassify the stranded tax effect from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings. The ASU is effective for periods beginning after December 15, 2018 although early adoption is permitted. The Company adopted ASU 2018-02 in the first quarter of 2018 and reclassied its stranded tax effect of $486 within accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings at March 31, 2018.

In January 2017, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2017-01, Business Combinations (Topic 805): Clarifying the Definition of a Business. This ASU is intended to clarify the definition of a business with the objective of adding guidance to assist entities with evaluating whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions (or disposals) of assets or businesses. In addition, the amendments in this ASU provide a detailed framework to assist entities in evaluating whether a set of assets and activities constitutes a business, as well as clarify the definition of the term output so the term is consistent with how outputs are described in Topic 606. ASU 2017-01 is effective for public companies for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods within those periods. The Company does not expect this pronouncement to have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements.

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-04, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment. This ASU simplifies the accounting for goodwill impairment for all entities by requiring impairment changes to be based on the first step in today’s two-step impairment test, thus eliminating step two from the goodwill impairment test. In addition, the amendment eliminates the requirements for any reporting unit with a zero or negative carrying amount to perform a qualitative assessment and, if it fails that qualitative test, to perform step two of the goodwill impairment test. For pubic companies, ASU 2017-04 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019 with early adoption permitted for interim or annual goodwill impairment tests performed on testing dates after January 1, 2017. The Company is in the process of evaluating the impact of this pronouncement, which is not expected to have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements.

In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-18, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Restricted Cash, which requires that the statement of cash flows explain the change during the period in the total of cash, cash equivalents, and amounts generally described as restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents. The adoption of this ASU was not significant and does not expect the adoption of this guidance to be material to its consolidated financial statements.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments, to address diversity in how certain cash receipts and cash payments are presented and classified in the statement of cash flows. The amendments provide guidance on the following nine specific cash flow issues: 1) debt prepayment or debt extinguishment costs; 2) settlement of zero-coupon debt instruments or other debt instruments with coupon interest rates that are insignificant in relation to the effective interest rate of the borrowing; 3) contingent consideration payments made after a business combination; 4) proceeds from the settlement of insurance claims; 5) proceeds from the settlement of corporate-owned life insurance policies, including bank-owned; 6) life insurance policies; 7) distributions received from equity method investees; 8) beneficial interests in securitization transactions; and 9) separately identifiable cash flows and application of the predominance principle. The adoption of this ASU was not significant and does not expect the adoption of this guidance to be material to its consolidated financial statements.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, which sets forth a "current expected credit loss" ("CECL") model requiring the Company to measure all expected credit losses for financial instruments held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions and reasonable supportable forecasts. This replaces the existing incurred loss model and is applicable to the measurement of credit losses on financial assets measured at amortized cost and applies to some off-balance sheet credit exposures. For public companies, the amendments in this update are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company has assembled a transition team to assess the adoption of this ASU, and has developed a project plan regarding implementation.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842). The FASB issued this ASU to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by recognizing lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet by lessees for those leases classified as operating leases under current U.S. GAAP and disclosing key information about leasing arrangements. The amendments in this ASU are effective for public companies for annual periods, and interim periods within those annual periods, beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption of this ASU is permitted for all entities. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the new guidance on its consolidated financial statements.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-01, Financial Instruments - Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Liabilities, which is intended to improve the recognition and measurement of financial instruments by requiring: equity investments (other than equity method or consolidation) to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income; public business entities to use the exit price notion when measuring the fair value of financial instruments for disclosure purposes; separate presentation of financial assets and financial liabilities by measurement category and form of financial asset (i.e., securities or loans and receivables) on the balance sheet or the accompanying notes to the financial statements; eliminating the requirement to disclose the fair value of financial instruments measured at amortized cost for organizations that are not public business entities; eliminating the requirement for public business entities to disclose the method(s) and significant assumptions used to estimate the fair value that is required to be disclosed for financial instruments measured at amortized cost on the balance sheet; and requiring a reporting organization to present separately in other comprehensive income the portion of the total change in the fair value of a liability resulting from a change in the instrument-specific credit risk (also referred to as “own credit”) when the organization has elected to measure the liability at fair value in accordance with the fair value option for financial instruments. The adoption of ASU 2016-01 on January 1, 2018 did not have a material impact on the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements. In accordance with (iv) above, the Company measured the fair value of its loan portfolio prospectively as of March 31, 2018 using an exit price notion. See Note 13 – Fair Value for further information regarding the valuation of these loans.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (ASU 606), followed by various amendments to the standard, including clarification of principal versus agent considerations, narrow scope improvements and other technical corrections, all of which are codified in ASU 606. The amendments in these updates amend existing guidance related to revenue from contracts with customers. The amendments supersede and replace nearly all existing revenue recognition guidance, including industry-specific guidance, establish a new control-based revenue recognition model, change the basis for deciding when revenue is recognized over a time or point in time, provide new and more detailed guidance on specific topics and expand and improve disclosures about revenue. In addition, these amendments specify the accounting for some costs to obtain or fulfill a contract with a customer. The Company has applied ASU 2014-09, which was effective on January 1, 2018, using the modified retrospective approach to all existing contracts with customers covered under the scope of the standard. The adoption of this ASU was not significant to the Company and had no material effect on how the Company recognizes revenue nor did it result in a cumulative effect adjustment or any presentation changes to the consolidated financial statements.

The majority of the Company's revenue-generating transactions are not subject to ASC 606, including revenue generated from financial instruments, such as loans, letters of credit, loan processing fees and investment securities, as well as revenue related to mortgage banking activities, and BOLI, as these activities are subject to other accounting guidance. Descriptions of revenue-generating activities that are within the scope of ASC 606, and are presented in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Income as components of noninterest income, are as follows:


•	Deposit services. Service charges on deposit accounts include fees for banking services provided, overdrafts and non-sufficient funds. Revenue is generally recognized in accordance with published deposit account agreements for retail accounts or contractual agreements for commercial accounts.

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Merchant and debit card fees. Merchant and debit card fees includes interchange income that is generated by our customers’ usage and volume of activity. Interchange rates are not controlled by the Company, which effectively acts as processor that collects and remits payments associated with customer debit card transactions. Merchant service revenue is derived from third party vendors that process credit card transactions on behalf of our merchant customers. Merchant services revenue is primarily comprised of residual fee income based on the referred merchant’s processing volumes and/or margin.

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Fiduciary income. Trust income includes fees and commissions from investment management, administrative and advisory services primarily for individuals, and to a lesser extent, partnerships and corporations. Revenue is recognized on an accrual basis at the time the services are performed and when we have a right to invoice and are based on either the market value of the assets managed or the services provided.

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Other noninterest income. Other noninterest income includes among other things, mortgage loan origination fees, wire transfer fees, stop payment fees, loan administration fees and mortgage warehouse lending fees. The majority of these fees in other noninterest income are not subject to the requirements of ASC 606. Fees that are within the scope of ASC 606 are generally received at the time the performance obligations are met.