Accounting Developments

12 Months Ended

Nov. 30, 2020

Accounting Standards Update and Change in Accounting Principle [Abstract]

Accounting Developments

Accounting Developments

Accounting Standards to be Adopted in Future Periods

Income Taxes. In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes. The objective of the guidance is to simplify the accounting for income taxes by removing certain exceptions to the general principles in Topic 740 and to provide more consistent application to improve the comparability of financial statements. The guidance is effective in the first quarter of fiscal 2022. We are currently evaluating the impact of the new guidance on our consolidated financial statements.

Consolidation. In October 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-17, Consolidation: Targeted Improvements to Related Party Guidance for Variable Interest Entities. The guidance requires indirect interests held through related parties under common control arrangements be considered on a proportional basis for determining whether fees paid to decision makers and service providers are variable interests. We adopted the guidance in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 and the adoption did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Internal-Use Software. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-15, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other—Internal-Use Software: Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract. The guidance amends the definition of a hosting arrangement and requires that the customer in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract capitalize certain implementation costs as if the arrangement was an internal-use software project. We adopted the guidance in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 and elected to apply the guidance prospectively to implementation costs incurred after the adoption date. The adoption did not have an impact on our consolidated financial statements on the adoption date.

Defined Benefit Plans. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-14, Compensation—Retirement Benefits—Defined Benefit Plans—General: Disclosure Framework—Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Defined Benefit Plans. The objective of the guidance is to improve the effectiveness of disclosure requirements on defined benefit pension plans and other postretirement plans. We adopted the guidance in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 and the adoption did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Goodwill. In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-04, Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment, which simplifies goodwill impairment testing. We adopted the guidance in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 and the adoption did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Financial Instruments—Credit Losses. In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. The guidance provides for estimating credit losses on financial assets measured at amortized cost by introducing an approach based on expected losses over the financial asset's entire life, recorded at inception or purchase. We adopted the new credit loss guidance on December 1, 2020 and applied a modified retrospective approach through a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings upon adoption. At transition on December 1, 2020, the new accounting guidance's adoption resulted in a decrease in the provision for credit losses of $3.6 million with a corresponding increase in retained earnings of $2.7 million, net of tax. The decrease was attributable to applying a revised provisioning methodology based on historical loss experience for our investment banking fee receivables.

We have determined expected credit losses to be immaterial upon adoption for our other financial instruments within the scope of the guidance. A significant portion of our financial instruments within the scope of the guidance represent secured financing receivables (reverse repurchase, secured borrowing, and margin loan agreements) that are substantially collateralized. For our secured financing receivables, we have concluded that the impact upon adoption was immaterial because the contractual collateral maintenance provisions require that the counterparty continually adjust the amount of collateralization securing the credit exposure on these contracts. Collateralization levels for our secured financing receivables are initially established based upon the counterparty, the type of acceptable collateral that is monitored daily and adjusted to mitigate the potential of any credit losses. For the remaining financial instruments within the guidance's scope, the expected credit losses were also determined to be immaterial considering the counterparty's credit quality, an insignificant history of credit losses, or the short-term nature of the credit exposures.

Adopted Accounting Standards

Reference Rate Reform. In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting. This guidance provides optional exceptions for applying U.S. GAAP to contracts, hedge accounting relationships or other transactions affected by reference rate reform. We adopted the guidance on September 1, 2020 and the adoption had no impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Leases. We adopted the new lease standard on December 1, 2019 using a modified retrospective transition approach. Accordingly, reported financial information for historical comparable periods is not revised and continues to be reported under the accounting standards in effect during those historical periods. We elected not to reassess whether existing contracts are or contain leases, or the lease classification and initial direct costs of existing leases upon transition. At transition on December 1, 2019, the adoption of this standard resulted in the recognition of operating ROU assets of $519.9 million and operating lease liabilities of $586.3 million reflected in Premises and equipment and Lease liabilities in our Consolidated Statement of Financial Condition, respectively. Finance lease ROU assets and finance lease liabilities were not material and are reflected in Premises and equipment and Lease liabilities in our Consolidated Statement of Financial Condition, respectively.

Derivatives and Hedging. In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging: Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities. The objective of the guidance is to improve the financial reporting of hedging relationships to better portray the economic results of an entity’s risk management activities in its financial statements. We adopted the guidance in the first quarter of fiscal 2020 and the adoption did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.