SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Restricted Stock Subject Only To A Service Condition Policy [Text Block]

Restricted Stock Subject Only to a Service Condition

We calculate compensation cost for restricted stock grants by using the fair market value of our common stock at the date of grant, the number of shares issued and an adjustment for restrictions on dividends. This compensation cost is amortized on a straight-line basis over the applicable vesting period, with adjustments for forfeitures recorded as they occur.

Restricted Stock Subject To Service And Performance Conditions Policy [Text Block]

Restricted Stock Subject to Service and Performance Conditions

Under the Plan, certain key employees were provided agreements for grants of restricted shares that vest over multiple year periods subject to achieving annual performance goals established by the Compensation Committee of Westwood’s Board of Directors. Each year the Compensation Committee establishes specific goals for that year’s vesting of the restricted shares. The date that the Compensation Committee establishes annual goals is considered to be the grant date and the fair value measurement date to determine expense on the shares that are likely to vest. The vesting period ends when the Compensation Committee formally approves the performance-based restricted stock vesting based on the specific performance goals from the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements. If a portion of the performance-based restricted shares does not vest, no compensation expense is recognized for that portion and any previously recognized compensation expense related to shares that do not vest is reversed.

In March 2018, the Compensation Committee established the fiscal 2018 goal for our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer as Income before income taxes of $20.0 million for 50% of their respective awards and an Income before income taxes target of $36.0 million (ranging from 25% of target for threshold performance of $32.0 million to 185% of target for maximum performance of $44.5 million) for the remaining 50% of their respective awards. For certain other key employees, the Compensation Committee established fiscal 2018 goals based on various departmental and company-wide performance goals, including Income before income taxes of at least $20.0 million. During the first nine months of 2018, we recorded expense related to the applicable percentage of the performance-based restricted shares expected to meet or exceed the performance goals needed to earn the shares.

Revenue Recognition, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Revenue Recognition

Revenues are recognized when the performance obligation (the investment management and advisory or trust services provided to the client) defined by the investment advisory or sub-advisory agreement is satisfied. For each performance obligation, we determine at contract inception whether the revenue satisfies over time or at a point in time. We derive our revenues from investment advisory fees, trust fees and other sources of revenues. Advisory and Trust fees are calculated based on a percentage of assets under management and the performance obligation is realized over the current calendar quarter. Once clients receive our investment advisory services we have an enforceable right to payment.

Advisory Fee Revenues

Our advisory fees are generated by Westwood Management and Westwood International, which manage client accounts under investment advisory and sub-advisory agreements. Advisory fees are typically calculated based on a percentage of assets under management and are paid in accordance with the terms of the agreements. Advisory fees are paid quarterly in advance based on assets under management on the last day of the preceding quarter, quarterly in arrears based on assets under management on the last day of the quarter just ended or are based on a daily or monthly analysis of assets under management for the stated period. We recognize advisory fee revenues as services are rendered. Since our advance paying clients' billing periods coincide with the calendar quarter to which such payments relate, revenue is recognized within the quarter and our condensed consolidated financial statements contain no deferred advisory fee revenues. Advisory clients typically consist of institutional and mutual fund accounts.

Institutional investors include separate accounts of (i) corporate pension and profit sharing plans, public employee retirement funds, Taft Hartley plans, endowments, foundations and individuals; (ii) subadvisory relationships where Westwood provides investment management services for funds offered by other financial institutions; (iii) pooled investment vehicles, including the UCITS Fund and collective investment trusts; and (iv) managed account relationships with brokerage firms and other registered investment advisors that offer Westwood products to their customers.

Mutual funds include the Westwood Funds®, a family of mutual funds for which Westwood Management serves as advisor. These funds are available to individual investors, as well as offered as part of our investment strategies for institutional investors and private wealth accounts.

Arrangements with Performance Based Obligations

A limited number of our advisory clients have a contractual performance-based fee component in their contracts, which generates additional revenues if we outperform a specified index over a specific period of time. The revenue is based on future market performance and is susceptible to factors outside our control. We cannot conclude that a significant reversal in the cumulative amount of revenue recognized will not occur during the measurement period, and therefore the revenue is recorded at the end of the measurement period when the performance obligation has been satisfied.

Trust Fee Revenues

Our trust fees are generated by Westwood Trust pursuant to trust or custodial agreements. Trust fees are separately negotiated with each client and are generally based on a percentage of assets under management. Westwood Trust also provides trust services to a small number of clients on a fixed fee basis. The fees for most of our trust clients are calculated quarterly in arrears, based on a daily average of assets under management for the quarter. Since billing periods for most of Westwood Trust’s clients coincide with the calendar quarter, revenue is fully recognized within the quarter and our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements do not contain a significant amount of deferred trust fee revenues.

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements are unaudited and are presented in accordance with the requirements for quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and consequently do not include all of the information and footnote disclosures required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”).  The Company’s Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements reflect all adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring adjustments) necessary in the opinion of management to present fairly our interim financial position and results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented. The accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements are presented in accordance with GAAP and the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements, and notes thereto, included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, filed with the SEC. Operating results for the periods in these Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements are not necessarily indicative of results for any future period. The accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Westwood and its subsidiaries. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated upon consolidation.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Recently Adopted

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which resulted from a joint project by the FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board to clarify the principles for recognizing revenue and to develop a common revenue standard for GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”). The ASU is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim reporting periods within that reporting period. Retrospective application is required, with the entity either applying the change to each prior reporting period presented or applying the cumulative effect of each prior reporting period presented at the date of initial application. We adopted ASU 2014-09 effective January 1, 2018. See further discussion in Note 9 “Revenue.”

In March 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-05, Income Taxes: Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118, to address the application of U.S. GAAP in situations when a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for certain income tax effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Reform Act”). See further discussion in Note 11 “Income Taxes.”

Not Yet Adopted

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases. ASU 2016-02 requires lessees to recognize a lease

liability and a right-of-use asset for all leases at the commencement date, excluding short-term leases. Leases will be classified as either financing or operating, with classification impacting the pattern of expense recognition in the income statement. The amendment is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within those fiscal years. We will adopt the standard as of January 1, 2019 under the modified retrospective approach, which allows for recording the cumulative effect of the adoption of the standard as an adjustment to beginning retained earnings. We will elect the package of practical expedients permitted under the transition guidance, which among other things, allows us to carry forward the historical lease classification and elect hindsight to determine certain lease terms for existing leases. We have evaluated our population of contracts subject to balance sheet recognition and estimate adoption will result in recognition of additional lease assets and net lease liabilities of approximately $8 million as of January 1, 2019 primarily related to the future minimum payments required under operating leases as disclosed in Note 13 “Commitments and Contingencies” to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in our Annual Report Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017. The insignificant difference in the additional lease assets and net lease liabilities will be recorded as an adjustment to beginning retained earnings. We do not believe the standard will materially impact our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income or Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. Beginning with our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, we will add disclosures surrounding our leases, including lease cost disaggregation, weighted average remaining lease terms and weighted average discount rate used to determine our lease assets and liabilities. We have also analyzed our current business process and internal controls and anticipate implementing new procedures to successfully adopt the standard, particularly for identification of leases and evaluation of the discount rate.

In June 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-07, Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting. The purpose of this amendment is to simplify the accounting for share-based payments granted to nonemployees for goods and services by aligning it with the accounting used for arrangements with employees. The amendments in this update are effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within that fiscal year. We do not expect the amendment to have a material impact on our Consolidated Financial Statements, and we plan to adopt the standard within the required time frame.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework- Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement. The purpose of this amendment is to modify, remove and add certain disclosure requirements for fair value measurements. Under ASU 2018-13, entities are required to disclose the amount of total gains or losses recognized in other comprehensive income attributable to assets and liabilities categorized within Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy. The ASU also adds an incremental requirement about significant unobservable inputs for Level 3 fair value measurements. The requirement to disclose reasons for transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 was removed. Various requirements for Level 3 disclosure were also modified. The amendments in this ASU are effective for all entities for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. We do not expect the amendment to have a material impact on our Consolidated Financial Statements, and we plan to adopt this amendment within the required time frame.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-15, Intangibles- Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software (Topic 350): Customer's Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract. The purpose of this amendment is to align the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract with the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software (and hosting arrangements that include an internal-use software license). The amendments in this update are effective for public companies for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within that fiscal year. We do not expect the amendment to have a material impact on our Consolidated Financial Statements, and we plan to adopt the standard within the required time frame.