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Significant Accounting Policies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2014
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Significant Accounting Policies

1. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of Preparation and Consolidation

The Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements have not been audited. These statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, these financial statements reflect all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation of the Company’s financial position and results of operations as at the end of and for the periods presented. Results of operations for subsidiaries acquired are included from the dates of their acquisition by the Company. The results of operations for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results for a full year. Inter-company accounts and transactions have been eliminated. In these notes, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” or “the Company” refer to Enstar Group Limited and its direct and indirect subsidiaries.

The preparation of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amount of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. While management believes that the amounts included in the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements reflect its best estimates and assumptions, actual results could differ from those estimates. The Company’s principal estimates include, but are not limited to:

 

    reserves for losses and loss adjustment expenses;

 

    policy benefits for life and annuity contracts;

 

    reinsurance balances recoverable, including the provisions for uncollectible amounts;

 

    other-than-temporary impairments in the carrying value of available-for-sale investment securities;

 

    valuation of certain other investments that are measured using significant unobservable inputs;

 

    valuation of goodwill and intangible assets; and

 

    fair value estimates associated with accounting for acquisitions.

The following information should be read in conjunction with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013. Certain reclassifications have been made to the prior period reported amounts of net premiums earned – life and annuities, net increase in ultimate losses and loss adjustment expense liabilities, acquisition costs and life and annuity policy benefits to conform to the current period presentation. All of these reclassifications are associated with Laguna Life Limited (“Laguna”), which now forms part of the Company’s life and annuities segment that was established following the acquisition of the Pavonia companies. These reclassifications had no impact on net earnings previously reported.

 

New Accounting Standards Adopted in 2014

ASU 2013-11 Presentation of an Unrecognized Tax Benefit When a Net Operating Loss Carryforward, a Similar Tax Loss, or a Tax Credit Carryforward Exists

In July 2013, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU No. 2013-11, Presentation of an Unrecognized Tax Benefit When a Net Operating Loss Carryforward, a Similar Tax Loss, or a Tax Credit Carryforward Exists (“ASU 2013-11”). The objective of ASU 2013-11 is to improve the financial statement presentation of an unrecognized tax benefit when a net operating loss carryforward, a similar tax loss, or a tax credit carryforward exists. ASU 2013-11 seeks to reduce the diversity in practice by providing guidance on the presentation of unrecognized tax benefits to better reflect the manner in which an entity would settle at the reporting date any additional income taxes that would result from the disallowance of a tax position when net operating loss carryforwards, similar tax losses, or tax credit carryforwards exist. ASU 2013-11 is effective for annual and interim reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2013, with both early adoption and retrospective application permitted. The adoption of the guidance did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated statements of operations and financial position.