Basis of Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

 Basis of Presentation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Astoria Financial Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiaries: Astoria Bank (formerly known as Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association) and its subsidiaries, referred to as Astoria Bank, and AF Insurance Agency, Inc.  As used in this quarterly report, “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Astoria Financial Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries.  All significant inter-company accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

In our opinion, the accompanying consolidated financial statements contain all adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair presentation of our financial condition as of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, our results of operations and other comprehensive income/loss for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013, changes in our stockholders’ equity for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and our cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013.  In preparing the consolidated financial statements, we are required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities for the consolidated statements of financial condition as of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, and amounts of revenues, expenses and other comprehensive income/loss in the consolidated statements of income and comprehensive income for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013.  The results of operations and other comprehensive income/loss for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014 are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations and other comprehensive income/loss to be expected for the remainder of the year.  Certain information and note disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, have been condensed or omitted pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC.  Certain reclassifications have been made to prior year amounts to conform to the current year presentation.

These consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with our December 31, 2013 audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included in our 2013 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Change in New York State Tax Legislation

New York State, or NYS, tax legislation was signed into law on March 31, 2014.  While the law generally becomes effective in 2015, the nature of the changes resulted in the recording of certain deferred tax assets in the first quarter of 2014.  In recent years, we have been subject to taxation in NYS under an alternative taxation method.  The new legislation, among other things, removes that alternative method.  Further, the new law (1) requires that we will be taxed in a manner that we believe may result in an increase in our tax expense beginning in 2015 and (2) caused us to recognize temporary differences and net operating loss carry-forward benefits in 2014 which we were unable to recognize previously.  The result of this legislative change as of March 31, 2014 was an increase in our net deferred tax asset with a corresponding reduction in income tax expense of $11.5 million in the 2014 first quarter.