PORTFOLIO Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) introduced legislation at the end of last year to block the CECL standard. Checks & Balances By James Kendrick, ICBA Accounting accountability Our years-long eff ort on the CECL standard has gained new traction. A longtime community bank advocacy campaign has recently received new life, off ering opportunities to expand on gains achieved over several years of outreach. With the Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB) Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) accounting standard set to begin taking eff ect next year for publicly held banks, policymakers and others in the banking industry have shown a renewed 48 Q ICBA Independent Banker Q March 2019 interest in its impact on the fi nancial sector. With Republicans and Democrats expressing concerns over CECL as the deadline nears, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.), chair of the Financial Institution and Consumer Credit subcommittee, introduced legislation during the last Congress to block the standard. Meanwhile, 28 House members called on Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin to work to delay the eff ective date of the standard, which requires institutions to provide for credit losses the moment they make a loan. While ICBA continues working to minimize the James Kendrick (james.kendrick@ icba.org) is ICBA first vice president of accounting and capital policy Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images