Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2025

Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Nature of Operations

Cincinnati Financial Corporation (CFC) operates through The Cincinnati Insurance Company and Cincinnati Global Underwriting Ltd.SM (Cincinnati Global) insurance subsidiaries and two complementary subsidiary companies.

The Cincinnati Insurance Company leads our insurance group that also includes two subsidiaries: The Cincinnati Casualty Company and The Cincinnati Indemnity Company. This group markets a broad range of standard market commercial and personal policies. The group focuses on delivery of quality customer service to our select group of 2,292 independent insurance agencies with 3,702 reporting locations across 46 states. Other subsidiaries of The Cincinnati Insurance Company include: The Cincinnati Life Insurance Company, which markets life insurance and fixed annuities; and The Cincinnati Specialty Underwriters Insurance Company, which offers excess and surplus lines property casualty insurance products. The Cincinnati Insurance Company also conducts the business of our reinsurance assumed operations, Cincinnati Re®.

The two CFC complementary subsidiaries are CSU Producer Resources Inc., which provides insurance brokerage services to our independent agencies so their clients can access our excess and surplus lines insurance products, and CFC Investment Company, which offers commercial leasing and financing services to our agents, their clients and other customers.

Basis of Presentation

Our consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the parent and its wholly owned subsidiaries and are presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP). Foreign exchange rates related to Cincinnati Global's operations did not have a material impact to our consolidated financial statements. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Our actual results could differ from those estimates.

Investments

Our portfolio investments are primarily in publicly traded fixed-maturity, equity security and short-term investments. Fixed-maturity (taxable bonds, including redeemable preferred equities, tax-exempt bonds and asset-backed securities) and short-term (commercial paper purchased within one year of maturity) investments classified as available for sale and equity security investments (common and nonredeemable preferred equities) are recorded at fair value in the consolidated financial statements. Changes in fair value of fixed-maturity and short-term investments are reported in other comprehensive income while changes in fair value of equity securities are reported in net income. The number of fixed-maturity securities with fair values below 100% of amortized cost can be expected to fluctuate as interest rates rise or fall. Because of our strong capital and long-term investment horizon, our general intent is to hold fixed-maturity investments until maturity, regardless of short-term fluctuations in fair values.

An available for sale fixed maturity is impaired if the fair value of the security is below amortized cost. The impaired loss is charged to net income when we have the intent to sell the security or it is more likely than not we will be required to sell the security before recovery of the amortized cost. For impaired securities we intend to hold, an allowance for credit related losses is recorded in investment losses when the company determines a credit loss has been incurred based on certain factors such as adverse conditions, credit rating downgrades or failure of the issuer to make scheduled principal or interest payments. A credit loss is determined using a discounted cash flow analysis by comparing the present value of expected cash flows with the amortized cost basis, limited to the difference between fair value and amortized cost. Noncredit losses are recognized in other comprehensive income as a change in unrealized gains and losses on investments. As securities are sold, we recognize the gain or loss in net income based on the trade date.

Included within our other invested assets were $641 million and $567 million of private equity investments, $123 million and $94 million of real estate through direct property ownership and development projects in the United States, $38 million and $36 million of life policy loans and $16 million and $16 million held on deposit at Lloyd's at December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The private equity investments provide their financial statements to us and generally report investments on their balance sheets at fair value. We use the equity method of accounting for private equity and real estate development investments. Lloyd's deposits primarily consist of highly liquid short-term investment instruments. Life policy loans are carried at the receivable value.

Investment income, net of expenses, consists mainly of interest and dividends. We record interest on an accrual basis and record dividends at the ex-dividend date. We amortize premiums and discounts on fixed-maturity securities using the effective interest method over the expected life of the security.

Fair Value Disclosures

Fair value is defined as the exit price or the amount that would be (1) received to sell an asset or (2) paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between marketplace participants at the measurement date. When determining an exit price, we rely upon observable market data whenever possible. We primarily base fair value for investments in equity, fixed-maturity and short-term securities (including assets held in separate accounts) on quoted market prices or on prices from the company’s nationally recognized pricing vendors, outside resources that supply global securities pricing, dividend, corporate action and descriptive information to support fund pricing, securities operations, research and portfolio management. The company obtains and reviews the pricing services' valuation methodologies and related inputs and validates these prices by replicating a sample across each asset class using a discounted cash flow model. When a price is not available from these sources, as in the case of securities that are not publicly traded, we determine the fair value using various inputs including quotes from independent brokers. The fair value of investments not priced by the company’s nationally recognized pricing vendors is immaterial.

For the purpose of Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 825, Financial Instruments disclosure, we estimate the fair value of our long-term senior notes on market pricing of similar debt instruments that are actively trading. We estimate the fair value of our note payable on the year-end outstanding balance because it is short term and tied to a variable interest rate. We estimate the fair value of liabilities for investment contracts and annuities using discounted cash flow calculations across a wide range of economic interest rate scenarios with a provision for our nonperformance risk. We estimate the fair value for policyholder loans on insurance contracts using a discounted cash flow model. Determination of fair value for structured settlements assumes the discount rates used to calculate the present value of expected payments are the risk-free spot rates plus an A3 rated bond spread for financial issuers at December 31, 2025, to account for nonperformance risk. See Note 3, Fair Value Measurements, for further details.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents are highly liquid instruments that include liquid debt instruments with original maturities of less than three months. These are carried at cost, which approximates fair value.

Property Casualty Insurance

The consolidated property casualty companies actively write property casualty insurance through independent agencies in 46 states. Our 10 largest states generated 50.2% and 50.1% of total earned premiums in 2025 and 2024, respectively. Ohio, our largest state, accounted for 12.8% and 13.1% of total earned premiums in 2025 and 2024, respectively. Illinois, New York, and North Carolina each accounted for between 4% and 6% of total earned premiums in 2025. Our largest single agency relationship accounted for approximately 0.5% of our total property casualty earned premiums in 2025. No aggregate agency relationship locations under a single ownership structure accounted for more than 8% of our total property casualty earned premiums in 2025. We record revenues for installment charges as fee revenues in the consolidated statements of income.

Property casualty written premiums are deferred and recorded as earned premiums primarily on a pro rata basis over the terms of the policies. We record as unearned premiums the portion of written premiums that applies to unexpired policy terms. Expenses associated with successfully acquiring insurance policies – commissions, premium taxes and underwriting costs – are deferred and amortized over the terms of the policies. We assess recoverability of deferred acquisition costs at a level consistent with the way we acquire, service and manage insurance policies and measure profitability. We analyze our acquisition cost assumptions to reflect actual experience, and we evaluate potential premium deficiencies.

Certain property casualty policies are not entered into policy underwriting systems as of the effective date of coverage. An estimate is recorded for these unprocessed written premiums. A large majority of the estimate is unearned and has no material impact on earned premiums.

An allowance for credit losses on uncollectible property casualty premiums is updated and reviewed on a quarterly basis. The allowance for credit losses was $18 million, $18 million and $16 million at December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Changes in the amount for each period were immaterial.

We establish reserves to cover the expected cost of claims, losses and expenses related to investigating, processing and resolving claims. Although the appropriate amount of reserves is inherently uncertain, we base our decisions on past experience and current facts. Reserves are based on claims reported prior to the end of the year and estimates of incurred but not reported (IBNR) claims. We regularly review and update reserves using the most current information available. Any resulting adjustments are reflected in current calendar year insurance losses and policyholder benefits. We estimate that we may recover some of our costs through salvage and subrogation.

Policyholder Dividends

Certain workers’ compensation policies include the possibility of a policyholder earning a return of a portion of premium in the form of a policyholder dividend. The dividend generally is calculated by determining the profitability of a policy year along with the associated premium. We reserve for all probable future policyholder dividend payments. We record policyholder dividends as other underwriting expenses.

Life Insurance

We offer several types of life insurance and we account for each according to the duration of the contract. Short-duration life and health contracts are written to cover claims that arise during a short, fixed term of coverage. We generally have the right to change the amount of premium charged or cancel the coverage at the end of each contract term. We record premiums for short-duration life and health contracts similarly to property casualty contracts.

Long-duration contracts are written to provide coverage for an extended period of time. Traditional long-duration contracts require policyholders to pay scheduled gross premiums, generally not less frequently than annually, over the term of the coverage. Premiums for these contracts, such as whole life insurance, are recognized as revenue when due. Some traditional long-duration contracts, such as ten-pay whole life insurance, have premium payment periods shorter than the period over which coverage is provided. For these contracts, the excess of premium over the amount required to pay expenses and benefits is recognized over the term of the coverage rather than over the premium payment period.

We establish reserves for traditional long-duration contracts, including term, whole life and other products, based on the present value of future benefits and claim expenses less the present value of future net premiums. Net premium is the portion of gross premium required to provide for all benefits and claim expenses. We estimate future benefits and claim expenses and net premium using certain cash flow assumptions including mortality, morbidity and lapse rates as well as a discount rate assumption. The cash flow assumptions are established based on our current expectations and are reviewed annually to determine any necessary updates. These assumptions are also updated on an interim basis if evidence suggests that they should be revised. We use both our own experience and industry experience, adjusted for historical trends, in arriving at our cash flow assumptions. The discount rate assumption is based on upper-medium grade fixed-income instrument yields (market value discount rates) and is updated quarterly. Certain assumptions, including the mortality, lapse and long-term interest rate reversion targets, were updated in 2025 as part of our annual assumption unlocking. See Note 5, Life Policy and Investment Contract Reserves, for further detail regarding the measurement impact on traditional long-duration contract reserves due to changes in the inputs, judgments and assumptions during the period.

We also offer universal life, deferred annuity and other investment contracts. Universal life contracts are long-duration contracts for which contractual provisions are not fixed, unlike whole life insurance. Universal life contracts allow policyholders to vary the amount of premium, within limits, without our consent. However, we may vary the mortality, expense charges and the interest crediting rate, within limits, used to accumulate policy values. We do not record universal life premiums as revenue. Instead we recognize as revenue the mortality charges, administration charges and surrender charges when assessed. Some of our universal life contracts assess administration charges in the early years of the contract that are compensation for services we will provide in the later years of the contract.

These administration charges are deferred and are recognized over the period when we provide those future services. Deferred annuities provide regular income payments to annuitants once certain criteria are met. During the deferral period, payments made by the annuitants under the contract accumulate at the crediting rate declared by the company but not less than a contract-specified guaranteed minimum interest rate. We also do not record deferred annuity premiums as revenue.

We establish reserves for our universal life, deferred annuity and other investment contracts equal to the cumulative account balances, which include premium deposits plus credited interest less charges and withdrawals. Some of our universal life insurance policies contain no-lapse guarantee provisions. For these policies, we establish a reserve in addition to the account balance based on expected no-lapse guarantee benefits and expected policy assessments.

We capitalize acquisition costs associated with successfully acquiring traditional and universal life long-duration contracts. We charge these capitalized costs to expenses on a constant-level basis that approximates straight-line amortization over the expected term of the related contracts.

An allowance for credit losses on uncollectible life insurance premiums is updated and reviewed on a quarterly basis. At December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, the allowance, including changes in the amount for each period, was immaterial.

Separate Accounts

We have issued universal life contracts with guaranteed minimum returns, referred to as bank-owned life insurance contracts (BOLIs). A BOLI is designed so the bank is the policy owner and the policy beneficiary. We legally segregate and record as separate accounts the assets and liabilities for certain BOLIs, when required by the specific contract provisions. We guarantee minimum investment returns, account values and death benefits for our separate account BOLIs. Our other BOLIs are general account products.

We carry the assets of separate account BOLIs at fair value. The liabilities on separate account BOLIs primarily are carried at an amount equal to the contract holders’ account value, plus any cumulative unrealized gains on the related assets impacting separate account liabilities. The contract holders’ account value exceeded the current fair value of the BOLI invested assets and cash by approximately $19 million and $42 million at December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

Generally, investment income and investment gains and losses of the separate accounts accrue directly to the contract holder, and we do not include them in the consolidated statements of income. Revenues and expenses related to separate accounts consist of contractual fees and mortality, surrender and expense risk charges. Also, each separate account BOLI includes a negotiated capital gain and loss sharing arrangement between the company and the bank. A percentage of each separate account’s investment gains and losses representing contract fees and assessments accrues to us and is transferred from the separate account to our general account and is recognized as revenue or expense. We record as revenues separate account investment management fees in fee revenues of the consolidated statements of income.

Reinsurance

The Cincinnati Insurance Company offers reinsurance assumed for casualty (predominantly domestic exposure), specialty and property (worldwide exposure). Treaties are written on a pro rata and excess of loss basis. We also continue to assume risk with limited exposure as a reinsurer for involuntary state pools.

Written premium is recorded, net of contract specific retrocessions, on an ultimate estimate basis and primarily earned on a pro rata basis over the coverage period of the treaty. Expenses are recorded as per contract terms and deferred over the earning period of the premium.

We establish known loss reserves when reported. We establish reserves for losses in excess of reported activity in the form of IBNR. Reserves are established using actuarial analysis, which includes models and methods traditionally used for the types of exposures written. We establish reserves for event specific occurrences using modeling data and company specific data when available.

We enter into other reinsurance transactions to reduce risk and uncertainty by buying property casualty reinsurance and retrocessional reinsurance as well as life reinsurance. Reinsurance and retrocessional reinsurance contracts do

not relieve us from our obligation to policyholders, but rather help protect our financial strength to perform that duty. All of these ceded reinsurance contracts transfer the economic risk of loss.

Premiums that we cede are deferred and recorded as earned premiums on a pro rata basis over the terms of the contracts. We estimate loss amounts recoverable from our reinsurers based on the reinsurance policy terms. Historically, our claims with reinsurers have been paid.

An allowance for credit losses on uncollectible reinsurance premiums and recoverable assets is updated and reviewed on a quarterly basis. At December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, the allowances, including changes in the amount for each period, were immaterial.

Income Taxes

We calculate deferred income tax liabilities and assets using tax rates in effect when temporary differences in taxable income and financial statement income are expected to reverse. We recognize deferred income taxes for numerous temporary differences between our taxable income and financial statement income and other changes in shareholders’ equity. Such temporary differences relate primarily to unrealized gains and losses on investments and differences in the recognition of deferred acquisition costs, unearned premiums, insurance reserves, international earnings and basis differences in the carrying value of investments held. We charge deferred income taxes associated with balances that impact other comprehensive income, such as unrealized gains and losses of fixed-maturity investments, to shareholders’ equity in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI). We charge deferred taxes associated with other differences to income.

See Note 11, Income Taxes, for further detail on our uncertain tax positions and other income tax items. Although no Internal Revenue Service (IRS) penalties currently are accrued, if incurred, they would be recognized as a component of income tax expense.

Earnings per Share

Net income per common share is based on the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during each of the respective years. We calculate net income per common share (diluted) assuming the exercise or conversion of share‑based awards using the treasury stock method.

Land, Building and Equipment

We record land at cost, and record building and equipment at cost less accumulated depreciation. Equipment held under finance leases also is classified as property and equipment with the related lease obligations recorded as liabilities. We capitalize and amortize costs for internally developed computer software during the application development stage. These costs generally consist of external consulting fees and internal payroll-related costs. Our depreciation is based on estimated useful lives (ranging from three to 39.5 years) using straight-line and accelerated methods. Depreciation expense was $36 million for 2025, $34 million for 2024 and $30 million for 2023. We review our accumulated depreciation for our building, equipment and software assets and write off fully depreciated assets for obsolescence and nonuse. We monitor land, building and equipment and software assets for potential impairments. Indicators of potential impairments may include a significant decrease in the fair values of the assets, considerable cost overruns on projects, a change in legal factors or business climate or other factors that indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable or useful. There were no recorded land, building and equipment impairments for 2025, 2024 or 2023.

Finance Receivables

Our leasing subsidiary provides auto and equipment direct financing (leases and loans) to commercial and individual clients. We generally transfer ownership of the property to the client as the terms of the leases expire. Our lease contracts contain bargain purchase options. We account for these leases and loans as sales-type leases. We capitalize and amortize lease or loan origination costs over the life of the financing, using the effective interest method. These costs may include, but are not limited to finder fees, broker fees, filing fees and the cost of credit reports. We record income as other revenues over the financing term using the effective interest method in the consolidated statements of income. An allowance for credit losses on finance receivables is updated and reviewed on a quarterly basis. At December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, the allowance, including changes in the amount for each period, was immaterial.

Employee Benefit Pension Plan

We sponsor a qualified defined benefit pension plan that was modified during 2008. We closed entry into the pension plan, and only participants 40 years of age or older could elect to remain in the plan. Our pension expenses are based on certain actuarial assumptions and also are composed of several components that are determined using the projected unit credit actuarial cost method. Refer to Note 13, Employee Retirement Benefits, for more information about our defined benefit pension plan.

Share-Based Compensation

We grant qualified and nonqualified share-based compensation under authorized plans. The stock options generally vest on a graded scale over three years following the date of grant and are exercisable over 10-year periods. We grant service-based restricted stock units that cliff vest three years after the date of grant as well as service-based restricted stock units that vest ratably over the three-year vesting term. We also grant performance-based restricted stock units that vest if certain market conditions are attained. In 2025, the CFC compensation committee approved share-based awards including incentive stock options, nonqualified stock options, service-based restricted and performance-based restricted stock units. See Note 17, Share-Based Associate Compensation Plans, for further details.

Goodwill and Intangible Assets

We recognize goodwill and intangible assets generated through acquisitions within other assets in the consolidated balance sheets. Goodwill arises when the fair value of consideration transferred exceeds the fair value of the net identifiable assets acquired at the acquisition date. Goodwill and intangible assets with an indefinite life are not amortized. Intangible assets with a definite life consist of broker relationships and are amortized on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful life of 15 years. We test for impairments on an annual basis or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate that the asset might be impaired. The company performed its annual impairment test on goodwill and intangibles at September 30, which did not result in the recognition of an impairment loss. Within Cincinnati Global, and included in Other, the company held goodwill of $30 million and intangible assets with an indefinite life of $31 million at December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

Adopted Accounting Updates

ASU 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures

In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures. ASU 2023-09 enhances the transparency and decision usefulness of income tax disclosures by requiring entities to disclose specific categories within their rate reconciliation as well as additional items within those categories above a prescribed threshold. This ASU also requires disclosure of the amount of income taxes paid (net of refunds received) disaggregated by federal, state and foreign taxes as well as additional items within those categories above a prescribed threshold. The effective date of ASU 2023-09 is for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2024, and should be applied prospectively with retrospective application permitted. We retrospectively adopted this ASU effective December 31, 2025. The adoption did not have a material impact on our company's consolidated financial position, results of operations, cash flows or disclosures.

Pending Accounting Updates

ASU 2024-03, Income Statement - Reporting Comprehensive Income - Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40): Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses

In November 2024, the FASB issued ASU 2024-03, Income Statement - Reporting Comprehensive Income - Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40): Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses. ASU 2024-03 requires increased quantitative disclosure of certain categories of expenses contained within relevant expense captions. A relevant expense caption is an expense caption presented on the face of the income statement that contains employee compensation, depreciation, intangible asset amortization and other captions. The ASU also requires a qualitative description of the remaining amount of relevant expense captions as well as total selling expenses on an interim basis and how selling expenses are defined on an annual basis. The effective date of ASU 2024-03 is for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2026, and interim reporting periods within annual periods beginning after December 15, 2027. The ASU should be applied prospectively with retrospective application and early adoption permitted. The ASU has not yet been adopted and will not have a material impact on our company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows, but the ASU will require additional disclosures in our annual and interim financial statements.

ASU 2025-06, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Internal-Use Software

In September 2025, the FASB issued ASU 2025-06, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other – Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Internal-Use Software. ASU 2025-06 modernizes the accounting for internal-use software costs by eliminating references to prescriptive and sequential software development stages and updating the cost capitalization criteria. The effective date of ASU 2025-06 is for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2027, and interim reporting periods within those annual reporting periods, with early adoption permitted. The ASU has not yet been adopted and will not have a material impact on our company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

CINCINNATI FINANCIAL CORP 10-K