By Ray Birch
PENNINGTON, Ala.—With NCUA cracking down on late filers, one credit union has reduced the time it takes to compile, complete and file its quarterly 5300 Call Report from several days to just two hours.
Naheola CU credits Fiserv’s Wisdom: 5300 Call Report Assistant for the improved efficiency. After converting to Fiserv’s Portico core system and then getting comfortable with the data processor’s Wisdom ALM Manager, COO Jeffrey Hasty felt it was time to try the Call Report program not only to shorten work time to meet the quarterly deadlines, but to also reduce the number of staff involved in the process.
Hasty said he had talked with several credit unions that use the Call Report Assistant, all of which liked the results.
“It was taking us three to four days to complete the reports,” he said. “We had three employees collecting data and bringing it to me and then I would upload it to NCUA’s website. Once we got our ALM model set up and became familiar with the Portico system we decided to try it.”
The first time the credit union used Call Report Assistant it reduced the data assembly and filing process to about five hours. “Now it takes us only two hours from start to finish,” said Hasty.
Hasty pointed out that the $80-million CU no longer has employees gathering data for loans, investments, liabilities and other components of the 5300. “All the data is coded and is set up in the Call Report Assistant just like it is in our ALM Model. It’s seamless—our core system transfers data from our GL model and investment model to the ALM model and all of the data goes into the Call Report Assistant.”
Hasty then uploads a file that automatically populates the data fields on NCUA’s website.
“I used to have to fill this information out line-by-line on NCUA’s site,” said Hasty, who added there is a small amount of data that still has to be manually entered. “There are five to six data entries we have to manually collect and enter into NCUA’s site. It takes about a half hour.”
Hasty said that with NCUA adding more requirements each year to the Call Report, and with mounting compliance burden in general, Naheola needed some answers.
“The report is getting pretty lengthy,” said Hasty. “NCUA has changed the way you report troubled debt restructuring, and reports around investments, liabilities and assets continue to change . . . I can’t even estimate a dollar figure on the human resources time we used to put into the quarterly report. It was a lot. We used to tie up the staff, and me, when Call Report time came around.”
Since staff were pulled off their regular duties to handle the Call Report, Naheola CU had to pay close attention to scheduling employees for the quarterly work.
“We have never missed a deadline, but you have to plan for the filing to make sure people can dedicate the time you need,” said Hasty. “There was a time or two we went down to the last day for filing, one time to the final hours.”
When NCUA makes changes to Call Report requirements, that adds time, as well, noted Hasty.
“We used to read all of the instructions from NCUA, and then sometimes had to call our state examiner for an interpretation on the change,” he explained. “With Call Report Assistant we go to a website for Wisdom users, click an update button and my Call Report Assistant is updated with changes to match the new Call Report requirements.”
Hasty said he understands how some CUs could miss a filing deadline if they don’t plan well. “With Call Report Assistant I have my board packets out and filing to NCUA the first week of the month the report is due.”
Related links