QCR HOLDINGS INC

The Company’s financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The financial information contained within these statements is, to a significant extent, financial information that is based on approximate measures of the financial effects of transactions and events that have already occurred. The preparation of financial statements, in conformity with GAAP, 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 financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant change in the near term relate to the determination of the allowance, determination of the fair value of loans acquired in business combinations, impairment of goodwill, the fair value of financial instruments, and the fair value of securities. A more detailed discussion of these critical accounting policies and estimates can be found in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Based on its consideration of accounting policies and estimates that involve the most complex and subjective decisions and assessments, management has identified the following as critical accounting policies and estimates:

GOODWILL

The Company records all assets and liabilities purchased in an acquisition, including intangibles, at fair value. Goodwill is not amortized but is subject, at a minimum, to annual tests for impairment. In certain situations, interim impairment tests may be required if events occur or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying amount.

The initial recognition of goodwill and subsequent impairment analysis requires us to make subjective judgments concerning estimates of how the acquired assets will perform in the future using valuation methods, which may include using the current market price of stock or discounted cash flow analyses. Additionally, estimated cash flows may extend beyond five years and, by their nature, are difficult to determine over an extended timeframe. Events and factors that may significantly affect the estimates include, among others, competitive forces, customer behaviors, changes in revenue growth trends, cost structures, technology, changes in discount rates and market conditions. In determining the reasonableness of cash flow estimates, the Company reviews historical performance of the underlying assets or similar assets in an effort to assess and validate assumptions utilized in its estimates.

In assessing the fair value of reporting units, we may consider the stage of the current business cycle and potential changes in market conditions. We may also utilize other information to validate the reasonableness of our valuations, including public market comparables and multiples of recent mergers and acquisitions of similar businesses. Valuation multiples may be based on tangible capital ratios of comparable companies and business segments. These multiples

may be adjusted to consider competitive differences, including size, operating leverage and other factors. The carrying amount of a reporting unit is determined based on the capital required to support the reporting unit’s activities, including its tangible and intangible assets. The determination of a reporting unit’s capital allocation requires judgment and considers many factors, including the regulatory capital regulations and capital characteristics of comparably situated companies in relevant industry sectors. In certain circumstances, the Company will engage a third-party to independently validate our assessment of the fair value of our reporting units.

The Company assesses the impairment of goodwill whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Factors considered important, which could trigger an impairment review, include the following:

The Company’s management performed an annual assessment at the reporting unit level and determined no goodwill impairment existed as of November 30, 2023.

ALLOWANCE FOR CREDIT LOSSES ON LOANS AND LEASES AND OFF-BALANCE SHEET EXPOSURES

The Company’s allowance methodology incorporates a variety of risk considerations, both quantitative and qualitative, in establishing an allowance that management believes is appropriate at each reporting date. The Company’s methodologies for estimating the ACL consider available relevant information about the collectability of cash flows, including information about past events, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. The methodologies apply historical loss information adjusted for asset-specific characteristics, economic conditions at the measurement date, and forecasts about future economic conditions that are expected to exist through the contractual lives of the financial assets and that are reasonable and supportable to the identified pools of financial assets with similar risk characteristics for which the historical loss experience was observed. If a loan is determined to no longer share similar risk characteristics with other assets in the segmented pool, it is evaluated on an individual basis.

The Company also estimates expected credit losses over the contractual term of the loan for the unfunded portion of the loan commitment that is not unconditionally cancellable by the Company. Management uses an estimated average utilization rate to determine the exposure of default. The allowance for OBS exposures is calculated using probability of default and loss given default using the same segmentation and qualitative factors used for loans and leases.

Although management believes the level of the ACL as of December 31, 2023 was adequate to absorb losses inherent in the loan/lease portfolio, the HTM portfolio and OBS exposures, a decline in local economic conditions, or other factors, could result in increasing losses that cannot be reasonably predicted at this time.

FAIR VALUE OF LOANS ACQUIRED IN BUSINESS COMBINATIONS

Loans acquired in business combinations are initially recorded at fair value as adjusted for credit risk and an allowance for credit losses at the date of acquisition. For loans with no significant evidence of credit deterioration since origination, the difference between the fair value and the unpaid principal balance of the loan at the acquisition date is amortized into interest income using the effective interest method over the remaining period to contractual maturity.

Loans acquired with evidence of deterioration in credit quality since origination, or PCD loans, are accounted for in accordance with ASC Topic 326-20 “Financial instruments - credit losses.” Determining the fair value of the loans involves estimating the amount and timing of principal and interest cash flows initially expected to be collected on the

loans and discounting those cash flows at an appropriate market rate of interest. An allowance for credit losses is recognized by estimating the expected credit losses of the purchased asset and recording an adjustment to the acquisition date fair value to establish the initial amortized cost basis of the asset. Differences between the established fair value, or amortized cost basis, and the unpaid principal balance of the asset is considered to be a non-credit discount/premium and is accreted/amortized into interest income using the interest method in accordance with ASC 310-10. Subsequent changes to the allowance for credit losses are recorded through provision for credit loss expense using the same methodology as other loans held for investment.

FAIR VALUE OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

The fair value of a financial instrument is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants in the market in which the reporting entity transacts business. A framework has been established for measuring the fair value of financial instruments that considers the attributes specific to particular assets or liabilities and includes a three-level hierarchy for determining fair value based on the transparency of inputs to each valuation as of the measurement date. The Company estimates the fair value of financial instruments using a variety of valuation methods. When financial instruments are actively traded and have quoted market prices, quoted market prices are used for fair value and are classified as Level 1. When financial instruments, such as investment securities and derivatives, are not actively traded the Company determines fair value based on various sources and may apply matrix pricing with observable prices for similar instruments where a price for the identical instrument is not observable. The fair values of these financial instruments, which are classified as Level 2, are determined by pricing models that consider observable market data such as interest rate volatilities, SOFR yield curve, credit spreads, prices from external market data providers and/or nonbinding broker-dealer quotations. When observable inputs do not exist, the Company estimates fair value based on available market data, and these values are classified as Level 3.

FAIR VALUE OF SECURITIES

The fair value of available for sale and held to maturity debt securities is determined monthly based upon values provided by third parties. Available for sale securities are carried at fair value with unrealized gains and losses reported as a component of stockholders’ equity, net of the related tax effect. For both available for sale and held to maturity debt securities, any portion of a decline in value associated with credit loss is recognized in income and with the remaining noncredit related component for available for sale securities being recognized in other comprehensive income. The fair value of trading securities is determined quarterly based upon estimates provided by a third party valuation specialist. Trading securities are carried at fair value with unrealized gains and losses recorded in earnings.