About a quarter of financial institutions haven't formed CECL implementation committees yet, according to new data from risk software company Sageworks.

The Raleigh, North Carolina-based firm polled 172 financial institution chief credit officers, chief financial officers, vice presidents of finance, controllers and senior credit staff last month and found that 23% did not have committees dedicated to CECL implementation. Another 5% of the respondents weren't sure or weren't involved. The poll also found that 18% had named committee participants but hadn't taken any action, and 32% had CECL implementation committees that had met a few times but did not have a finalized project plan. Only 22% had CECL implementation committees that were executing on established project plans.

The rules around the CECL standard, which stands for Current Expected Credit Loss, require credit unions and other organizations to measure expected credit losses using historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. The Financial Accounting Standards Board finalized the new rules regarding credit losses back in June of 2016, fundamentally changing how credit unions, banks and other financial institutions calculate their loan loss reserves.