The accounting standards are mainly created to make financial reporting credible and trustworthy. Companies in order to understate their liabilities can treat capital lease as operating lease and treat it as an off balance sheet item. This does not represent and true and fair value of the company's operations. A company can buy an asset on capital lease or operating lease if it wants to own that asset but does not have enough funds to buy it. Andrew Jones (2008) pointed out that purchasing an asset requires a huge capital outlay which restricts the company from investing in other projects. Capital or operating lease can be used to expand the business without much investment. Jones (2008) states that taking an asset on lease enables the company …show more content…
But this results in lot of confusion. When a company buys an asset using debt, the liability of the company increases and this alerts the investors and creditors of the company. In case of lease, though the company is allowed to use the asset, there is no debt that arises. But the company is committed to make lease payments over the lease term. Hence, many experts feel that operating lease should be stated as a liability.
Steve C Lim (2003), pointed out that irrespective of the accounting treatment, the rating agencies and finance textbooks consider long term lease as a debt obligation.
Amy Feldman (2002) noted that the just from the notes it is not possible to estimate the lease obligations. Many a times the operating lease is presented as a rental package in the statements, but under the present standards there are clear guidelines for a lease to be considered as operating lease.
Lessee
The accounting standard completely eliminates the difference between operating and capital lease. Lessee is supposed to record the right to use the asset and the lease payments that he has to make. Henry, E. and Holzmann, O.J., (2011) mentioned that the present value of lease payment is arrived at using the borrowing rate at which the lessee borrows or the rate the lessor
Another way to treat this provision would be not to recognize at the inception of the lease but directly expense the costs when the required maintenance is performed. Regarding the accrual method in Alternative 1, ASC 360-15-25-5 prescribes “the use of accrue-in-advance (accrual) method of accounting for planned maintenance activities is prohibited in annual and interim financial reporting periods.” This is consistent to FASB’s opinion
According to Section 360-10-15-4, the scope of the standard applies to transactions and activities related to recognized long-lived assets of an entity to be held and used, including capital leases of lessees, long-lived assets of lessors subject to operating leases, proved oil and gas properties that are being accounted for using the successful-efforts method of accounting, and long-term prepaid assets.
The reason we want to capitalise the lease commitments is that reporting under operating assets leads to substantial amounts of off-balance-sheet assets and liabilities. Hence, it is difficult to compare financial statements between two similar companies but use different accounting methods for essentially the same transaction.
Each company’s sizable lease obligations constitutes “off-balance sheet financing,” which directly impacts and reduces future cash flows. While the net present value of Home Depot’s and Lowe’s capital lease obligations are comparable, at $468 million and $435 million respectively, the payment period for Lowes is more immediate, with payments distributed evenly over 6 years compared
C. In a sales-type lease the carrying value of the asset is charged to cost of the asset leased (expense), and the present value of the minimum lease payment as the amount of the sale. For direct financing leases no sales or expense is recognized because the asset is removed from the books. The difference between its carrying value and the undiscounted minimum lease payments is recorded as unearned interest revenue. The net investment in a sales type lease ia accounted for in a similar manner as a direct financing
Then thirdly, the operating lease is when the lessor depreciates the leased asset according to its depreciation policy. The maintenance costs of the leased asset are charged as an expense, the costs, such as finder’s fees and credit checks, are amortized over the lease term, and the leased equipment and accumulated depreciation are shown as equipment leased to others. Usually any lease that do not fall under the criteria for a direct financing lease or sales-type lease are recorded as an operating lease.
At the lease commencement, finance leases are capitalised at the fair value of the leased property, otherwise the present value of the minimum lease payments if lower (MHI, 2014). Other short term and long term payables include the relevant rental obligations and net of finance charges (MHI, 2014). Every lease payment is apportioned between the liability and finance charges (MHI, 2014). The finance cost is indicated in the comprehensive income statement for the lease period as well as to generate a constant periodic rate of interest on the remaining balance of the liability for each period (MHI, 2014). During the lease term, the depreciation is considered for the useful life of the asset such as the property, plant and equipment assigned under finance leases (MHI, 2014). The portion of the risks and rewards of ownership are persevered by the lessor are categorized as operating leases for leases (MHI, 2014). For the period of the lease, all payments made under operating leases less any incentives from lessor are indicated in the comprehensive income statement on a straight-line basis (MHI,
While working on a consulting engagement, a supervisor in the team has given an assignment. The client is a regional trucking company. A new customer has approached the client with an opportunity that would require 120 trailers—20 more than the trucking company currently owns. The client is uncertain how long the relationship with the customer may last, but the deal has the potential for significant growth. The supervisor has asked a research to be conducted on leases and lease structure issues on the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) website, in particular the current practice and thought related to direct financing, sales type, and operating leases. This paper is a memo addressed to the supervisor that summarizes
The determination of whether an arrangement is or contains a lease is based on the substance of the arrangement and requires an assessment of whether the fulfilment of the arrangement is dependent on the use of a specific asset or assets and whether the arrangement
Leasing became the leading form of off-balance sheet financing - using an asset without reflecting it or its financing on the balance sheet.
An alternative to traditional equity and debt financing is leasing. Leasing is undertaken primarily for what purposes?
Since, such an agreement will be regarded as an Operating Lease and not a Capital Lease; this lease will not be reported on the company’s balance sheet. Keeping the lease off the balance sheet would make our financial ratios appear more attractive (lower debt/asset ratio) than otherwise. Hence, such a setup provides the advantage of financing the deal as an off-Balance Sheet item.
David Jones does not included leases as part of their intangible assets but Myer does. This shows the different ways of recording accounting record between its competitors, and managers have an incentive to determine on the choice of recording items. This reflects business operation reflecting in its underlying business reality. Therefore, manager has higher chance to manipulate the accounting
Under IFRS, lease classification depends on whether substantially all of the risks and rewards incidental to ownership of a
v. As of December 31, 2003 the amount of the Capital Lease liability that is current equals $8.47 (the amount by which the principal will be reduced). This estimate differs from “current maturities of capital leases” because current maturities ($25) represent leases that will be retired during 2004. The payment of $44 is to the portfolio of all leases and therefore reflects the interest and principal portions in terms of all of the leases. The amount that actually went to interest and principal cannot be determined without accounting for each lease individually.