Several articles have been released discussing the FASB's new lease accounting standard:
New York Times: Post-Enron Accounting Rule Requires Companies to Report Leases
Wall Street Journal: New Rule to Shift Leases Onto Corporate Balance Sheets
Wall Street Journal (CFO blog): A Silver Lining to New Lease Accounting Rules: Savings
Accounting Today: FASB Releases Lease Accounting Standard
CFO: New FASB Lease Standard Could Inflate Balance Sheets
(CFO had a prior article on the complications facing companies that have to report under both US GAAP and IFRS: New Lease Standards May Demand Two Sets of Books)
Journal of Accountancy: New FASB leases standard brings transparency to lessee balance sheets
AccountingWeb: The Wait is Over: FASB Issues New Guidance on Lease Accounting
Thursday, February 25, 2016
It's here!
Today (Feb. 25) the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) released ASU 2016-02, the final version of the new lease accounting standard. In the Accounting Standards Codification, this is designated Topic 842 (the prior standard, FAS 13, was designated ASC 840). The release, available on the FASB web site, includes Section A, the main text, at 191 pages; Section B, a mind-numbing description of how the new text changes the existing Topic 840 text (148 pages); and Section C, background information and basis for conclusions (152 pages). This completes a process that started all the way back in July 2006 (and was originally expected to be completed in 2009).
Obviously, I can't look through 350 pages in a morning. There's no reason to expect any major surprises in the text. Illustrations are interspersed throughout the text. As a reminder, the new standard takes effect in 2019 (including interim periods in 2019); U.S. private companies get until year-end 2020 (interim periods don't have to use it until 2021).
To assist with understanding the new standard, the FASB released a Costs and Benefits summary, posted a 6-minute video entitled Why a New Leases Standard?, and announced a webinar for March 29, 1-2 PM EDT (1.0 CPE credit for CPAs).
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) released IFRS 16, their new lease accounting standard, on Jan. 12, 2016. Unlike the FASB, the IFRS text is not available for free; eventually the basic text will be released free (without the illustrative examples or basis for conclusions), but at the moment it's only available for purchase individually or as part of an eIFRS Professional Subscription.
I'll have more information in the coming days about the details of the new standard. We are working to complete the updates to EZ13 to meet the requirements of the new standard, including the transition from FAS 13. You can use EZ13 right now to forecast the impact of the new standard, because EZ13 includes the ability to treat operating leases as capital on a pro forma basis. For more information about how EZ13 can meet your lease accounting needs, whether you're a lessee or lessor, please check our web site or contact us.
Obviously, I can't look through 350 pages in a morning. There's no reason to expect any major surprises in the text. Illustrations are interspersed throughout the text. As a reminder, the new standard takes effect in 2019 (including interim periods in 2019); U.S. private companies get until year-end 2020 (interim periods don't have to use it until 2021).
To assist with understanding the new standard, the FASB released a Costs and Benefits summary, posted a 6-minute video entitled Why a New Leases Standard?, and announced a webinar for March 29, 1-2 PM EDT (1.0 CPE credit for CPAs).
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) released IFRS 16, their new lease accounting standard, on Jan. 12, 2016. Unlike the FASB, the IFRS text is not available for free; eventually the basic text will be released free (without the illustrative examples or basis for conclusions), but at the moment it's only available for purchase individually or as part of an eIFRS Professional Subscription.
I'll have more information in the coming days about the details of the new standard. We are working to complete the updates to EZ13 to meet the requirements of the new standard, including the transition from FAS 13. You can use EZ13 right now to forecast the impact of the new standard, because EZ13 includes the ability to treat operating leases as capital on a pro forma basis. For more information about how EZ13 can meet your lease accounting needs, whether you're a lessee or lessor, please check our web site or contact us.
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