Sections Supplements

Ready or Not…

Changes Are Coming to Lease-accounting Rules

The recently issued exposure draft on lease-accounting rules proves to be one of the more significant and far-reaching proposals presented this year. Even though proposed lease-accounting changes are in draft form as we write this, they have been years in the making. As a result, the core elements are unlikely to change and will impact every organization that enters into a lease agreement.

Kyle Richard

Kyle Richard

Therefore, lessors, lessees, and other concerned parties must engage in conversations about the effect the proposed changes will have on their financial statements and their business, and be prepared to adjust operations accordingly.
Generally speaking, the proposed lease-accounting rules will require that all assets and liabilities arising from leased assets are recorded on the balance sheet. This will effectively eliminate off-balance-sheet accounting for operating leases. The proposed requirements would affect most any organization that enters into a lease. These changes are intended to more closely align the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) standards with those of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), acknowledging the global nature of today’s market.

Apply Right Model
The FASB’s exposure draft states that, with a few exceptions, lessees and lessors should apply a ‘right-of-use’ model in accounting for all leases. On its balance sheet, a lessee would recognize an asset representing its right to use the leased asset for the lease term and a liability to make lease payments. Meanwhile, the lessor would recognize an asset representing its right to receive lease payments depending on its exposure to risks or benefits associated with the underlying asset. Your accountant should be prepared to share additional details about this part of the proposed lease changes.
Calculating these assets and liabilities can be a challenge because the exposure draft assumes the longest possible lease term that is more likely than not to occur. To make these calculations, management, with its accounting professionals, must make certain assumptions, including expected future payments, probability of lease renewal, current and future market conditions, and other considerable changes that may affect the assets and liabilities.
A larger liability could exist in the event that lease-extension options stated in the original lease contract are exercised. For example, if the exercised lease agreement states a five-year contract, with options to extend an additional five years, and management determines it will use the space for the entire 10 years, then all 10 years of lease payments must be recorded as a liability at the present value based on all 10 years.

Joe Milardo

Joe Milardo

The FASB also notes that the life-of-lease estimate may need to be reassessed at each point of financial reporting if significant changes to the facts and circumstances surrounding the lease would impact the original estimate and present value. The ‘right-of-use’ asset (which at initial recording is equivalent to the lease payment liability) would then be amortized over the life of that tenant’s estimated occupancy. Certain initial direct costs incurred to originate the lease and/or place the right-of-use asset into service (commissions, legal fees, negotiation of lease terms) can be capitalized, placing the right-of-use asset at a higher cost basis than the lease liability.

Key Accounting Changes
If confirmed, the proposals included in the exposure draft will result in considerable changes to the accounting requirements for both lessees and lessors.
Impacts to profit-and-loss statements as a result of the proposals in the exposure draft will be significant, as will balance-sheet alterations. Compared to current U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) standards, if accepted, the proposals could result in much larger reductions on the profit-and-loss statements. For example, currently, U.S. GAAP requires the recognition of only a lease expense in an entity’s financial statements. The new proposal will require that same entity to recognize an interest expense on the lease liability, as well as an amortization expense on the right-of-use asset.
Here, the right-of-use asset is also subject to impairment. So an entity could record this right-of-use asset at the present value of its future minimum lease payments and immediately have to impair the asset as a result of fluctuations in the market. This could result in an extraordinary loss that would require close accounting and valuation attention as it comes into effect.

Response by Banks and Regulators
As a result of the new lease-accounting standards, balance sheets reflecting these new rules will be subject to immediate change. Will regulators and bankers consider the impact of the new lease-accounting rules when calculating financial-statement ratios and debt covenants? That’s uncertain.
We’ll have to wait and see how regulators and bankers interpret financial statements after the accounting change. To strengthen relationships with regulators and bankers, take a proactive approach by engaging in conversations about how the new lease-accounting rules will affect your business and financial statements.

Looking Forward
Tenants may prefer shorter-term leasing options to avoid recognizing larger lease liabilities. The downside is that shorter leases may increase lease rates to recover leasehold improvement build-outs and/or commissions paid to originate the lease. Some tenants may even be enticed to purchase real estate because there will no longer be a benefit to excluding these assets and liabilities from their financial statements.
The proposed lease-accounting changes will have a profound impact on all those entities that enter into leases — especially in the real-estate industry. Attending to your business yet ignoring the impending changes would be a mistake. Instead, in anticipation of the adoption of the new lease-accounting rules, talk with your accountant and build a plan to ensure the financial position of your company.

Kyle Richard, CPA, and Joe Milardo, CPA, are members of the Real Estate Services Group at Kostin, Ruffkess & Co., LLC, a certified public-accounting and business-advisory firm with offices in Springfield, as well as Farmington and New London, Conn. Beyond traditional accounting, auditing, and tax consulting, the firm also specializes in employee-benefit-plan audits, litigation support, business valuation, succession planning, business consulting, forensic accounting, wealth management, estate planning, fraud prevention, and information-technology assurance; (413) 233-2300; www.kostin.com