ELFA Releases Critical Takeaways From FASB Assembly on Leases Standard

The Equipment Leasing and Finance Affiliation launched essential takeaways from the Dec. 2 meeting of the Economical Accounting Criteria Board. These takeaways ended up geared up by John Bober, chair of the ELFA economical accounting committee.

Overview of the Conference Agenda

Following the FASB challenges and companies adopt a important accounting normal, the FASB topics the common to a write-up-implementation critique (PIR). The intent of the PIR is to assess whether or not a standard is achieving its objective by supplying financial statement buyers with applicable details in techniques that justify the cost of supplying it. For the duration of the PIR method, the FASB solicits and considers stakeholder input to evaluate the benchmarks and establishes no matter if there are spots of improvements that need to be dealt with.
The PIR method for equally the lease accounting conventional, Subject matter 842, and the credit score reduction typical, Topic 326, have been on the agenda of the FASB assembly on Dec. 2. The discussion of the leases PIR centered on:

• The final results of the investor outreach executed by the FASB employees
• Agenda requests the board may possibly take into consideration
• Feed-back from the September Leases Roundtable, for which the ELFA was a participant

Crucial Takeaways

Traders usually choose the dual lease product for lessees that exists in Topic 842. This is not a common view, as credit rating ranking companies, forensic accountants and some analysts have other tastes. Economic assertion end users also are nevertheless digesting the standard’s demands close to lower price fees, the accounting for typical spot maintenance prices and variable rents.

• Traders like the standard’s tabular disclosures as properly as the thorough disclosures necessary by the typical. Details aggregators and how this group of buyers extract lease data also was described during the conversations.
• The opinions also indicated that the variation between U.S. GAAP and IFRS is building noise for customers of fiscal statements.
• With regards to the topic of agenda requests, it was observed the FASB has obtained a minimal range of these recently. These bundled a slim concern on sale and leaseback accounting, lessee accounting for abandoned true estate leases and the accounting for lessee ROU property held for sale. The board indicated there may perhaps also be additional thing to consider of obtained leases.

The matters included all through the September Leases Roundtable were being then reviewed. These involved the scope of the leases normal, the accounting for the allocation of lease and non-lease parts, and lease modification accounting. On scope, the board focused on the extra schooling they have done to enable corporations in the construction business that may possibly have considered their services contracts contained embedded leases. On modification accounting, the board mentioned the design and the feasible consideration of additional simplifications of this product. This might take location soon after the publicity draft on focused improvements is finalized.

The ELFA economic accounting committee will carry on to check and evaluate developments on this make any difference.