Business advisory firm SolomonEdwardsGroup notes in a white paper, “Compliance Focus: The New World of Lease Accounting”, that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and its international counterpart, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) continue to redeliberate some of the more complex and controversial aspects of the lease accounting exposure draft. After proposing broad sweeping changes last fall to lease accounting rules, the boards appear to have retreated on certain elements.

“I think the boards have heard the respondents’ feedback loud and clear: reduce the complexity and reliance on projections. Regardless, all leases will still be coming onto balance sheets. Thus, it is still highly appropriate to get the planning process underway,” comments Wayne Wetterlund, lease accounting expert in SolomonEdwardsGroup’s technical accounting & regulatory advisory practice. “Every organization that is party to a lease contract will be impacted by this proposal.”

The paper urges companies to take note due to the probable retrospective application of these changes, which will require companies to follow the new lease reporting guidelines up to three years prior to the 2014 expected effective date.

To link to SolomonEdwardsGroup white paper request page:
click here.