Guide

A guide to lease accounting

November 01, 2024
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Audit Lease accounting Financial reporting

This article was originally published in February 2022 and has been updated.

A guide to lease accounting under ASC 842 assists middle-market lessees and lessors in applying the lease guidance in Topic 842, Leases, of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standards Codification (ASC).

Our comprehensive guide includes in-depth discussion and numerous examples on:

  • The scope of ASC 842, whether a contract is within the scope of ASC 842 and the definition of a lease
  • The steps entities should take in identifying the units of account present in a contract that includes a lease and allocating the contract consideration to those units of account
  • The determination of whether the lease and non-lease components should be treated as separate units of account
  • The key inputs used by entities in classifying and accounting for a lease, including the commencement date, the discount rate, the lease term and lease payments
  • The lease classification criteria used by entities to classify a lease under ASC 842
  • The application of the appropriate accounting model in ASC 842 to the lease (which depends on its classification)
  • The initial and subsequent accounting by lessees for operating leases and finance leases, including specific issues such as evaluating right-of-use assets for impairment, applying ASC 842 to leases denominated in a foreign currency and recognizing leases acquired in business combinations and asset acquisitions
  • The initial and subsequent accounting by lessors for sales-type leases, direct financing leases and operating leases
  • The seller-lessee’s evaluation of and accounting for sale-leaseback transactions
  • The entity’s presentation of leases on its balance sheet, income statement and cash flows statement and the disclosures required of lessees and lessors under ASC 842
  • The effective date of ASC 842 and the transition guidance that should be applied in the initial implementation of ASC 842

We also shine spotlights throughout our guide on a variety of middle market insights regarding ASC 842. In addition, we provide: (a) an easy-to-use table that summarizes the reassessment and remeasurement events that require reassessment or remeasurement of a particular aspect of ASC 842 (e.g., reassess lease classification or remeasure lease payments) and (b) a disclosure checklist.

The November 2024 edition of this guide has been updated for the following:

  • Added discussion of
    • Terminal rental adjustment clauses (see Section 5.3.4.2)
    • Modifications that grant additional rights of use and make additional changes (see Section 8.2.5.6)
    • Short payments by a lessee (see Section 8.2.5.7)
    • Modifications that decrease the lessee’s right of use (see Section 8.2.5.8)
    • Sale of future operating lease payments that do not meet the definition of a receivable (see Section 9.2.6)
    • Lessor accounting for short payments by a lessee (see Section 9.2.10)
  • Updated our position regarding the classification of a lease acquired in an asset acquisition transaction (see Section 8.8.1)
  • Expanded our discussion of the presentation of lease activity in the cash flow statement (see Sections 11.3 and 12.3)
  • Other minor updates and clarifications

Our guide is a valuable tool for entities as they apply the guidance in ASC 842 and account for their leases on a going-forward basis.

Do you know how to evaluate ASC 842 technology solutions?

ASC 842 represents a significant shift in lease accounting standards and many technology solutions can ease the transition and help organizations remain compliant.

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