There are no straight lines in nature
but should there be straight lines in lease accounting, asks Brian
O’Donovan
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the
US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) supported different
approaches to a key element of their new lease accounting model in
a crunch meeting in February.
This apparent disagreement will delay further their long-running
lease accounting project and add to the uncertainty as to the effect
of this project on the reported profits of many companies.
The disagreement emerged as the boards tried to thrash out a
way to address a key concern about earlier versions of their proposals
– the abolition of straight-line expense recognition for lessees.
