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ACCA global forum calls for IASB to abandon planned new Standard on leasing

Date

13 Sep 2013

Sections

EU Priorities 2020
Euro & Finance

Additional complexities for accountants who deal with a large number of operating leases will arise from the IASB’s proposals says the Global Forum for Corporate Reporting

Proposals to change the way in which leased assets are accounted for, put forward by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), will make accounting more complex but with no real benefit, the Global Forum for Corporate Reporting at ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has claimed.

The proposals put forward by the IASB and FASB regarding the Right of Use methodology say that all leased tangible assets should go on the balance sheet of the lessee company, at an amount representing the ability to use them during the lease term.

Responding to the exposure draft on the issue, ACCA continues to say that this model would make accounting more complex and time consuming, but to little or no benefit to anyone involved.

Richard Martin, ACCA’s head of corporate reporting, said: “ACCA’s Global Forum thought some of the changes the IASB has proposed with regard to leasing represent progress, but the proposals will still not improve the process of lease accounting overall.

“It is now time to move away from trying to incorporate the Right of Use methodology, and instead have a debate about how to improve the current IAS 17 system, such as through strengthening disclosures, and changing the threshold for recognising a finance lease.

“The IAS 17 model needs to be updated to meet the needs of today’s financial world, but for users of the financial statements it’s fundamentally a much simpler and easier-to-understand approach than the proposed Right of Use method, which has now been debated on for more than four years.

“ACCA’s response also supports straightforward treatments of lease terms and renewal options, to create more transparency and useful information about the assets in the financial statements of lessors and lessees.

“Intangible assets are as much of importance as tangible ones, so continuing  to exclude these from the proposed Standard is not a helpful move by the IASB, and we have been making this point since the previous Exposure Draft that was issued by the IASB in 2010. The reasoning behind the exclusion is not entirely clear.

“Accountants do not need to complicate the work they are already putting into the accounts they work on. Users of the accounts need them to be clear and comprehensive,” concludes Richard Martin.

ACCA’s full consultation response can be found at: http://www.accaglobal.com/en/technical-activities/technical-policy/archive-policy/financial-reporting/cdr1213.html

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For more information, please contact

Alana Sinnen, ACCA Newsroom

+ 44 (0) 207 059 5807

+44 (0) 7715 812120

alana.sinnen@accaglobal.com

Notes to Editors

  1. ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the global body for professional accountants. We aim to offer business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application, ability and ambition around the world who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management.
  2. We support our 162,000 members and 428,000 students in 173 countries, helping them to develop successful careers in accounting and business, with the skills required by employers. We work through a network of over 89 offices and centres and more than 8,500 Approved Employers worldwide, who provide high standards of employee learning and development. Through our public interest remit, we promote appropriate regulation of accounting and conduct relevant research to ensure accountancy continues to grow in reputation and influence.

  3.Founded in 1904, ACCA has consistently held unique core values: opportunity, diversity, innovation, integrity and accountability. We believe that accountants bring value to economies in all stages of development and seek to develop capacity in the profession and encourage the adoption of global standards. Our values are aligned to the needs of employers in all sectors and we ensure that through our qualifications, we prepare accountants for business. We seek to open up the profession to people of all backgrounds and remove artificial barriers, innovating our qualifications and delivery to meet the diverse needs of trainee professionals and their employers.

 

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