FASB Votes Against Retaining Leveraged Lease Literature in Final Accounting Standard

NORWALK, Conn.—Members of the Financial Accounting Standards Board July 13 voted against retaining leveraged lease accounting literature—very unique rules under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles related to tax-advantaged transactions—in a final lease accounting standard.

FASB said leveraged lease accounting rules do not exist in international financial reporting standards (IFRS), and for the sake of improving comparability and convergence, there was no reason to retain those specialized accounting provisions.

Board members also said that regular lease accounting rules would capture the transaction and the underlying economics similar to other leasing transactions by lessors. Moreover, FASB said there are many tax-advantaged transactions ...