IFRS 16 – il nuovo principio contabile per la contabilizzazione dei contratti di leasing nei bilanci del lessee e del lessor

ABSTRACT: (IFRS16 – NEW PRINCIPLES UNDERLYINING THE ACCOUNTING FOR LEASE CONTRACT IN THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE LESSEE AND THE LESSOR). The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued IFRS 16 Leases, which requires lessees to recognise assets and liabilities for most leases. This could have broad implications for entities’ finances and operations. Entities should plan to explain the effects of applying the new leases standard to stakeholders. Implementing the standard also could require an entity to develop new processes and controls or adjust existing ones to identify and account for leases. The IASB issued the standard after joint deliberations with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which issued a similar standard. However, there are significant differences between the IASB and FASB standards (e.g., lessees classify leases as finance or operating leases under the FASB standard). These differences will result in certain transactions being accounted for differently under IFRS and US GAAP. The current lease accounting requirements in IAS 17 Leases, have been criticised for failing to meet the needs of users of the financial statements, particularly because IAS 17 does not require lessees to recognise assets and liabilities arising from operating leases. IFRS 16 addresses those criticisms by requiring lessees to recognise most leases on their balance sheets and providing enhanced disclosures. The IASB believes this will result in a more faithful representation of lessees’ assets and liabilities and greater transparency of lessees’ financial obligations and leasing activities. Under IFRS 16, leases are accounted for based on a ‘right-of-use model’. The model reflects that, at the commencement date, a lessee has a financial obligation to make lease payments to the lessor for its right to use the underlying asset during the lease term. The lessor conveys that right to use the underlying asset at lease commencement, which is the time when it makes the underlying asset available for use by the lessee. Entities will need to focus on whether an arrangement contains a lease or a service agreement because there are significant differences in the accounting. Although IFRS 16 changes how the definition of a lease is applied, we believe that the assessment of whether a contract contains a lease will be straightforward in most arrangements. However, judgement may be required in applying the definition of a lease to certain arrangements, particularly those that include significant services. For lessees, the income statement presentation and expense recognition pattern will be similar to today’s finance leases (i.e., separate interest and depreciation expense with higher periodic expense in the earlier periods of a lease). Lessor accounting is substantially unchanged from current accounting. Lessors will classify all leases using the same classification principle as in IAS 17 and distinguish between operating and finance leases.

Keywords: IFRS 16, Lease, Lessee, Lessor, Sub-lease, Sale and lease back.