On Aug. 27, the Securities and Exchange Commission raised the possibility that approximately 110 U.S. publicly traded companies will be able to use international accounting standards (IAS) next year and may require all U.S. companies to switch to IAS between 2014-2016. There is a 60-day comment period about the SEC proposal. Fleet leasing will be impacted by the adoption of IAS. It is probable that all fleet leases in the U.S. will need to be capitalized sometime in the 2011-2016 timeframe.
How Will Accounting Rules Impact Off-Balance
The FASB and IASB have put a new leasing project on their agendas. The outcome will be the creation of one leasing standard applied worldwide. Is this the beginning of the end of off-balance sheet accounting for fleet leases?