Identifying Leases under the New ASC 842

The new Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 842, leases, issued to replace the previous leases standard ASC 840. Thanks to the now required implementation of ASC 842, which demands that lessees record nearly all leases on their balance sheets, public businesses are now seeing their balance sheets “blowing up.” It’s not just public businesses, as non-public companies are being put on notice for an upcoming effective date of their own ASC 842 mandates.

This standard became effective from the calendar year started on January 1, 2019, for the public companies. For private companies, the standard will be effective from the calendar year beginning January 1, 2020. ASC Topic 842 will substantially alter how companies account for leases in their financial statements. This new standard brings most operating leases, which were accounted for off-balance sheet under the previous leases standard ASC 840, onto the balance sheet. That's why the question of whether a contract is within the scope of leases or not is essential to be considered. This webinar discusses the definition of the lease and the criteria that must be met for a contract to constitute a lease agreement.

This course guides the audience to correctly identify whether a contract is a lease or contains a lease and explains how to distinguish it from the other non-lease service contracts. Under this standard, lease identification is a critical process; this course will analyze this process step-by-step, providing practical examples, which will clarify the implementation issues associated with that process.