GASB Proposes Recognizing More Leased Assets and Liabilities

Mary Michel, PhD

Accounting for leases has received considerable attention from standards setters in recent years. Under current FASB and GASB accounting rules, many leases are structured to avoid the recognition of leased assets and corresponding liabilities on the balance sheet. Seeking to remedy this, FASB, in a joint project with the IASB, issued a revised Exposure Draft of its proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU) on lease accounting on May 16, 2013 and released its final standard in February 2016 (available at http://bit.ly/2mG3j2D). GASB issued its own Exposure Draft, “Leases,” on January 25, 2016, with comments due by May 31, 2016 (http://bit.ly/1XyYEJ4). Based on comments, GASB is in the process of re-deliberating the Exposure Draft.