Abstract
M.Com. (International Accounting)
Leases have been used as an alternative means of financing for many years and they form part of the business models of entities in various industries. Many large JSE listed companies in different industries also use leases extensively. Although lease accounting requirements under IFRS have been in place for a number of years, some of the fundamental principles underlying the current lease accounting models have been the subject of much debate by standard setters and practitioners. In particular, the conceptual soundness of lessees not capitalising operating lease commitments has been a key area of consideration. In response to the conceptual debates, the IASB published an exposure draft titled ED/2010/9 Leases (hereafter ED), which will ultimately replace the current lease standard IAS 17. The ED establishes a new “right-of-use model”, which requires lessees to capitalize all leases on their balance sheets.
The purpose of the minor dissertation was to determine the impact that the capitalisation of operating lease commitments under the requirements of the ED will have on the financial statements of JSE listed companies. In support of the research problem, the methodology applied in the minor dissertation was a quantitative content analysis, which was designed to obtain ex ante evidence on the potential future impact of the implementation of the ED. In order to assess the impact, the minor dissertation analysed the impact on total liabilities and total assets due to operating lease capitalisation, as well as the impact on certain key financial indicators and ratios. The initial sample was the top 50 companies in terms of market capitalisation that were listed on the JSE at 31 December 2011. After excluding companies with no or immaterial operating lease commitments, the final sample size was 44.
The literature review showed that the impact of operating lease capitalisation has been researched in various countries, such as Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the UK and the US. During the completion of the minor dissertation it was found that a South African study was recently published on the impact of operating lease capitalisation on JSE listed companies. The study applied one of the methods identified in the literature for deriving information required to perform the operating lease capitalisation calculation and also assumed a uniform discount rate. The minor dissertation was based on an alternative method of deriving the required information and applied company-specific discount rates. The results of the research showed an increase in total liabilities and total assets due to operating lease capitalization. The impact on the key financial indicators and ratios varied, with some ratios impacted positively and others negatively. The impact was also found to be generally lower than international trends and differed from a similar study performed in South Africa.