Recognition versus disclosure of finance leases: Evidence from Japan

This study examines whether credit market participants—bond investors and credit rating agencies—treat recognized and disclosed finance leases differently when assessing firms’ credit risk in Japan. I use firms’ credit risk, measured by bond spreads and credit ratings, to investigate the relations between recognized versus disclosed finance lease obligations and firms’ credit risk following the adoption of Statement No. 13, Accounting Standard for Lease Transactions. For a sample of firms issuing new bonds, I find that, unlike recognized finance leases, disclosed finance leases are not associated with bond spreads. Moreover, the associations between recognized versus disclosed finance leases and bond spreads are substantially different. Conversely, recognized and disclosed finance leases are associated with credit ratings and are processed similarly when credit ratings are determined. Taken together, my results suggest that the sophistication of capital market participants influences their credit risk assessments of recognized versus disclosed finance leases.     

Valuing and Pricing Retail Leases with Renewal and Overage Options

We consider retail leases with landlord overages options, with tenant renewal options, with both and with neither. We illustrate how the ratio of initial expected sales to the sales threshold can be manipulated to equate the value of the landlord overage options to that of the tenant renewal option at the same initial rent. Not only are the values equal, but the cumulative distributions of potential IRRs on the two leases are nearly identical, suggesting that these leases are equally attractive to risk-averse investors and thus that the same risky discount rate can be used in valuing the leases. In contrast, the appropriate risky discount rate for the overage lease is calculated to be 75–160 basis points greater than that for the renewal lease.     

论金融租赁的风险及控制机制

金融租赁风险常见的有8种风险类型,对于风险的产生究其原因主要是金融租赁业务本身的特点以及外部的经济因素共同作用的结果,对融资租赁风险的分析应该从宏观政治、经济环境及法律制度为基础。再以租赁当事人的经营管理为基本切入点,采用预防、补救及有效的善后处理的科学的策略来控制和化解金融租赁的风险,同时也提出了控制和消除金融租赁风险的几项具体措施。     

上海自贸区发展融资租赁研究

融资租赁在发达国家已成为企业非常重要的一种融资工具,其交易规模仅次于银行信贷。融资租赁具有产融结合的特征,与上海自贸区服务实体经济的方向是一致的。上海自贸区成立后在放宽市场准入、加大税收优惠和提供金融支持等方面的制度创新促进了区内融资租赁的发展,但仍然存在一些制度瓶颈。为促进自贸区融资租赁的进一步发展,需要借鉴国外经验,进一步加大制度创新力度：统一融资租赁公司的政策和监管部门;进一步加大税收政策优惠;实现融资租赁机构的多元化融资和降低融资成本等。     

Pricing of off‐balance sheet debt: how do bond market participants use the footnote disclosures on operating leases and postretirement benefit plans?

In this study, we examine whether the public debt market prices information on off‐balance sheet debt arising from operating leases and postretirement plans. We find that bond‐rating agencies price off‐balance sheet debt arising from operating leases and the coefficient on off‐balance sheet debt measure of operating leases is similar to that of capital leases on the balance sheet. Regarding postretirement benefit plans, we find that bond‐rating agencies do price postretirement benefit obligations that are reported in balance sheet but do not price such obligations disclosed in footnotes. We find similar results when we examine corporate bond yields on new debt issues.     

Evolution of a Lease Solution

The lease solution most frequently advocated in the literature, that in which the after-tax cash flows of leasing and borrowing are discounted by the after-tax borrowing rate, is invariably associated with Myers, Dill and Bautista (MDB; 1976). This article, while accepting the basic assumptions underlying this solution, attempts to identify its origin and the process by which it evolved. The finding is that Bierman and Smidt (1966) pioneered this approach which has its antecedents in the works of Gant (1959) and McEachron (1959). Post-MDB developments in this solution are analysed and a critique is offered of an alternative evaluation approach advocated in MDB's influential work.     

Evaluating Constructive Lease Capitalization and Off‐Balance‐Sheet Financing: An Instructional Case with FedEx and UPS

This case illustrates the effects of the proposed new lease standard by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board on existing outstanding operating leases. Specifically, the case examines the effects of the proposal that all firms report existing operating leases as capital leases upon the initial adoption of the proposed standard. By applying a constructive capitalization model to two firms who rely on operating leases for financing, FedEx and UPS, we found that both companies would have to record billions of dollars of liabilities that had only appeared in the footnotes of their financial statements under the current lease standards. In addition, the firms would experience a decline in retained earnings and key financial ratios, such as the debt‐to‐equity, return‐on‐assets, and interest coverage ratios, by reporting operating leases as capital leases under the new proposed standard. Furthermore, the magnitude of the lease capitalization impact is much smaller for UPS than for FedEx.     

Lease Maturity and Initial Rent: Is There a Term Structure for UK Commercial Property Leases?

Seminal work by Grenadier (J. Financ. Econ. 38:297–331, 1995) derived a set of hypotheses about the pricing of different lease lengths in different market conditions. Whilst there is a compelling theoretical case for and a strong intuitive expectation of differential pricing of different lease maturities, to date the empirical evidence is inconclusive. Drawing upon a substantial database of commercial lettings in central London (West End and City of London) over the last decade, we investigate the relationship between rent and lease maturity. In particular, we test whether building quality, credit risk and micro-location variables omitted in previous studies provide empirical results that are more consistent with the theoretical and intuitive a priori expectations. It is found that initial leases rates are upward sloping with the lease term and that this relationship is constant over time.

Operating and synthetic leases: Exploiting financial benefits in the post-Enron era

Applying constructive lease capitalization to operating leases of firms in the 2003 S&P 500 index, we demonstrate that currently companies can hide billions of liabilities, enhance retained earnings, income, and ratios by reporting leases as operating. With the rekindled interests of the International Accounting Standards Board and Financial Accounting Standards Board on lease reporting, our study provides valuable and timely information for their decisions.Results indicate that by reporting operating leases, firms avoided on average $582 million of liabilities (11% of total liabilities) and $450 million of assets (4% of total assets) for our 366 sample firms. Partitioning sample into negative and positive income impact subgroups provides additional insight into firm's motivation for using operating leases. Under lease capitalization the top quartile positive subgroup experienced an 18% increase in income while the top quartile negative subgroup had an 11% decline in income. There was also a significant negative impact on liquidity, leverage and performance ratios.     

吉林省中小企业融资难问题研究

近年来,中小企业已成为吉林省经济增长的主要动力,在增加税收、技术创新、吸纳就业、体制转轨、扩大出口等方面发挥的作用越来越大。但是,由于自身规模小、实力弱、信用等级低,经营管理混乱,财务制度不健全等内部原因,以及银行业资金投向偏重大企业,贷款门槛高,政府的扶持力度不够,社会担保体系的缺乏,金融市场的不完善,社会环境的制约等外部原因使得吉林省中小企业融资难,同时也制约了中小企业的发展,进一步影响了吉林省经济的增长。为此,只有培育中小企业的核心竞争力,降低风险、提高信用等级,采取科学的管理方法和规范的财务制度,以增强银行业对中小企业贷款的信心和热度;同时加强政府的扶持力度,健全中小企业信用担保体系,才能解决吉林省中小企业融资难的问题。