Strategizing IFRS 16 – Leases and Real Estate : Exploring implementation and contractual strategies relating to new accounting regulation

Abstract: Traditionally  Operational  Leases  have  been  exempted  from  being  recognized  on  the  balance  sheet  of  the  financial  statements.  With  the  new  leasing  regulation  presented  by  the  International  Accounting  Standards Board  (IASB);  International  Financial  Reporting  Standards  16  (IFRS  16),  with  effective  date  of  2019‐01‐01  operational leases are to be accounted for as finance leases, being capitalized into the balance sheet as a right of use asset and lease liabilities. This will affect the financial statement considerably for some heavy users of operational  leases,  such  as  retailers,  whereas  another  factor  that  also  have  an  impact  is  balance  sheet  composition  before  implementation.  Many  key  ratios  will  also  be  affected  and  it  is  expected  that  for  some long‐term companies, such as production companies, will take the lease or buy decision up for more serious discussion. This is because operational leasing no longer can be used to balance financing and debt as it has been used in the past. The implementation of the standard will be considerably heavier administration‐wise for companies with no previous  financing  leases  since  they  do  not  currently  have  system  support  for  lease  valuations  or  advanced  administration processes surrounding operational leases. This is common for firms with leased space as a big part of their operations, such as retailers. Implementation will be a big project for many enterprises and the effect on the balance sheet may be finished very close to effective date, resulting in that some shortcuts may be  taken.  This  could  result  in  a  higher  lease  debt  than  necessary  as  there  are  many  assumptions  and  interpretations  to  be  made  during  the  implementation  process.  These  assumptions  and  adjustments  are expected to be continuously worked on by companies to reevaluate and decrease lease debt, where incentives to do so exist.  A qualitative interactive inductive approach, using semi‐structured interviews is used in this study to explore and  dig  deeper  into  possible  strategic  redesigns  of  contractual  clauses  to  decrease  the  effect  this  standard  would  have  on  financial  statements.  The  possible  strategies  described  are  to  be  viewed  as  possible  changes that would reduce the effect on the balance sheet where a company has incentives to do so. There also seem to be changes within the retail market that could change contract structure in the future, independently of IFRS 16. However, these changes could in turn be used to argue for assessments regarding lease terms that would decrease the effect on a company’s balance sheet in accordance with IFRS 16.