Comments on the proposed ASU are due by September 13, 2013. A final standard is likely to be issued in 2014 and would be effective no earlier than annual reporting periods beginning on January 1, 2017.

Editor’s Note: We expect that on the basis of the comments they receive on the ED, the boards may decide to re-examine the definition of a lease, the accounting for variable lease payments, the expense recognition patterns for lessees, and the accounting by lessors.

For more, go to the May 17, 2013 Deloitte U.S. Heads Up: It’s the Lease we can do, below.

The comment letter deadline is September 13, 2013.

The CFLA Accounting Committee chaired by Loraine McIntosh (Deloitte & Touche LLP) will be convening several meetings over the summer to review the Exposure Draft and prepare industry comments.

Ms McIntosh will also lead a session on these latest lease accounting standards at the CFLA conference in Halifax, September 18-20, 2013.

Please note: there are differences between the IASB version of the Exposure Draft and that released by the FASB.

For more, including all the relevant documents from the IASB and the FASB as well as media releases from industry associations Leaseurope and the U.S. Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, please go to the CFLA Member Accounting Update, below.

Leaseurope is a federation composed of 44 member associations in 33 countries, representing the leasing and automotive rental industries in Europe.

The CEO Business Council met in March 2013, bringing together 15 chief executives from across the European asset and automotive finance industry to discuss what needs to be done to “Deliver the Future”.

After a roundtable during which the CEOs shared their main day to day worries, the participants considered the economic outlook for Europe. It was agreed that without taking action, the leasing industry would inevitably follow the general economic trend of stagnation. With many being confident that they could outperform the average, the Business Council discussions focussed on key success factors to delivering this bright future: innovation and human resources.

The full report that provides a high-level summary of the themes that emerged from these discussions. The report may raise more questions than answers.  By sharing the strategic challenges and opportunities that European industry leaders identified in this platform, however, Leaseurope hopes to be able to contribute to a better understanding of how the industry is evolving, provide inspiration and foster further debate on these keys issues.

For more go to the Leaseurope 2013 CEO Business Council report Delivering the Future, April 2013, below.

As Jenny Reed and Jonathan Fleisher of CFLA member law firm Cassels, Brock and Blackwell LLP report, the consequences for non-compliance with the Regulation are stiff. Owners who fail to comply with the regulation or fail to qualify under an exemption face a fine of up to $1,000 per day and/or imprisonment for a term of not more than 6 months.

For more, go to the May 2013 Cassels Brock and Blackwell LLP Equipment & Asset Financing Group e-LERT “California Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Regulation Impacts Class 7 and 8 Tractors and Trailers Leased by Canadian Lessors – Action May be Required” below.

As CFLA members are some of the largest users of the PPSR in Ontario, CFLA was invited to discuss industry experiences with the system and to outline any issues being encountered.

Read more in the Member Update below:

Corporations may have to shoulder trillions of dollars of new balance-sheet liabilities under an accounting change for leases that is meeting stiff resistance from businesses in a test of international accounting standard-setters’ resolve.

Advocates of the change say it is necessary to add transparency for investors, but critics say it is too complex and would burden companies with high and unexpected costs.

After months of redeliberations on a 2010 exposure draft, the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and London-based International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are now scheduled to shortly release a new lease accounting proposal for public comment in mid-May

For more, go to recent media reports below.