Economic consequences of changes in the lease accounting standard: Evidence from Japan

Masaki Kusano, Yoshihiro Sakuma and Noriyuki Tsunogaya

Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, 2016, vol. 12, issue 1, 73-88

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate the economic consequences of changes in the lease accounting standard in Japan. In particular, this study examines whether capitalization of finance leases has significant effects on firm behavior regarding the choice of accounting treatment and the arrangement of leases. Our findings are twofold. First, firms with debt contracting incentives are more likely to choose the exceptional treatment, which recognizes only finance leases contracted after the adoption of Statement No. 13, Accounting Standard for Lease Transactions. Second, firms choosing the exceptional treatment are more likely to transfer leases from finance leases to operating leases in response to the adoption of Statement No. 13. This study contributes to the literature on recognition versus disclosure as well as to discussions on the global convergence of accounting standards.

Keywords: Economic consequences; Lease accounting; Recognition versus disclosure; Exceptional treatment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1815566916000060
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jocaae:v:12:y:2016:i:1:p:73-88

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcae.2016.02.005

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics is currently edited by Agnes C.S. Cheng, P. Clarkson, F.A. Gul, Zoltan Matolcsy, Dan Simunic and Ben Srinidhi

More articles in Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().