租赁会计中英文外文文献翻译2016年最新译文文档格式.docx

租赁会计中英文外文文献翻译2016年最新译文文档格式.docx

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标题：

Commentletteractivity:

Aresponsetoproposedchangesinleaseaccounting

作者：

FernandoComiran,CarolGraham

期刊：

ResearchinAccountingRegulation,28卷，109-117页年份：

2016

原文

Abstract

Thisstudyexaminesthemotivationsthatleadsomefirmstolobby,viacommentletters,againstthechangesinaccountingforleasesproposedbyFASB/IASB.Thereareatleastthreedistinctmotivationsforacompanytolobbyagainsttheproposedchanges:

ahighperceivedcostofimplementation/operation,abeliefthatthechangeswillincreasethecostofcapital,andadesireonthepartofmanagementtoavoidanyadministrativeburdenassociatedwiththechanges.Ourresearchsuggeststhatcompaniesthatengageinlobbyingareconcernedwiththecostsofsuchchanges（renegotiationofdebtcovenants,auditorfees,changeinITsystems,etc.）,buttheyalsoseemtobemotivatedbytheiraccountingmanager'

sdesiretoavoidanyadditionaleffortthatthechangeswillrequire.

Keywords：

Leases，Commentletters，FASB

1.Introduction

AtthesuggestionoftheSECin2005,theFASBundertooka

controversialjointprojectwiththeIASBaimedatconvergingleaseaccountingstandards.MorethanadecadelateronFebruary25,2016,AccountingStandardsUpdate（ASU）No.2016-02LeaseswasissuedandwillbeeffectiveformostcompaniesafterDecember18,2018.1Thisreportprovidesananalysisofthemorethan1400commentletterssenttotheFASB/IASBinresponsetoaccountingchangesproposedviaASC840and842Leases.AlthoughtheeconomicimpactofthechangesproposedbytheFASB/IASBwasnotclear,theygeneratedstrongoppositionfromcompanies.Ouranalysisrevealsthatapproximately80%ofthecommentletterlobbyingfirmswereagainsttheproposedchanges.Whilethereisasubstantialbodyofempiricalresearchdevotedtounderstandingtheimplicationsofleaseaccounting,littleprimaryresearchhasbeenconductedinthisarea.Thispaperprovidesananalysisoftheentitiesthatengagedincommentletterlobbyingaroundthisissue,thetoneofthecommentletterstheysent,andasummaryofthespecificreasonstheygaveinoppositiontothechanges.Wealsoprovidesomerelatedempiricalfindings.Thereasonsfor,andpotentialmotivationsbehind,lobbyingagainstwhatisarguablyoneofthemostcontentiousissuesincontemporaryaccounting,shouldbeofinteresttopractitioners,regulatorsandacademicsalike.Consistentwithpriorstudies（e.g.Anantharaman,2015;

Francis,1987;

Fried,2012;

Ramanna,2008）weusethetermlobbyinginanarrowcontext,referringspecificallytocommentletter

lobbying.

Thepurposeofthejointprojectwastoaddressconcernsthatthecurrentstandard（SFAS13）doesnotmeettheneedsofinvestors.Morespecifically,theexistingaccountingmodelhasbeencriticized,amongotherreasons,becauseitrepresentsoneofthelargestformsofoff-balancesheetaccountingandfailstoprovideafaithfulrepresentationofleasingtransactions[www.fasb.org].Themaineffectofthenewstandardwillbetoendtheuseofoperatingleasesandinsteadrequirecapitalizationofallleases.TheFASB'

sobjectivewastoincreasefinancialstatementcomparabilitybypreventingsimilartransactionsfrombeingreporteddifferently,ascurrentlyhappensduetothebright-linerulesofSFAS132thatdifferentiatebetweenoperatingandcapitalleases.Ex-ante,itisnotclearwhyfirmswouldlobbyfororagainsttheproposedchanges.Ifstakeholdersunderstandtheimplicationsofoff-balancesheetleases,thechangesshouldhaveminimaleffect.However,ifagroupofstakeholdersisnotcorrectlyadjustingforoperatingleases,itispossiblethattheproposedchangescouldincreasetheirriskassessmentforcompanies.Itisevidentfromthecommentlettersthatmostcompaniesareagainsttheproposedchange.Thisstudyexamineswhethercompaniesareopposedtotheproposedleasechangesbecausetheywishtoobfuscatetheirperceivedrisk,orbecausetheyperceivethatthenewruleswillincreasetheiroperationalcostsortheircostofcapital.

Thispapercontributestothecurrentliteratureonlobbyingbyanalyzingthespecificobjectionstotheproposedchangesfromthecommentlettersandbyinvestigatingwhetherlobbyingfirmshaveuniquecharacteristicsthatcouldraiseredflagsforinvestors.Thisstudyalsocomplementsthecurrentliteraturebyanalyzingthebehavioroffirmswhenmanagementcompensationisnotexpectedtobenegativelyaffected.

2.Literaturereview

TheBoards'

primaryconcernthatcurrentleaseaccountingdoesnotalwaysfaithfullyrepresentleasingtransactionsand,assuch,maydisadvantagesomeinvestors,isborneoutbyextantacademicresearchbut