IASB Changes on Leasing - A Study Discovering the Impact of Lease Disclosures in the Assessment of Equity Risk
Int. J. Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2013
Posted: 22 Jun 2013
Date Written: June 21, 2012
Abstract
We investigate the relationship between equity risk and operating risk as well as equity risk and financial risk by analysing different levels of leverage, reported debt and earnings volatility of German listed companies. The results suggest that the measurement of equity risk is based on the variability in ROA. For firms that already have higher operating risk, investors include operating leases in the measurement of equity risk in addition to operating risk and reported financial risk. For firms with lower variability in ROA, the assessment of equity risk relates only to reported financial risk and operating risk; in addition, off-balance sheet debt is not significant in explaining variations in stock returns. Since reported debt and off-balance sheet debt are not treated equally, a mandated recognition of all lease contracts is expected to enhance the assessment of equity risk for firms with lower variability in earnings.
Keywords: leases, lease accounting, operating leases, off-balance sheet financing, recognition versus disclosure, equity risk, operating risk, business risk, financial risk, the efficient market hypothesis
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