Operating leases: Impact of operating leases recognized on financial statement and on financial policy in Spanish and British companies

The new proposal of lease accounting standards by the International Accounting Standards Board is being very controversial for its consequences on the financial statements of companies that use the leases for control and financing asset. Prior studies demonstrate the impact of operating leases recognized on balance and its impact on company results and basic ratios for analysis as leverage and profitability as well as its financial structure. In this work, from a sample for high number of companies, the impact on quoted companies is analyzed in 2 different countries with different accounting culture such as Spain and Great Britain. The results show that in both cases the impact is significant, being most important the sector of activity that the country. A new research line is opened for future research: To analyze the evolution in time of the impact and whether companies vary their financial policies when the new standard of leases is finally published. (C) 2013 ASEPUC. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. All rights reserved.