Products

• Big Accounting Changes Looming on the Horizon

  By William J. Bosco, Jr.
  Fall 2002 Issue
  
  Over the next few months the U.S. leasing industry will go through perhaps the greatest changes in its history, and 4 years from now the concepts of FAS 13 may be a distant memory. This industry turmoil will be a result of 2 new initiatives the Financial Standards Accounting Board (FASB) is working on, which are expected to be completed by year-end. They are Consolidation of Certain Special Purpose Entities, an interpretation of ARB No. 51 (the SPE Project), and GuarantorÕs Accounting and Disclosure Requirements for Guarantees, Including Indirect Indebtedness of Others, an interpretation of FASB Statements Nos.5, 57, and 107 (the Guarantee Project).

  Free ($10.00 )

• Indexing Can Be Perplexing

  by Steven J. Williams
  Spring 2002 issue
  
  It used to be that providing a borrower a rate commitment based on an index was a relatively simple process.1 A lender would simply choose a U.S.treasury note ("treasury") of comparable maturity or duration and then would tie its rate to the yield of that instrument. When it came time to fund, both the borrower and lender would look at the current yield of the referenced treasury note and then adjust the interest rate of the loan accordingly. This practice is known as float-to-fix pricing and occurs every day in the equipment finance industry. However, the recent volatility of U.S. treasury yields have called into question the applicability of the security as an index for middle-market equipment financings. This article will look at the question from both empirical and analytical perspectives.

  Free ($10.00 )

• Intellectual Property: The Leasing Industry's Future?

  by Richard D. Crawford
  Fall 2002 issue
  
  The new sector of growth opportunity for the leasing industry is clearly the technology sector and its related intellectual property assets. The particular growth opportunity in intellectual property like software is highlighted by LPI Software Funding Group on its website. LPI points out that 80% of U.S. companies and 65% of the Fortune 1000 use leasing to acquire computer hardware.

  Free ($10.00 )

• Leasing and the Small Firm

  by Michael Long, Ph.D. and Ben J. Sopranzetti, Ph.D.
  Fall 2002 issue
  
  What types of small firms would be the strongest candidates for the use of lease financing? Although the motivations behind the lease/buy decision as it applies to large, publicly traded corporations has been well studied, because of a paucity of available data, a parallel examination of the lease/buy decision as it applies to small, privately held firms has yet to be conducted. However, small, privately held firms may have different reasons for leasing assets than do their larger counterparts and thus may present a different marketing challenge for lessors.

  Free ($10.00 )

• Lessors' Enforcement Rights Under Sec. 365 (d)(10) of the Bankruptcy Code

  by Peter C. Califano
  Spring 2002 Issue
  
  In 1994,the Bankruptcy Code was amended in order to level the playing field for equipment lessors who had become embroiled in a lessee's bankruptcy case. After some brief legislative background, this article will summarize post-1997 case law interpreting Sec.365(d)(10) and will conclude with possible strategies for lessors to pursue in light of recent tactics employed by debtor-lessees.

  Free ($10.00 )

• The Appraisal Process for Electric Generating Facility Lease Transactions

  by Richard K. Ellsworth
  Fall 2002 issue
  
  Leasing has become an attractive financing option for companies investing in electric generating facilities. Appraisal studies aid lessors Ð and their financial and legal advisors Ð in analyzing the economic and tax consequences of these transactions. This article describes key elements of the valuation process. It takes significant investment capital to finance the construction of electric generating facilities, with developers and operators seeking creative financial solutions from available capital sources. In the current economic environment, lease transactions represent an attractive financing alternative for many companies.

  Free ($10.00 )

• The Impact of Bonus Depreciation on Leasing Activity

  by Jeffrey Taylor
  Fall 2002 issue
  
  In the United States, a corporate taxpayer recovers, through annual depreciation deductions, the cost of certain property used in a trade or business. The amount of the depreciation deduction is determined under the modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS). Under MACRS, different types of property receive congressionally mandated recovery periods and depreciation methods. Before this new tax provision was enacted, lessors thought bonus depreciation would help leasing. Now, in a down economy, it turns out that whether it actually is a benefit depends on the tax life of the asset.

  Free ($10.00 )

• The Legal Framework for Leasing in Russia in 2002

  by Derek A. Bloom
  Fall 2002 issue
  
  Amendments to Russian leasing law earlier this year have greatly improved the legal and tax environment for leasing. Those amendments have cleared up numerous inconsistencies between the former leasing law and other Russian laws that affect cross-border and domestic leasing within Russia. Customs clearance, the VAT tax, and currency law are only three of the affected areas. The legal and tax environment for leasing in Russia has been greatly improved as of February 2002 with the enactment of amendments to the Russian leasing law. These amendments have removed numerous inconsistencies between the former version of the leasing law and other Russian laws applicable to cross-border and domestic leasing in Russia. The requirement for a leasing company to be licensed to engage in cross-border leasing has also been removed.

  Free ($10.00 )

• The Role of Automated Detection in Reducing Cyber Fraud

  by Derek A. Bloom
  Fall 2002 Issue
  
  The roller coaster ride of Internet stocks masks an underlying fact: Cyber commerce continues to grow and along with it, cyber fraud. Experts say fraud is increasing and that the number of people committing fraud is burgeoning as techniques for committing fraud now become available to a wider pool of criminals. The right individual armed with a computer can do more damage to a com p a ny than a conventional criminal. Frictionless electronic commerce lowers transaction costs and speeds the supply chain, but it also enables criminals to attack with anonymity, sometimes hitting hundreds or thousands of companies at the same time and from parts of the world where they can be relatively immune from prosecution.

  Free ($10.00 )

• Twenty Years of ELA Survey Data; A Preliminary Look

  by James S. Schallheim, Ph.D. and Sudatip Pruettiangkura
  Fall 2002 issue
  
  Over two decades, the Equipment Leasing Association has conducted its annual Survey of Industry Activity. Only now has the survey data been compiled to encompass the entire 1981-2000 time period. Using regression analysis, two researchers have examined the data to glean insights into the key relationships between the profitability of leasing companies and explanatory variables encompassing interest rates, leverage, and general economic activity.

  Free ($10.00 )