Abstract:

the issues concerning accounting for leases are going through a major change at present. External users of financial statements have long claimed dissatisfaction with the extent of disclosure of lease liabilities in companies’ financial reports. Significant amounts of liabilities were hidden off the balance sheet, which had a negative impact on users’ ability to make adequate decisions in respect of companies. This problem is to be solved with the help of new IFRS 16 standard effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 01.01.2019, which has brought a major change into accounting for leases. According to these new guidelines, a lessee shall record almost all lease operations in reporting. These changes will definitely lead to significant changes in reporting of companies which use large amounts of leased assets. The paper deals with analysis of the way the new standard will influence key financial figures in Russian companies’ reporting. The study object is Russian public companies which applied new IFRS 16 standard (“Leases”) ahead of time in 2018.