IAS 17 — Recognition of lease expense under an operating lease
The IFRIC considered a request that it provide guidance on how a lessee should determine an appropriate pattern of recognition of expense for an operating lease with non-level payments.
The IFRIC agreed that it should not add the issue to its agenda. The tentative agenda decision will compare and contrast guidance in IAS 16 paragraph 60 and IAS 38 paragraph 97 (which refer to a depreciation/amortisation method reflecting 'the pattern in which the asset's future economic benefits are expected to be consumed by the entity') with that in IAS 17 paragraphs 33 and 34, which refer to a method being 'representative of the time pattern of the user's benefit'. In an operating lease no asset is recognised in the financial statements, and thus cannot be consumed; thus it is the access or right to use the asset that determines the appropriate accounting.
