Another Stupid Accountant Trick

Here we go again!!

The Accountancy Standards Borg Board now demands that leases be categorized as "debt."

...Starting for Q1 2019 reporting, companies will be required to change how they account for Leases.  It is referred to as the new FASB leasing standard (ASC Topic 842) and it will put $3 Trillion in liabilities onto corporate balance sheets. This new treatment requires companies to record operating leases on their balance sheets as debt.  The counter-balancing asset is "Right of Use."  This is the equivalent of signing up for a cell phone service that costs $100 per month for 5 years and then having to declare that you are $6,000 in debt on your credit report (ex-NPV calculation).  After this brilliant change in accounting treatment, you explain to the mortgage banker when you try to buy a house, "but wait, the $6,000 in debt is not so bad, I have an equivalent asset called 'right to talk and text' on my balance sheet."  To which she would reply, "that's nice, I have a 'right to decline your mortgage application asset' on MY balance sheet - have a nice day." ...

By the way, the very same Borg cost owners of Berkshire-Hathaway about 25% of their share value just last week!

Nice to have that outfit, eh?