Not All Leases Created Equal Under New Accounting Rule

Printers and pop machines. They are staples of workplaces everywhere and are often leased. But they might not show up on corporate balance sheets under new lease accounting rules.

The change will require public companies to report both operating and finance leases on the balance sheet beginning in 2019. That means trillions of dollars’ worth of office space, warehouses, rail cars, even planes and other equipment will show up on financial statements for the first time.

Companies, facing a mountain of leases scattered across the globe and a tight timeline, are triaging leases to focus on contracts with the most ...