Standard-Setters Look to Cash Flows to Clarify Lease Accounting

Global lease accounting rules won’t be changed despite investor complaints about the usefulness of financial information companies report in their cash flow statements, standard-setters decided Tuesday.

Twelve of 13 International Accounting Standards Board members voted Tuesday against changing its existing financial reporting standard for leases. Investors have said it is hard to compare cash-flow figures from companies using leasing to rent an asset with those buying things outright. However, the board members did decide to research how to give more information on leasing in the cash flow statement, as part of another ongoing board project.

• “It makes a lot of ...