Transition to the new standard

Global IFRS Institute | Leases

• There’s a variety of options, so choosing the optimal approach can be complex
• The decisions you make now will have consequences long into the future
• Finding the best option will require thought and detailed modelling
• Find out more, including our comprehensive worked example

Your choice of transition option and practical expedients will affect the costs and timing of your implementation project – and your financial statements for years to come.

The effective date of IFRS 16 Leases is upon us. You have some big decisions to make, which will have lasting consequences.

Our expanded and fully updated publication Leases transition options (PDF 1.3 MB) will help you to make the choice that is right for your business.

The standard features a variety of different transition options and practical expedients for lessees. Many of them can be elected independently of each other. Some can even be elected on a lease-by-lease basis.

This means that large companies could face a huge number of possible permutations. And even a company with a relatively small portfolio of leases would have a variety of transition options.

Most of the choices you have to make on transition involve a trade-off between cost and comparability. That is, the options and expedients that simplify and reduce the costs of transition tend to reduce the comparability of your financial information.

This could affect your financial statements in your year of transition and for years to come, until the last lease in place at transition has expired.

Choosing the best transition option for your business will require thought – and probably some detailed modelling of alternative approaches.

Our expanded and fully updated Leases transition options (PDF 1.3 MB) publication provides an overview of the transition options and expedients and how they would affect your financial statements.

It provides KPMG’s insight on the requirements and includes a comprehensive worked example modelling how the various options would affect a fictional company.

We recommend you read it in conjunction with our illustrated guide (PDF 2.7 MB) to how your financial statements might look under the new standard, and our in-depth analyses of key aspects of the standard.

You may also like to listen to our IFRS Today podcasts and follow KPMG IFRS on LinkedIn to hear about future updates.