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Accounting for Leases

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Introduction
A lease is a contractual arrangement that involves the coming together of two patties for the hire of an asset. The party that owns the asset is called the lessor. The other party in this agreement is the Lessee. The Lessee is the party which hires the asset which is leased. The asset is hired for a specified period of time. During this period, the Lessee makes rental payment to the lessor. After the lease period is over, the asset can be returned to the lessor. However, the asset can also be owned by the Lessee. The nature of ownership of the asset after the lease period is over depends on the initial details of the contract (Young, 2008). During the period of the lease, the Lessee takes care of the asset. The Lessee maintains the asset and is responsible for any damage on the asset. In order to record the leased asset, various entries must be made in the books of the Lessee. The different accounting treatments arise at this point. The accounting treatments are dependent on the nature of the lease.
Section A: The three treatments
There are three accounting treatments that the Lessee can apply in recording the accounting details for the lease agreement. In the first scenario, the Lessee takes acknowledgement of the fact that the lease is a liability to the business. It is a liability in the sense that payments have to be made for it to be used. The asset has to be returned back to the owner after the end of the lease period. Therefore, the asset is hired for a specified period. The business is, therefore, said to be in possession of the leased asset and not in ownership of the same. The owner is still the lessor. The second scenario of accounting for lease is nearly similar to the first. It involves treating the rental payment as a normal or recurrent expenditure. In this case, the Lessee records the lease expense just as the other expenses in the

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