Sale and Leaseback Transactions :

A sale and leaseback transaction involves the sale of an asset by the vendor and the leasing of the same asset back to the vendor. The lease payments and the sale price are usually interdependent as they are negotiated as a package. The accounting treatment of a sale and leaseback transaction depends upon the type of lease involved.

If a sale and leaseback transaction results in a finance lease, any excess or deficiency of sales proceeds over the carrying amount should not be immediately recognised as income or loss in the financial statements of a seller-lessee. Instead, it should be deferred and amortised over the lease term in proportion to the depreciation of the leased asset.

49. If the leaseback is a finance lease, it is not appropriate to regard an excess of sales proceeds over the carrying amount as income. Such excess is deferred and amortised over the lease term in proportion to the depreciation of the leased asset. Similarly, it is not appropriate to regard a deficiency as loss. Such deficiency is deferred and amortised over the lease term.

 If a sale and leaseback transaction results in an operating lease, and it is clear that the transaction is established at fair value, any profit or loss should be recognised immediately. If the sale price is below fair value, any profit or loss should be recognised immediately except that, if the loss is compensated by future lease payments at below market price, it should be deferred and amortised in proportion to the lease payments over the period for which the asset is expected to be used. If the sale price is above fair value, the excess over fair value should be deferred and amortised over the period for which the asset is expected to be used. 

If the leaseback is an operating lease, and the lease payments and the sale price are established at fair value, there has in effect been a normal sale transaction and any profit or loss is recognised immediately.

For operating leases, if the fair value at the time of a sale and leaseback transaction is less than the carrying amount of the asset, a loss equal to the amount of the difference between the carrying amount and fair value should be recognised immediately.

For finance leases, no such adjustment is necessary unless there has been an impairment in value, in which case the carrying amount is reduced to recoverable amount in accordance with the Accounting Standard dealing with impairment of assets.

Disclosure requirements for lessees and lessors apply equally to sale and leaseback transactions. The required description of the significant leasing arrangements leads to disclosure of unique or unusual provisions of the agreement or terms of the sale and leaseback transactions.

Sale and leaseback transactions may meet the separate disclosure criteria set out in paragraph 12 of Accounting Standard (AS) 5, Net Profit or Loss for the Period, Prior Period Items and Changes in Accounting Policies.