IFRS 16 and its impacts on aviation industry

Abstract

Current differences between the accounting models for a financial and an operating lease and their critics from the users of the financial statement forced the IASB issued a new Leases Standard, IFRS 16, which supersedes IAS 17 Leases and its related interpretations in January 2106. IFRS 16 will eliminate dual accounting model for lessees and it is assumed to have significant business implications, especially from lessee's point of view. The paper focuses on quantification of the impact of IFRS 16 on selected financial statement items and financial analysis ratios of fifteen European airlines. The research is also concerned with comparison of the article outputs with the previous cases studies. The paper confirmed that lease capitalization under IFRS 16 will have a material impact on the reported numbers in the balance sheet and income statement and result in significant changes to return and leverage ratios.