Interest on financial leases

4.48 A financial lease is an alternative to lending as a method of financing the purchase of machinery and equipment. It is a contract which channels funds from a lender to a borrower: the lessor purchases the equipment and the lessee contracts to pay rentals which enable the lessor, over the period of the contract, to recover all, or virtually all, of his costs including interest.

The lessor is treated as making a loan to the lessee equal to the value of the purchaser's price paid for the asset, this loan being gradually paid off in full over the period of the lease. The rental paid each period by the lessee is therefore treated as having two components: a repayment of principal and a payment of interest. The rate of interest on the imputed loan is implicitly determined by the total amount paid in rentals over the life of the lease in relationship to the purchaser's price of the asset. The share of the rental that represents interest gradually declines over the life of the lease as the principal is repaid. The initial loan by the lessee, together with the subsequent repayments of principal, are recorded in the Financial Accounts of the lessor and lessee. The interest payments are recorded under interest in their respective Primary Distribution of Income Accounts.