Examining the Potential Impact of Proposed Leasing Rules in Lodging Industry

The current paper reviews the history of lease accounting and will assess the perceived impact that proposed changes in lease accounting will have on the lodging industry. A questionnaire is distributed to 500 members of the lodging section of the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals association (HFTP); and a model will be proposed to examine the relationship between property characteristics and the perceived impact that proposed changes in lease accounting will have on the lodging industry.From the results, this study can make valuable contributions to both industry and academia. First, management can not only get a sense of what equipment are usually being leased and how long the lease terms are, but also understand the financial impact brought from the proposed change of lease accounting and the extent of each impact to the property. Furthermore, understanding the changes being proposed to lease accounting is helpful for controllers to make decision in leasing properties. Lastly, the significance test results would provide future research ideas to scholars interested in lease accounting in hospitality industry.