Chapter 15, Problem 15.11P

Change in lease term; operating lease; lessor

• LO15–4, LO15–6

Universal Leasing leases electronic equipment to a variety of businesses. The company’s primary service is providing alternate financing by acquiring equipment and leasing it to customers under long-term leases. Universal earns interest under these arrangements at a 10% annual rate.

Universal purchased an electronic typesetting machine on December 31, 2017, for $90,000 and then leased it to Desktop, Inc. a local publisher. The six-year operating lease term commenced January 1, 2018, and the lease contract specified annual payments of $8,000 beginning December 31, 2018, and on each December 31 through 2023. The machine’s estimated useful life is 15 years with no estimated residual value.

The publisher had the option to terminate the lease after four years. At the beginning of the lease, there was no reason to believe the lease would be terminated.

Required:

1. Prepare the appropriate entries for Universal Leasing from the beginning of the lease through the end of 2018.

2. At the beginning of 2019, there was a significant indication that Desktop’s economic incentive to terminate the lease had changed causing both companies to believe termination of the lease at the end of four years (three years remaining) is “reasonably certain.” Prepare any appropriate entries for Universal Leasing at January 1, 2019, to reflect the change in the lease term.

3. Prepare the appropriate entries pertaining to the lease for Universal Leasing at December 31, 2019.