The number of vehicles under operating leases fell from 90% in 2009 to 50% in 2011.

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Which explains why finance directors prefer operating leases: they make balance-sheets shrink.

ECONOMIST: Commercial property

The accounting rules allow companies to move debt off their balance sheet by employing operating leases instead of capital leases to account for certain assets.

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Even after the new standard is implemented, investors will need to convert operating leases into capital leases for all prior years to perform apples-to-apples historical comparisons.

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Unlike the British, American companies already disclose the capitalised value of their operating leases in the notes to their accounts, for all who care to dig that deeply.

ECONOMIST: Commercial property

And, according to boffins at the University of Stirling, if British companies were to capitalise their operating leases, their gearing would shoot up from an average of 20% to 72%.

ECONOMIST: Commercial property

Best Buy is trying to improve its website by enhancing its online product descriptions and selection, but it faces higher operating costs than its online-only competitors due to the high labor costs and long-term leases of its more than 1, 400 stores.

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