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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Currently, the difference between its cash and cash equivalents over long-term obligations (debt and capital leases) is improving, but that trend may not hold with greater expected capital expenditures in this fourth quarter.

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