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What are Initial direct costs in a lease?

Initial direct costs are of two types: incremental and internal. Incremental direct costs are paid to independent third parties for originating a lease arrangement. Examples include the cost of independent appraisal of collateral used to secure a lease, the cost of an outside credit check of the lessee, or a broker’s fee for finding the lessee. Internal direct costs are directly related to specified activities performed by the lessor on a given lease. Examples are evaluating the prospective lessee’s financial condition; evaluating and recording guarantees, collateral, and other security arrangements; negotiating lease terms and preparing and processing lease documents; and closing the transaction. The costs directly related to an employee’s time spent on a specific lease transaction are also considered initial direct costs.

However, initial direct costs should not include internal indirect costs. Such costs are related to activities the lessor performs for advertising, servicing existing leases, and establishing and monitoring credit policies. Nor should the lessor include the costs for supervision and administration or for expenses such as rent and depreciation. 

The accounting for initial direct costs depends on the type of lease:
• For operating leases, the lessor should defer initial direct costs and allocate them over the lease term in proportion to the recognition of rental revenue.
• For sales-type leases, the lessor expenses the initial direct costs in the period in which it recognizes the profit on the sale.
• For a direct-financing lease, the lessor adds initial direct costs to the net investment in the lease and amortizes them over the life of the lease as a yield adjustment. In a direct-financing lease, the lessor must disclose the unamortized deferred initial direct costs that are part of its investment in the direct-financing lease.