Most Clicked ELFA SmartBrief Stories
1. FASB and IASB will consider 4 possibilities for recognizing leases
ELFA SmartBrief | May 24, 2012
The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board are working to create rules to include leases on corporate balance sheets. One sticking point revolves around how income statements are affected by leases. The boards are to consider four proposals for recognizing leases. Wall Street Journal/CFO Journal, The (tiered subscription model) (05/22)
2. Lease-accounting draft could be ready by year-end
ELFA SmartBrief | May 25, 2012
The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board said they could vote as soon as June on how lease costs are represented on the balance sheet and how lease-accounting rules affect corporate earning. With this timetable, the boards could finish a draft of the rules by year-end. Wall Street Journal/CFO Journal, The (tiered subscription model) (05/24)
3. Immelt: GE Capital will get smaller, but time frame is unclear
ELFA SmartBrief | May 24, 2012
General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said the company will continue to scale back GE Capital, but it is unclear how long the process will take. Smaller is better, Immelt said, but it is hard to predict timing because many factors are out of his control. GE Capital was still the largest of GE's six divisions in 2011. Reuters (05/23)
4. Rail equipment is poised for growth during next few decades
ELFA SmartBrief | May 23, 2012
Rail traffic is expected to double by 2050, but network capacity is almost full. About 900,000 rail cars and 16,000 locomotives will have to be added, according to consultancy Oliver Wyman. RailwayAge.com (05/22)
5. Businesses took on $6.1B in equipment loans in April
ELFA SmartBrief | May 23, 2012
Companies borrowed $6.1 billion last month to fund equipment, ELFA said. That is a 20% increase compared with April 2011 but a 10% decrease from March's $6.8 billion. The loan activity was largely to replace aging equipment, rather than for expansion. Companies are wary of global economic events affecting their business, ELFA President and CEO William Sutton said. "The eurozone is the real wild card, and it's the regulatory environment, it's an election year, it's the price of oil, the potential crisis in the Middle East and the slowing of China's expansion," Sutton said. Reuters (05/22)
6. Improve Your Mental Toughness in 2 Minutes
ELFA SmartBrief | May 29, 2012
OPEN Forum blogs (05/28)
7. Is there a bubble in aircraft manufacturing?
ELFA SmartBrief | May 24, 2012
Concerns are growing that a bubble is forming in the airplane-manufacturing industry. Boeing and Airbus are increasing production by 57% through 2014. It is unclear whether demand for their craft is sustainable. Reuters (05/23)
8. 3 Tools to Make You More Time-Efficient
ELFA SmartBrief | May 24, 2012
OPEN Forum blogs (05/23)
9. Pentagon awards Caterpillar $776M construction-equipment contract
ELFA SmartBrief | May 25, 2012
Caterpillar secured a six-year, $776 million federal contract for commercial-construction equipment. The company beat out 14 other bidders, according to the Defense Logistics Agency. Crain's Chicago Business (05/24)
10. Large and small banks increase SBA lending, Mills says
ELFA SmartBrief | May 29, 2012
In the past few years, more than 1,000 banks that had not made Small Business Administration loans since 2007 have returned to the lending program, Administrator Karen Mills said. Larger-volume SBA lenders, meanwhile, have stepped up their commitment to the program. "So we have increased activity from both community banks and our larger banks because they realize that the pendulum swung too far and they are refocusing on getting capital into the hands of small businesses," Mills said. Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Ill.) (05/27)
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