The Real Deal – December 12, 2017

By Paula Gomprecht | December 12, 2017

New rules would treat conventional leases as liabilities.

A change in federal accounting rules taking effect by 2019 could give co-working companies a major boost.

Under the new rules, public companies will have to list office leases as liabilities on their balance sheets, which could make them look worse on paper. But there’s a loophole: if public companies sign a lease with a co-working space provider, and if the provider has a right to move the tenant, that lease won’t have to be listed as a liability.

Several co-working companies are now using the rule change as part of their pitch to potential tenants, The Information reported. Knotel’s CEO Amol Sarva called the reform the “Y2K of regulatory change.”

Source, Konrad Putzier, The accounting reform that could be a game changer for co-working firms, The Real Deal.