Property body welcomes accounting backstep

The International accounting rule maker said it would reconsider forcing landlords to keep their property income off their balance sheets, under proposed new rules.

The European Public Real Estate Association (EPREA) reported a win after the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) suggested it would not force landlords to exclude rental income from their statements.

Gareth Lewis, director of finance at EPRA, said he was encouraged by yesterday’s decision which he said showed “that the IASB have listened to the views expressed by the industry and recognized that the European real estate sector already has an accounting standard (IAS 40) that is well supported across the world.”

“This validates the huge amount of time and effort taken by EPRA and its partners in the REESA alliance to present a global view on behalf of the industry that was also the view of the investors,” he said.

“Our message was difficult for the regulators to ignore and will hopefully result in a more transparent and useful accounting framework for investment property than would otherwise have been the case.”

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