Fleet Advantage President & CFO Brian Holland Discusses Asset Acquisition Strategies At AFP 2018
Will Address How Corporate Tax Changes & FASB Accounting Standards Have Impacted Equipment Acquisition
FORT LAUDERDALE (November 5, 2018) – Fleet Advantage, a leading innovator in truck fleet business analytics, equipment financing, and lifecycle cost management today announced that President & Chief Financial Officer, Brian Holland, is presenting at this year’s AFP 2018 conference at McCormick Place in Chicago. Holland’s session: How Corporate Tax Changes & FASB Accounting Standards Have Impacted Equipment Acquisition, is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 2:00 pm CDT.
The U.S. economy expanded 3.5% during the third quarter, and it is on pace for the strongest annual performance since 2005. The U.S. economy expanded by 4.2% during the second quarter. While this pace may be difficult to sustain, investment in equipment is among the reasons why the economy has been strong the last few years.
Aiding business investment in equipment has been the recent U.S. business tax reforms—in particular, a 21% corporate tax rate and immediate expensing for equipment. Recent changes made to the FASB and IASB accounting standards may impact a company's bottom line and decisions about equipment acquisition. This session will examine how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and new lease accounting standards may affect lease versus purchase decisions, and how certain equipment lease structures may impact overall financial performance. This session will also focus on tax reform implementation, including the status and outlook for regulatory guidance, as well as legislation making technical corrections and more substantive changes to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
“The new tax plan contains several provisions that will impact equipment procurement – lower tax rates for businesses, non-deductibility of interest expense for C corporations, limiting like-kind exchanges to real property, and expensing of depreciable assets instead of writing them off over years,” said Holland. “The key is to know how these changes may impact a company’s balance sheet, financial plan, and tax strategy, and to adjust accordingly to help improve the company’s financial performance.”
The session will also address and dispel certain myths in equipment acquisition, such as having a lease on the balance sheet is counterproductive to meeting financial goals. Even with the changes to the tax rate and FASB accounting standards, purchase of equipment remains costlier compared with shorter-term leasing of equipment. What’s more, leasing remains the preferred method for companies regardless if they have a stronger or weaker balance sheet.
The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) is the professional society committed to advancing the success of its members and their organizations. AFP established and administers the Certified Treasury Professional and Certified Corporate FP&A Professional credentials, which set standards of excellence in finance. Each year, AFP hosts the largest networking conference worldwide for over 6,500 corporate finance professionals.
About Fleet Advantage
Fleet Advantage serves America’s top truck fleets and guarantees the absolute lowest cost of operation by providing truck leasing and matching proprietary data driven IT processes with fleet analytics using the latest eco-efficient clean diesel technology to achieve optimum vehicle productivity, while reducing operating costs. Fleet Advantage is ranked as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the state of Florida and the fastest growing independent truck lessor in the U.S. In 2018, Fleet Advantage was ranked the 9th Top Private Independent from Monitor Daily; and in 2015 and 2013, the company was named to Inc. magazines’ 500|5000 list of fastest growing companies in the nation. In 2011, CEO John Flynn received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® 2011 Florida - Emerging Category award.