Impacts of Covid-19 on IFRS 16: Analysis of the Financial Statements of Some Listed Companies.

The international accounting standard IFRS 16 rewrites the definition of leasing from scratch, determining practical effects not only in the activity of accountants but also for company consultants who are experts in extraordinary transactions. The article aims to give a critical approach to the subject of Leasing by studying its origin and the regulations that have led to the current international rules. The transition from IAS 17 to IFRS 16 and the new accounting methods for the parties involved in the contract will be examined, focusing on the main effects determined by the new standard on retail companies. With the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the IFRS 16 accounting standard on leasing was affected by an amendment called Covid-19-Related Rent Concessions – Amendment to IFRS 16 published in May 2020. An empirical analysis is then conducted on the consequences of applying IFRS 16 to the financial statements of Italian listed companies and then I focus specifically on the impact of Covid-19, on the new standard and on its amendments citing the EU regulation n. 2020/1434. The changes and discussions concerning the problems caused by Covid-19 in terms of leasing are examined in more detail by breaking down the analysis of the text and the Exposure Draft into several paragraphs.