Analyzing lease/purchase options

The authors' previous article, "Equipment Acquisition Using Various Forms of Leasing," covers information necessary for selecting among the different kinds of leases. This article explains how to reach a proper financial analysis, preferably using two phases. Using a representative example, the article guides the reader through the first phase and introduces the elements needing review in the second phase. Key elements include pretax aftertax and cash flow analyses. Different organizations use different yardsticks to measure the financials of a transaction, but in general, cash is king. Therefore, the most widely used comparison is the purchase versus lease IRR (internal rate of return) produced by measuring the cash flow of the purchase case compared to the cash flow of the lease case.