Fleet Managers — Preparing for the New FASB Rules
By Mike Quimby, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Element Fleet Management
If you’re a fleet manager, chances are you’re aware that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is moving forward with a new standard requiring companies and organizations to include lease obligations on their balance sheets.
“We believe that this new standard is important because it will provide investors, lenders and other users of financial statements a more accurate picture of the long-term financial obligations of the companies to which they provide capital,” said FASB Chairman Russell G. Golden in a press release.
There are two popular types of fleet leases, open-end and closed-end leases. Historically, businesses and organizations have used operating leases to keep assets off of their balance sheets, effectively treating lease payments as a rental expense. This is commonly referred to as the risk and reward method, as the lessor takes on the risks and rewards of asset ownership.
While the rule doesn’t go into effect until 2018, companies need to start thinking about how they will implement the new rules now.
Ford, Industry Blast Obama on EPA’s Greenhose Regs
The battle between the industry and the Obama administration sets up the potential that the incoming Trump administration could scale back the regulations automakers initially agreed to in 2012.
Ford on Wednesday accused the Obama administration of playing "eleventh-hour politics" after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it would recommend keeping strict greenhouse emission standards in place through 2025, despite a major industry lobbying effort aimed at relaxing those standards..
The Auto Alliance, the industry's leading lobbying group, sent a letter to Trump’s transition team that specifically asked the incoming team take part in the mid-term evaluation of automotive regulations “to ensure that these are consistent with the policy objectives of the new administration.”
OPEC Deal Likely to Push Gas Prices Higher
While the price of gasoline remains low across the United States, according to AAA, prices could be headed upwards if an agreement by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as Russia holds together.
Experts surveyed after OPEC announced the agreement to curtail production voluntarily said the price of oil could top $60 per barrel, which will raise prices at the pump.
However, analysts will await confirmation that the cartel can stick to an agreement to reduce production and the terms of each country’s participation before making any predictions about pricing.
Discipline Effectively
By Mike Cieri, MSIR, Vice President of Mardac Consultants
As hard as it can be, discipline is an absolutely necessary skill for all supervisors.
Disciplining is not about punitive discipline, you don’t need to whip your people into shape, or bully them to get them to behave. Instead, an effective manager practices respectful discipline that is effective and that fits the situation.
Ford To Start Testing Autonomous Vehicles In Europe In 2017
Having tripled its U.S. fleet of autonomous Fusion Hybrids this year, Ford is getting ready to start conducting tests with its self-driving cars on European roads as well in 2017.
Its goal is to accomplish level four with on the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) scale, which is one step away from fully autonomous driving.
“We have already announced plans to use an autonomous vehicle for a ride-sharing service in the US in 2021 and it is important that we extend our testing to Europe”, Ford Europe’s autonomous driving manager Thomas Lukaszewic told Autocar. “Rules of the road vary from country to country here, traffic signs and road layouts are different and drivers are likely to share congested roads with cyclists.”
