24. Leases

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Notes

24. Leases

24)Leases 

On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-02 regarding Leases ASC Topic 842. See Note 1 regarding the adoption of this standard.

A lease is defined as a contract, or part of a contract, that conveys the right to control the use of identified property, plant, or equipment (an identified asset) for a period of time in exchange for consideration. The Company determines if a contract is a lease at the inception of the contract. At the commencement date of a lease, the Company measures the lease liability at the present value of the lease payments over the lease term, discounted using the discount rate for the lease. The Company uses the rate implicit in the lease, if available, otherwise the Company uses its incremental borrowing rate. Also, at the commencement date of a lease, the Company measures the cost of the related right-of-use asset which consists of the amount of the initial measurement of the lease liability, any lease payments made to the lessor at or before the commencement date, minus any lease incentives received and any initial direct costs incurred by the Company.

Information about the Nature of Leases and Subleases

The Company leases office space and equipment from third-parties under various non-cancelable agreements. The Company has operating leases for office space for its segments in areas where it conducts business. The Company subleases some of this office space. The Company also has finance leases for certain equipment, such as copy machines and postage machines. The Company does not have any lease agreements with variable lease payments. The Company has not included any options to extend or terminate leases in the recognition of the right-of-use assets or lease liabilities because of the uncertainty that they will be exercised. No residual value guarantees have been provided to the Company. The Company does not have any restrictions or covenants imposed by leases.

Leases that have not Commenced

The Company does not have any leases that have not commenced that create significant rights or obligations for the Company.

Related Party Lease Transactions

The Company does not have any related party lease transactions that require disclosure as of December 31, 2019.

Short-term Leases

The Company made an accounting policy election not to apply the recognition requirements of ASC 842 to short-term leases, which are leases that, at the commencement date, have a lease term of 12 months or less and do not include an option to purchase the underlying assets that the lessee is reasonably certain to exercise.

Significant Judgments and Assumptions

The Company does not use any significant judgments or assumptions regarding the determination of whether a contract contains a lease; the allocation of the consideration in a contract between lease and nonlease components; or the determination of the discount rates for the leases.

The following table presents the Company’s total lease cost recognized in earnings, amounts capitalized as right-of- use assets and cash flows from lease transactions for the period presented:

	Year Ended December 31
	2019
Lease Cost
Finance lease cost:
Amortization of right-of-use assets (1)	$           38,351
Interest on lease liabilities (2)	9,001
Operating lease cost (3)	5,706,490
Short-term lease cost (3)(4)	233,318
Sublease income (3)	(663,242)
Total lease cost	$      5,323,918
Other Information
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities:
Operating cash flows from operating leases	$      5,567,761
Operating cash flows from finance leases	9,001
Financing cash flows from finance leases	95,931
Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for lease liabilities:
Operating leases	$     16,544,406
Finance leases	252,763
Weighted-average remaining lease term (in years)
Finance leases	3.23
Operating leases	4.67
Weighted-average discount rate
Finance leases	5.47%
Operating leases	5.06%
(1) Included in Depreciation on property and equipment on the consolidated statements of earnings
(2) Included in Interest expense on the consolidated statements of earnings
(3) Included in Rent and rent related expenses on the consolidated statements of earnings
(4) Includes leases with a term of 12 months or less

The following table presents the maturity analysis of the Company’s lease liabilities.

	Finance Leases	Operating Leases
Lease payments due in:
2020	$          62,756	$         4,241,547
2021	45,086	2,932,404
2022	32,646	1,780,183
2023	25,408	1,383,538
2024	2,542	1,061,520
Thereafter	-	2,919,074
Total undiscounted lease payments	168,438	14,318,266
Less: Discount on cash flows	(14,999)	(2,912,290)
Present value of lease liabilities	$        153,439	$       11,405,976

The following table presents the Company’s right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for the period presented:

	Balance Sheet Location	Year Ended December 31 2019
Operating Leases
Right-of-use assets	Other assets	$      11,267,247
Lease liabilities	Other liabilities and accrued expenses	$      11,405,976
Finance Leases
Right-of-use assets		$          248,565
Accumulated amortization		(98,351)
Right-of-use assets, net	Property and equipment, net	$          150,214
Lease liabilities	Bank and other loans payable	$          153,439

The Company is also a lessor and has operating lease agreements with various tenants that lease its commercial and residential properties. See Note 2 for information about the Company’s real estate held for investment.