Simulation: Lease Vs. Buy Decision

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SCENARIO 1:

Bonnesante Research is a start up business in Irvine, California focusing on biotech, and is based on 30 employees. As it grows, company's asset acquisition needs to be focused. Bonnesante needs to submit its first drug to Food and Drug Administration within six months. In order to run advanced analytical software for the preparation of the drug, it needs to acquire mainframe computer. Now the decision needs to be taken to either lease or buy the mainframe computer.

SOLUTION 1:

As a CFO of Bonnesante Research company, by taking my colleagues opinion into consideration, I have decided to lease the mainframe computer for 18 months instead of buying it.. The reason being is that the loan options were proposing significantly higher outflows and the leasing option of 18 month with no money down proposed the lowest present value of the cash outflows of the duration. Since Bonnesante is not a profitable company due to this reason the expenses for buying an asset will not be tax deductible, and loaning option will also require to record the transaction and corresponding liability on the balance sheet. But through the operating lease option, an asset will not need to be reported on balance sheet. Moreover, the technology can be outdated in the future and there could be a need of upgrading it. Due to all those reason, operating lease is the best option that a company has at this moment.

SCENARIO 2:

Another scenario is that the Bonnesante requires an advanced spectrometer for its Research and Development program. The cost of this spectrometer is $2,000,000 but Bonnesante is now operating as a profitable firm. The options are to do a short term operating lease, a long term capital lease or to buy the spectrometer.

SOLUTION 2:

Since Bonnesante is running as a profitable company now, and the need of spectrometer is a great asset for a company to have in Research and Development field and will not be obsolete in the long run and can be utilized through its entire economic life which is in this case is five years, this is why buying spectrometer on a 40 year loan with the down payment of $113,608 seems to me a good decision over all. By buying this asset, Bonnesante will also have a benefit of claiming it as an asset depreciation whereas it will not be an option in operating lease since in the leasing option lessor has the benefit of claiming for depreciation, not lessee.

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