A lease is a contractual agreement between two parties known as the lessor and lessee. The lessor rents out property to the lessee for an extended period of time.
In the arsenal of capitalizing a business operation, long term debt serves as one of the primary sources of capital. If you are an owner of a small business, you need to understand the relationship this source has to the overall financial status of the company. Too much debt and the owner is burden by the cash outlays to service.
Fixed assets are normal in business operations. However, financing those assets is the critical issue. If you buy the asset outright, you tie up capital that can be used to expand operations or keep overall costs low in operating the company. You can buy the asset paying a down payment and borrowing funds from a lending institution and make payments over time. This is still a form of purchasing the asset. However, there is another option, leasing.
