Leasing helps businesses make the right capital allocation choices by removing
the pressures of cost from the decision-making process. When there’s no room in the
capital budget to buy an asset with cash, lease payments from the operating budget
are an attractive alternative.

Little (Or No) Down Payment
With leasing, your initial cash outlay is generally limited to a deposit of one to three months of
your minimum lease payment. This leaves you with more cash for other areas of your business.
Leasing is an excellent choice for avoiding a large initial cash outlay.

Reduced Monthly Payments
Lease payments are lower than loan payments because leasing involves fixed installments
payable only for the period of time you contracted to use the equipment. The amount of your
actual monthly cash savings will depend upon the type of property being leased along with
other key factors.

Better Cash Management
Leasing brings financial peace of mind because you’ll know at the outset exactly what your
payments will be for the duration of your lease. Payments are determined at a fixed amount,
payable monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually. Once established, they remain at that
amount, no matter what.

Planned Replacement and Upgrade Schedules
A lease-financing package enables you to replace or upgrade property prior to the end of a lease
on an orderly, predictable timetable that fits your operating and financing needs. You’re assured
of having the most up-to-date property, which leads to higher operating efficiencies and added
capacity for your operations.

Avoid Potential Risks of Obsolescence
By leasing rather than buying capital assets, especially technology and communications
equipment, you’ll reduce the possible risk of technological obsolescence. When the lease
term expires, you can decide for yourself to keep the property you already have or create
a replacement schedule to upgrade to the newest property the market has to offer.

Lower Maintenance, High Efficiency
By replacing and upgrading property on a regular basis, you reduce repair and maintenance
costs. Productivity rises through better integration of new property, and you’ll have less
downtime with property that operates more efficiently.

Flexible Payment Options
Lease payments can be structured around the use of the leased property, changes in revenue
streams and the lessee’s accounting needs. Flexible payment options include scheduling payments at different intervals, on a step-up or step-down basis, matched with cash flow from earnings generated by the leased property, or around swap leases.

Additional Credit Source
Leasing provides the chance to save cash and supplement existing bank relationships with an
additional source of credit. If a business is unwilling or unable to pursue a bank loan, leasing is
an ideal alternative. Leasing also provides businesses with more flexibility, because with lease financing they’re not subject to compensating balances or restrictive covenants often associated with bank loans or bond financing.

Convenience, Speed and Flexibility
Western Alliance Leasing initially provides a master lease agreement spelling out the basic terms
and conditions. We then can quickly and easily add schedules with minimal additional paperwork and streamlined approval procedures as your needs evolve for additional property and financing. Western Alliance Leasing follows through with prompt and courteous customer service during
the lease’s duration. With a lease from Western Alliance, you can select the property you want from the vendor of your choice. Just tell us what you’ve selected, and we’ll do the rest.

Off Balance Sheet Financing
Whether or not a lease appears on the balance sheet depends upon its classification-capital
or operating-from the perspective of the lessee and its accountants. If the lease is a capital lease,
the lessee from an accounting standpoint is treated as owner of the leased property. Financial
Accounting Standards require owned property to appear as an asset with a corresponding liability
on the balance sheet. Leased assets are expensed when the lease is an operating lease. Such
leases do not appear on the balance sheet, but rather show up as an operating expense on the
income statement. These assets do not appear on the balance sheet, which can improve financial
ratios. Only the balance sheet footnotes disclose the existence of operating leases. You should consult with your own financial adviser to determine the proper accounting treatment of any specific lease transaction.