Hadley Company is considering the disposal of equipment that is no longer needed for operations. The equipment originally cost $600,000 and accumulated depreciation to date totals $460,000. An offer has been received to lease the machine for its remaining useful life for a total of $290,000, after which the equipment will have no salvage value. The repair, insurance, and property tax expenses that would be incurred by Hadley on the machine during the period of the lease are estimated at $75,800. Alternatively, the equipment can be sold through a broker for $230,000 less a 10% commission. Prepare a differential analysis report, dated June 15, on whether the equipment should be leased or sold

If we assume that the company does not have any required rate of return or discount rate associated to the lease payments, then the company should lease the equipment because the differential revenue will be higher ($214,200 ˃ $207,000).

Explanation:

the differential revenue if the equipment is leased:

total lease payments - associated costs = $290,000 - $75,800 = $214,200

the differential revenue if the equipment is sold:

selling price - sales commission = $230,000 - $23,000 = $207,000

If we assume that the company does not have any required rate of return or discount rate associated to the lease payments, then the company should lease the equipment because the differential revenue will be higher. The problem is that in the real world this never happens since the company should discount the lease payments since one dollar today is worth more than one dollar tomorrow. Since we are not given any discount rate, we must assume it is 0.