In reality, a company often “owned” these assets efficiently and “owed a liability.” According to modern accounting, the IASB framework states that an asset is “a resource controlled by a company as a result of past events and which is expected to derive future economic benefits for the business,” and a liability is “a current obligation of the business resulting from past events the payment of which is likely to result in a leakage of resources for the economic purposes of the business.” These substance-based definitions form the platform of IAS 17, leases. .