Of course, you can lease new equipment, and there are lots of companies that will do the lease financing for you. There are also companies that will buy your current equipment and then lease it back to you. For example, if you have a major computer networking system that you bought in the last year or so, the leasing company would buy the equipment from you at a discounted market rate, not what you originally paid for it, but for what you could sell it secondhand. You would then agree to lease that equipment over the next 24 to 36 months.

Phone systems, office furniture, autos, printers, and copiers can all be leased.

This method also works with real property. If you own the building where your company is located, you can often find a leasing company to purchase the building, and then lease it back to you.

The lease rate will be based on the credit worthiness of the company and you as the owner, the type of equipment and how fast it becomes technologically obsolete, and the residual value of the equipment at the end of the lease.

Before you make the decision whether to lease or buy take into consideration your cash position. If you're buying for cash, that means a bigger outlay now but none in the future. If you're buying on credit the interest rate on the credit may be more than the lease rate.