Footnote 10 of Abercrombie and Fitch Co.’s financial statements for fiscal year 2010 (January 29, 2011) contains the following information:
At January 29, 2011, the Company was committed to noncancelable leases with remaining terms of 1 to 17 years. A summary of operating lease commitments under noncancelable leases follows (thousands):
Fiscal 2011............................................................... $ 331,151
Fiscal 2012............................................................... $ 319,982
Fiscal 2013............................................................... $ 303,531
Fiscal 2014............................................................... $ 285,337
Fiscal 2015............................................................... $ 262,586
Thereafter ................................................................ $1,110,598
Total ........................................................................ $2,613,185

Requirements
1. Interpret the information in the footnote. What rights does the company have? What obligations?
2. Are the rights and obligations discussed in Requirement 1 reported in the liability section of the balance sheet? Why or why not? How does this impact the company’s debt and leverage ratios?
3. How is this type of reporting likely to change in the future?