The Tennant Company agrees to lease office facilities from the Leasing Company under an arrangement that calls for the payments for the first year of the lease to be deferred until the sixth month of the second year of the lease, when they will be payable in a lump sum. During the first year of the lease, the Tennant Company recognizes these deferred payments as an expense each month. The rent amount will remain the same for two years. Compared with the alternative arrangement of making monthly cash payments during the first year of the lease, this arrangement will:

a$.$ Decrease cash flow in the short term, but increase it next year

b$.$ Increase cash flow in the short term, but decrease it next year

c$.$ Increase cash flow for both this year and next year

d$.$ Have no effect on cash flow because leases are not a balance sheet item and are not included in cash flow calculations