what are leads and lags 
leads and lags in international business usually refer to the deliberate acceleration or delaying of payments due in a foreign currency in order to take advantage of an expected change in currency exchange rates corporations and governments may time payments due in a foreign currency if they anticipate a change in currency values that is in their favor understanding leads and lagsa corporation or government can control the schedule of payments received or made within reasonable limits when a payment to a foreign entity is involved the organization may opt to pay earlier or later than scheduled these changes would be made in anticipation of capturing the benefit from a change in currency exchange rates this consideration can affect the smallest or the largest transactions if a company in one country were about to acquire a company in another country and the target company s country currency was expected to decrease in value relative to the acquiring company s country delaying the purchase would be in the interest of the acquiring company a strengthening of the currency being paid out would lead to a smaller payout for the entity in question while a weakening of the currency would lead to increased costs the longer the payment was delayed risks of leading and laggingbecause it amounts to a timing strategy leading and lagging implies risks currency rates can move in an unexpected direction 