Prepare Now: New Lease Accounting Rules

Have you started to plan for ASC 842 implementation? Though these rules don’t take effect immediately, the planning process needs to start as soon as possible to identify any gaps in performance or capability. The new rules will be effective December 15, 2018 for public companies and December 15, 2019 for private companies. A recent article from Modern Materials Handling gave some suggestions for preparing for this transition:

• Lay out a rough plan, which addresses how time will be budgeted, the training needed, and what resources will be needed, including what needs to be outsourced.
• Get a team together. You may want to include representatives from several departments, including finance/treasury, lease administration, IT, accounting and business development. Make sure to include those most knowledgeable about leases and other agreements.
• Familiarize yourself with the new rules, and provide training to staff who will be impacted. Our CPAs can help you understand the details of these new rules.
• Take stock of current IT capabilities and figure out what upgrades you’ll require to handle the issues resulting from ASC 842.
• Make an implementation plan. This plan should identify deliverables and processes, including back scheduling from implementation deadlines to establish timelines.

For more suggestions, see the full article from Modern Materials Handling.