It’s not too late to implement PeopleSoft Lease Administration for January 1, 2019 and be ready for the new ASC 842 & IFRS 16 accounting rules!
The deadline for compliance with the new ASC 842 & IFRS 16 rules is fast approaching. My headline is a bold statement, but it can hold true if you can answer yes to the following questions:
- Have you already identified all your leases, including the payment schedules?
- Do you already have your new lease accounting policies in place?
- How will your leases be valued: Gross, Net, Triple Net and Practical Expedient?
- Have you quantified the straight-line accounting impacts?
- Do you know which accounts on your balance sheet and P&L you will be using?
- For some organizations, moving to the new standards may require setting up new accounts.
If you have answered yes to the above questions or if you are substantially on your way to completing those tasks, then you are a good candidate to begin implementing PeopleSoft Lease Administration and be live on 1/1/2019. From a business user’s perspective, those 3 questions can be 75% – 80% of the upfront effort required. Once you have that lease information in place, your project implementation team will have what they need to setup Lease Administration and have the system ready for testing with plenty of time for a 1-1-2019 go-live.
Implementation
Certainly the timing for a 1-1-2019 go-live will be tight. Keep implementation simple and strictly focused on meeting the new accounting standards. Lease Administration has many other features for enhanced notifications, etc. By keeping your focus on the accounting entries, you will be just fine. As delivered Lease Administration provides effective internal controls. Any other features, bells, & whistles you wish to bring up should be slotted for a phase II (post go-live). This will greatly minimize any potential critical path issues.
Although my three questions above are clearly high level, they do serve as an excellent guideline. If you have already tackled these questions, then a big piece of your preparation effort has already been completed. However if your organization has not substantially answered these questions, then beginning a new implementation for a 1-1-2019 go-live would clearly have its challenges.
In conclusion, it is still possible to begin a PeopleSoft Lease Administration project and be live on 1-1-2019. For organizations that are not ready at all, I will cover this in my next Blog “You can still go-live with PeopleSoft Lease Administration after 1-1-2019 and meet the new accounting standards”.
Thank you for reading and be sure to read our other Lease Administration Blogs.
Steven Brenner, CPA
Senior Principal Consultant
MIPRO Consulting
