According to LeaseAccelerator’s second annual readiness survey, nearly 75% of companies are finding the lease accounting project to be more complex than originally anticipated.

The survey, which gauges the readiness of large companies to support the new lease accounting standards, indicates that collecting data, modifying business processes and project managing the global effort are the top three challenges.

“With revenue recognition projects winding down companies are now turning their full attention to the lease accounting standards,” said Michael Keeler, CEO of LeaseAccelerator. “And project teams are discovering that it is not the accounting that presents the greatest challenge with compliance, but rather issues such as business process transformation and data collection that organizations are struggling with the most.”

Other key findings of the survey include:

• As compared to the new revenue recognition accounting standards, 75% are finding the new leasing standards to be just as complex or more challenging. Most companies have groups outside of accounting playing a strategic role such as real estate and IT.
• More than half of companies have taken an inventory of their enterprise-wide lease portfolio. The most challenging leases to analyze are those embedded in service contracts and outsourcing agreements.
• More than one third of companies have now selected a software vendor to support the new lease accounting standards. New, best-of-breed lease accounting applications are being more widely considered than ERP or real estate systems.