Space is often the largest under-utilized asset for businesses and therefore is not a focus for cost saving initiatives. When the facility manager views the physical space as a strategic asset s/he is able to deliver more value to their organization through better operational effectiveness.
“The future of the student experience is personal,” declares Glenda Morgan of Gartner Research.[i] Morgan goes on to say that a “…personalized, integrated and coherent student experience will become a key differentiator for higher education institutions…” and it is crucial that CIOs create the infrastructure to make it possible.
The new FASB lease accounting standards have created ripples in the facilities industry with companies scrambling to achieve compliance before the 2019 deadline. Unfortunately, many of the organizations who fall under this statute do not have a streamlined lease administration process. Manual spreadsheets, inefficient and disparate lease management software have made the transition challenging. Accounting and consulting firms have leveraged their technical expertise to guide companies in their path forward.
The scope of the new Lease Accounting Standards for both U.S. and international accounting can have a significant impact on companies with any number of leases. Attempts were made by both the U.S. governing body, Financial Accounting Standards Board, and the international body, International Accounting Standards Board, to converge the leasing guidance, but were not successful. During the deliberation period, both boards met with financial statements users to understand their needs and what changes to financial statements would enhance their comparability. Feedback was also received from preparers to grasp the impact and feasibility of the original requirements. From those meetings a set of practical expedients were established that will decrease the burden on financial statement preparers while still providing sufficient information for financial statement users.
