After going through a few year-end close cycles under ASC 842 and IFRS 16, accounting teams have learned a lot. They've expedited several painstaking manual tasks associated with real estate and equipment lease reporting.

Most importantly, they’ve learned that having their balance sheet audit-ready at any time is worth the investment.

For lease accounting processes to work effectively, accurate lease data — including critical dates, rent payments and more — is essential. Securing data so that only authorized users have access to updated information is one challenge. But even the most experienced professionals are still human and can make mistakes.

How long does it take to identify a potential error?

How many hours will your team waste hunting for errors and correcting them?

How many errors will auditors have to find?

More importantly, can the right solution help to avoid common errors entirely?

When you create a set of rule-based validation checks for fields in the lease management system, every single lease change is automatically monitored and compared to a set of parameters. Automated alerts instantly notify users of potential issues that need correction. Plus, audit details create a record of which system users make changes and when. That way, managers can easily monitor error counts, types and resolutions.

With continuous data validation, the lease accounting process couldn’t be more secure and effective.

This is one of the five important steps for being audit-ready. Read more in the new eBook Five Ways Lease Accountants Can Be Audit-Ready Anytime.