EY: FASB Readiness ‘Should Be Priority’

EY and FERF stress the importance of getting all ducks in a row for the new lease accounting rules. (Photo courtesy of AV Realty)

NEW YORK CITY—Lack of awareness of the new lease accounting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board isn’t an issue, judging from results of a new study conducted by EY and Financial Executives Research Foundation. Nearly 90% of the more than 125 companies surveyed across a variety of industries said they’re either somewhat very familiar or very familiar with the new guidelines.

Whether the awareness leads to action is another matter. Fifty percent of all respondents have yet to take any action to prepare for the new standard; it takes effect Jan. 1, 2019 but will entail comparative reporting against 2017 and 2018 data. Eleven percent of companies surveyed have begun to perform a readiness assessment and another 7% said their project team has begun to create an inventory of lease data. More than half plan to adopt the new standard on its effective date.