WASHINGTON, DC—In part one of this article we looked at the complicated issues surrounding accounting and how they are increasingly affecting non-accounting real estate decisions.

To sum up its conclusion: it's a mess and getting messier as key standards including lease accounting and revenue recognition gear up to go into effect -- possibly in 2018, but who knows?

There is no sugarcoating it: this is not an issue to be tossed aside to deal with at the last minute. The finance and accounting staff, who should be aware of these standards, will be essential to developing a plan of action. If a developer does not feel confident its staff can handle these project as well as the every day minutia of running a finance shop -- and no disrespect intended to these business units, preparing for these standards is a job onto itself -- then specialized expertise, a CPA who is versed in real estate specific accounting issues for example, needs to be retained.

Indeed, that might be the better option. Avison Young Principal Sean Moynihan told GlobeSt.com that his firm has had discussions with corporate occupiers "where virtually none of them had yet to focus on these changes. Most were unaware of the impacts and nearly all were surprised by the complexity of the new standards."

"We received similar feedback from others, like software solution providers who are intimately involved in the lease accounting issue," he adds.

These are not just anecdotal reports from the field; numerous studies have shown companies are not prepared for the standard. One study by Deloitte showed only 6% of the executives surveyed believed their company was extremely or very well prepared to comply. Less than 10% of executives reported their company had fully or significantly implemented many of the key implementation tasks.

However, while the glass is half empty, it is not necessarily leaking radioactive fluid.

The impact of the lease accounting standard really depends on whether you are a lessor or lessee of real estate, says Avison Young's Chief Accounting Officer Patrick Scheibel.

"For lessors of real estate, the boards of the FASB and IASB are generally leaving in place a model similar to today's operating lease accounting requirements, with income statement and balance sheet treatment similar to how leases are accounted for today," he tells GlobeSt.com. "The same does not hold true for real estate lessees; the new lease accounting standard is expected to create significant changes to the presentation and measurement of the financial position and results of operations for companies with significant lease obligations."

There is also this intriguing possibility: artificial intelligence could take over some of the leg work associated with the standard.

AI refers to computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, writes Jon Raphael, chief innovation officer at Deloitte & Touche LLP, in CFO.com.

His article was focused on the audit profession, which in fact would likely be involved in decisions regarding the implementation of revenue recognition and lease accounting standards.

"Such technologies can enable auditors to automate tasks that have been conducted manually for decades, such as counting inventories or processing confirmation responses," he writes.

Now here is where it gets really interesting. He writes: "One specific area in which auditors are taking advantage of the benefits of cognitive technologies is document review."

And there is this statement too: "Using cognitive technologies, auditors may soon be able to provide clients with new ways to uncover risk hiding in plain sight in financial statements."

It is debatably whether this technology could be applied to the complex process of analyzing leases to ensure they comply with the forthcoming standard. Moynihan, for one, has his doubts.

"While artificial intelligence / machine learning technology is becoming more sophisticated and reliable, I believe the diversity and complexity amongst leases will make it difficult to outsource this work entirely to a computer," he says.

So AI may not be ready for prime time at least in terms of analyzing leases just yet.  But advances are moving with lightening speed. Reseachers at Facebook's Artificial Intelligence lab, just to pick one example, recently demonstrated an AI system that can read a summary of The Lord of The Rings, then answer questions about the books, according to new report in Wired.com.

And if the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board continue their patterns of extending the effective date, by the time they actually release the lease accounting and revenue recognition standards, AI could well be ready to address the complexities of analyzing a lease and ensuring it complies with the standard and related financials and tax requirements.