What to Look for in Lease Accounting Reporting Software
Summary:
Accurate reporting is a foundational requirement of ASC 842 compliance. Finance teams rely on reporting outputs to support month-end close, journal entries, disclosures, and audit preparation, yet many legacy systems make these workflows more difficult than they need to be. Below is a practical framework for evaluating the reporting capabilities that matter most in lease accounting.
Lease accounting reporting supports critical workflows, including:
- Accurate journal entries
- Disclosures and footnotes
- Amortization and liability schedules
- Modification and remeasurement tracking
- Multi-entity and multi-currency segmentation
- Audit preparation and internal controls
Why Reporting Matters in ASC 842 Environments
Reporting is central to the accuracy and integrity of lease accounting. Every remeasurement, amendment, discount rate update, and classification change ultimately flows into the schedules and disclosures that inform the financial statements. If reporting outputs are incomplete, inconsistent, or difficult to work with, the risk of misstatement increases, especially during periods of high activity or close compression.
ASC 842 also places heavy emphasis on visibility and documentation. Auditors expect clarity in amortization profiles, liability rollforwards, right-of-use asset balances, and modification calculations. When reporting structures lack flexibility or completeness, accounting teams are forced into offline reconstruction, which introduces manual effort and downstream reconciliation work.
Common Reporting Challenges in Lease Accounting
Feedback from accounting professionals shows a clear pattern of recurring reporting issues across many lease accounting platforms. These challenges often stem from rigid data structures, limited customization, or incomplete support for ASC 842 requirements.
1. Inflexible or Rigid Reporting Structures
Many systems rely on fixed templates that cannot be adapted to reflect an organization’s entity structure, chart of accounts, or internal reporting format. As a result, teams end up rebuilding reports manually outside the system during close.
2. Missing or Non-Configurable Data Fields
Key fields such as GL accounts, legal entities, cost centers, asset types, regions, or other custom attributes may not be available in reporting outputs. This reduces completeness and complicates period-end reconciliation.
3. Limited Support for Modifications and Remeasurements
Under ASC 842, amendments and remeasurements must update right-of-use assets, lease liabilities, amortization profiles, and disclosures prospectively. Many systems struggle to propagate these updates consistently across reporting outputs.
4. Lack of Audit Trails or Change Visibility
Reporting often lacks the version history, user activity logs, and data-change traceability required to support internal controls and audit procedures. This increases audit burden and slows review cycles.
5. Inconsistent or Hard-to-Use Export Formats
Reports that omit key fields, misalign columns, or export with formatting issues create avoidable rework. Excel-ready schedules are critical for disclosures, reconciliations, and testing by auditors.
What Strong Lease Accounting Reporting Looks Like
Evaluating reporting software requires understanding how well the reporting layer supports ASC 842 workflows. High-quality reporting is defined by characteristics such as:
Flexible Reporting Views
Teams should be able to filter by entity, class, GL account, lease type, and other dimensions without rebuilding reports. Flexibility reduces reliance on external spreadsheets and ensures reporting aligns with internal structures.
Integrated Custom Fields
If an organization tracks custom attributes — whether operational, financial, or entity-specific — those fields should be available in reporting. This supports internal reporting requirements that extend beyond standard ASC 842 data points.
Accurate Propagation of Modifications
Remeasurements, renewals, and amendments should update downstream reports automatically and consistently. This includes recalculations of right-of-use assets, liabilities, and future amortization based on prospective guidance.
A Clear, Consistent Reporting Framework
Rather than navigating a large library of narrowly defined templates, users benefit from a unified reporting structure with predictable logic and consistent formatting across schedules and exports.
Audit-Ready Output
Versioning, user activity logs, and clear traceability help internal and external auditors validate the accuracy of reporting. Audit-ready reporting minimizes back-and-forth and reduces reliance on supplemental schedules.
Excel-Friendly Exports
Strong reporting tools produce clean, well-structured exports with consistent column layouts, complete data fields, and no formatting issues. This supports disclosures, reconciliations, and internal review workflows.
Support for Multi-Entity Structures
Organizations operating across multiple subsidiaries, business units, or regions require reporting that can separate and consolidate data with equal clarity. This includes both entity-level and portfolio-level visibility.
Reporting in Practice
Below is an example of how a modern reporting interface can centralize liability schedules, custom fields, and ASC 842 calculations within a consistent, audit-ready structure.
Conclusion
Strong lease accounting reporting is essential for ASC 842 compliance, audit readiness, and operational efficiency. When reporting is flexible, complete, and technically accurate, accounting teams can reduce manual rework, accelerate close cycles, and maintain confidence in every downstream calculation.
Lease accounting software built with the reporting that your team needs.
Brooke Colglazier
Marketing Manager