COVID-19 hasn’t been the only disruptor of the commercial real estate experience. Years before the pandemic, the Financial Accounting Standards Board began tinkering with the way leases--meaning ALL leases--from real estate to equipment--are reported. The changes to corporate balance sheets sent the industry scrambling to be in compliance, even forcing corporate real estate executives not only to speak to, but often report to, departments that previously had remained foreign to them.
As IAMC 2020 Virtual Forum attendees heard in the workshop “ASC 842 Roadmap and Lessons from the Trenches” (which was among the most popular sessions), the road to compliance is indeed bumpy, but eventually, the path becomes more navigable.