To help public and private companies adjust to FASB’s new lease accounting standard, Grant Thornton LLP has introduced a web-based application called LeaseCom Analytics (LCA). LCA combines advanced analytics and machine learning to automate the process of maintaining a complete, accurate picture of a company’s lease portfolio.

According to Joe Brown, Grant Thornton’s National Managing Partner, Strategic Federal Tax Services and ASC 842 Advisory Services: “LCA is a critical tool in helping companies deal with volumes of disparate data. It absorbs data about leased equipment and spaces from multiple IT systems on an ongoing basis, and then looks for recurring payments to the same vendor, simplifying the process of verifying an accurate list of leasing transactions.”

Brown explained LCA is flexible and comprehensive, and can save users thousands of man hours identifying, collecting and verifying lease information. Moreover, it allows companies to comply fully and continually with ASC 842 requirements.

“That’s time and resources that companies could otherwise deploy for value-added activities,” he said.

LCA works especially well for globally dispersed teams that need to go beyond establishing compliance visibility and create a sustainable, automated process.

“Without automation, companies are exposing themselves to increased risks and may even be disseminating inaccurate information,” Brown said. “It’s simple: With LCA you’re reducing errors and increasing compliance confidence with little organizational impact.”

Grant Thornton developed LCA specifically to help clients as they move beyond the initial ASC 842 compliance deadline, providing them with more than a one-time fix. The solution complements Grant Thornton’s LeaseX offering, an ASC 842 readiness assessment tool that integrates with market-wide lease software, which more than 100 organizations employed to implement leasing standard compliance programs.

“LCA, like a healthy diet, is an ongoing solution – a way to stay compliant with known and unknown lease obligations, with minimal operations impact,” concluded Brown.