Toward the end of 2020, we published a Lease Accounting Holiday Wish List for organizations that still need to adopt ASC 842, IFRS 16, and GASB 87. This is the fourth in a series of articles to provide detail for each of those wish list items.
4: Cross-Functional Team Involvement
Driving this project in a silo has not been proven effective. In all instances, the system chosen for Lease Accounting will house data to be used by teams other than just Accounting. Regardless of whether all teams are to use the lease accounting/lease administration system as the source of truth, the data that will live within is leveraged by Accounting, Finance, Real Estate, Technology, & Operation teams. Identifying key stakeholders in each of these functional areas is a great way to receive input throughout the project. Having the teams input and involvement throughout the project will help immensely when the project-based work comes to an end and your organization is faced with using the system for business-as-usual activities.
The following are a few key reasons to support getting Cross-Functional Team Involvement:
- Provide input as to what data is to be housed within the system
- Provide input for specific reports to get out of the system
- Awareness of what data resides in the system
- Awareness of where specific data can be found in the system
- How to access the data in the system
- How to run reports
- Familiarize with overall system use and functionality
Below is an illustration of Cross-Functional Teams being supported by the system. Involvement from stakeholders within each of these functional groups is key to ensuring the system is equipped to support your team come Day 2.
