NetLease Accounting Decisions & Account Usage
Prior to the installation and configuration of NetLease, there are several key accounting and configuration decisions management should make with the assistance of the technical accounting team, including the following:
- Leasing Landscape and Key Accounting Decisions
- Applicable Standards (ASC 842, IFRS 16, or GASB 87)
- New Lease Standard Transition Date
- Transition Method
- Practical Expedients to Adopt
- What lease types to use to segregate your lease portfolio
- Present Value Calculation Decisions (Payment In Advance, In Arrears, or Precision)
- The lease liability present value within NetLease can be set to calculate based on both in-advance payments (beginning of month), in-arrear payments (end of month), or precision (for payments made at irregular intervals. This setting allows for more flexibility and detail in the payment calculations).
- Note that in-advance or in-arrears payments can be set separately for each lease type as well as on the underlying lease. For example, Real Estate lease payments are frequently due at the beginning of the month (in advance) while equipment leases are paid at the end of the month (in arrears)
- Chart of Accounts Decisions
- Note that NetLease will be set up to map each separate transaction type to an account in your chart of accounts
- The listing below should be reviewed to identify which accounts will be needed under the new standard
NETLEASE STANDARD ACCOUNT USAGE
NetLease setup utilizes the following accounts:
Account | Account Type | Description | Example Account # |
Account Mapping: All Lease Types | |||
ROU Asset | Other Asset | Long-term asset account where Right of Use Asset will be recorded for each lease | 1600 |
ROU Accumulated Amortization | Other Asset | Contra-account to Right of Use Asset that records reductions to ROU asset. This should be set up as a subaccount of ROU Asset | 1601 |
ROU Clearing | Other Current Asset | Current Asset clearing account to record initial direct costs, prepayments, and incentives prior to commencement, as well as amounts receivable upon the termination of a lease. ROU clearing reconciliations review activity between vendor bill payments and lease payment schedules running through this account | 1200 |
Lease Payable Clearing Account | Other Current Liability | A child of the Lease Liability (Short-Term) account. This account is where lease vendor bills and monthly payments from the subledger amortization entries are recorded. Lease Payable Clearing reconciliations review activity between vendor bill payments and lease payment schedules running through this account | 2110 |
Lease Liability | Other Current Liability | The Short-Term lease liability account. Amounts in this account are populated through a monthly auto-reversing reclass journal entry | 2150 |
Deferred Rent | Other Current Liability | Deferred rent account for Short-Term Leases (or Low-Value leases under IFRS) to record to deferred rent any differences between the monthly single expense over the entire lease period and the monthly payment for that month | 2120 |
Lease Liability (Long-Term) | Long-Term Liability | Long-Term liability account. This is the PRIMARY lease account where all lease activity on the lease record is recorded | 2600 |
Lease Liability Contra (ST Reclass) | Long-Term Liability | Child account of Lease Liability (Long-Term). The monthly ST/LT reclass entry pulls amounts from this account to record into the current section of the balance sheet | 2610 |
Go-Live/Transition Entry Equity Account | Equity | Equity account where net balances of transition journal entries are to be recorded. These amounts can be recorded directly to Retained Earnings unless a separate account is preferred | 3030 |
ROU Impairment Charge Account | Other Expense | The loss account where impairment charges for ROU impairments are to be recorded | 8050 |
Loss (Gain) on Lease Termination | Other Expense | The gain/loss account where the net impacts of lease changes are recorded, including from full or partial terminations (scope reductions) | 8045 |
Account Mapping: Operating (US GAAP & Short-Term/Low-Value) | |||
Lease Expense Account (Operating) | Expense | The expense account that operating leases will book to as a single expense | 6200 |
Deferred Rent | Other Current Liability | Deferred rent account for Short-Term Leases (or Low-Value leases under IFRS) to record to deferred rent any differences between the monthly single expense over the entire lease period and the monthly payment for that month | 2120 |
Account Mapping: Financing Leases (All Accounting Standards) | |||
ROU Amortization Expense | Expense | Amortization Account where periodic amortization of the ROU asset will be recorded Note this is for all IFRS leases and only Financing leases for US GAAP | 6065 |
Interest Expense | Expense | Expense account to record interest charges for lease liability accretion | 6110 |
Account Mapping: Operating (Sublease Accounts) | |||
Sublease Income Account | Income (Revenue) | Revenue account where sublease revenue is recorded | 4001 |
Sublease Accrued Rent Receivable/Deposit Liability | Other Current Asset/Liability | Account to capture any differences between sublease income on a straight-line basis and expected payments/billings | 1510 |
Chart of Account Updates:
- To update your NetSuite chart of accounts, navigate to Setup > Accounting > Chart of Accounts