BROOKFIELD, Wis.– Fiserv is reporting it has enabled financial institutions to advance their lease accounting processes and address industry standards through a new agreement with LeaseQuery. The collaboration will provide users of Prologue Financials accounting software from Fiserv with access to purpose-built lease accounting software from LeaseQuery, the company said.
“Historically, operating leases have been considered off-balance sheet transactions, often tracked manually in spreadsheets,” stated Fiserv. “This changed when the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued ASC 842, a new standard for lease accounting that requires financial institutions to recognize operating leases for retail branches and office space upon commencement of the lease.”
As a result, Fiserv said. financial institutions could see a 60% to 70% average increase in lease liabilities on their balance sheet, according to the recent Lease Liabilities Index Report from LeaseQuery.
‘Labor Intensive’ Process
“While some financial institutions with a small number of operating leases may be able to continue to track those leases in spreadsheets, this will be a labor-intensive and impractical process for most institutions,” said Aldor Delp, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Efficiency Group at Fiserv. “The continually changing accounting environment is a catalyst for automation, which can improve not only the efficiency of the lease accounting process, but also its accuracy.”
According to the company, Prologue Financials from Fiserv enables financial institutions to increase the efficiency of financial accounting processes with built-in automation and controls. The agreement with LeaseQuery gives Prologue Financials users access to cloud-based lease accounting capabilities, including automated lease assets, journal entries and disclosure reports.
Enhanced Automation
Fiserv added Prologue Financials features enhanced, built-in automation and controls and a well-designed user interface, enabling users to increase the efficiency of financial accounting processes. Prologue Financials includes a general ledger software solution for medium-to-large financial services institutions that automates and streamlines accounting processes.