A recent poll has found that more than half of companies, 51 percent, anticipate that the cost to implement the Financial Accounting Standards Board's new lease accounting standard will run between $1 million and $5 million, according to Accounting Today. As far as what they plan to spend the money on in order to meet the upcoming deadline, more than 80 percent of the companies polled are working on designing long-term automated lease accounting solutions, 45 percent said they are hiring contingent workers to meet the deadline, and 56 percent are planning to bring in consultants. Despite the obstacles, 85 percent of the 304 finance and information technology leaders at U.S.-based public companies who were polled said they are confident that they can successfully implement the new standards on time. The poll was conducted by Ernst & Young.
The FASB's standards are effective for public companies starting in 2019, with private companies having until 2020.