As you have learned from our Unsung Hero series, ValuD has incredibly talented and resourceful people – our key differentiator in the TRIRIGA and Maximo market.  In this post, the fourth in the series, we showcase our Lease Accounting subject matter expert.

After ValuD established its dedicated Lease Accounting Solutions practice, which includes three CPAs, our ValuDian stepped up to be the ‘go to expert’ for IBM TRIRIGA lease accounting solutions.

Lease accounting implementations to streamline FASB compliance are complex. Not only do the projects require an experienced Real Estate CPA subject matter expert – someone who understands measurement rules, how to classify leases, and calculate schedules – these projects also require TRIRIGA functional expertise.  Since TRIRIGA inherently provides configuration and customization flexibility as well as on-going product enhancements, understanding the pros and cons of different implementation approaches is key.

While most consultants have either real estate accounting knowledge or TRIRIGA technical skills, our ValuDian uniquely has both.  Our ValuDian has been in the shoes of our client, having been across the table when consultants didn’t fully understand his company’s process and reporting needs.  Because he is a CPA and a TRIRIGA user, he gets it.  One of the key traits of our ValuDian is his ability to listen closely to the client’s current processes and needs.  He draws from his accounting background to help clients understand how TRIRIGA can meet their unique business needs, communicate how those processes are supported, while taking advantage of standard functionality.

For example, a large telecommunications client required many complex financial custom reports.  Our ValuDian served as the liaison between the client and the development team, translating and elaborating on detailed needs to ensure the ValuD team delivered the right reports.

Our ValuDian is involved throughout the lifecycle of a client project.  He assists at the beginning of the sales process since accountants need to be engaged early in the cycle.  Clients are smart to involve not only lease administrators/contract managers but their expert accountants to interpret FASB topic 842 and IFRS. These accountants also play a larger role in maintaining the TRIRIGA system and need to understand the segregation of duties between lease administration and accounting.  As a result, discussions tend to be more technical and are led by our ValuDian.

In the delivery phase – where customer requirements are reviewed in detail – our ValuDian’s expertise is invaluable.  For example, an international retailer needed a number of journal entry templates populated.  However, to fill out the templates required a deep understanding of how journal entries are setup and generated in TRIRIGA.

Recognizing this would be a common concern for most accounting users, our ValuDian created pre-populated data loading templates for the client.  Then the client reviewed their data to determine which of the journal entry reports were required for their business – without having to understand the TRIRIGA system details.

Our ValuDian has demonstrated that listening and viewing challenges from the clients’ perspective is a winning combination that results in successful lease accounting implementations.  Thanks to our entire talented and expert team, ValuD has implemented more IBM TRIRIGA lease accounting solutions than any other firm in the world.

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