Lease Accountant (ASC 842) Recruiters

Who approves the adjustment to lease discount rates? How do you confirm lease entries match payment outflows? They must manage the lifecycle of lease data within your ERP system daily.

The work is granular. They track commencement dates, renewals, and modifications while calculating right-of-use assets and lease liabilities. They must own the reconciliation process between sub-ledgers and the general ledger to satisfy audit requirements.

Ask them specifically how they handled a modification under ASC 842. How did they determine the discount rate for a lease? What specific software controls do they use to track lease payments against actual cash outflows?

You need to qualify a candidate by digging into their actual work on lease accounting. Start the scope conversation by asking them to walk you through the very first lease they transitioned to ASC 842. Do not let them give you a summary of the standard. Ask them to explain the specific inputs they used to calculate the initial right of use asset. Ask how they determined the incremental borrowing rate for a lease that lacked an implicit rate. If they mention using a spreadsheet or a specific ERP module, ask them what happens when a lease modification occurs halfway through the fiscal year. You need to hear exactly how they adjusted the liability and the asset balance. If they stumble here, they have not done the work themselves. Ask them about their role in the audit process. Do not accept vague statements about working with auditors. Ask them to describe a specific audit deficiency they received regarding lease disclosures and how they corrected it. Look for evidence that they have had to defend their calculations against external accounting firms. If they worked in a large portfolio, ask how they reconciled the sub ledger to the general ledger at month end. If they cannot explain the timing difference between cash payments and accounting entries, they will fail your reporting requirements. You should also ask them about the software controls they built to prevent double counting of renewals. A real practitioner has a repeatable method for documenting lease commencement dates. If their process seems messy or purely manual without controls, it is a red flag. Press them on how they verify data integrity before running an amortization schedule. You want a person who treats every lease modification as a distinct technical accounting event that requires full documentation and a clear audit trail. That is your baseline.

Avoid these common hiring errors.