EZ13 v2.3 released

FCS is delighted to announce the release of version 2.3 of EZ13(TM), the Lease Accounting solution. (The new version was actually released over a month ago, but I forgot to post this announcement.) This latest release includes a wide range of new features:

Contingent rent: EZ13 has a new tab for contingent rent, which is rent paid that is not part of the FAS 13 minimum lease payments. Contingent rent is expensed as incurred. You can enter contingent rent in the screen tab, or upload it using an Excel® spreadsheet (requires Excel installed on your computer). (Not in Mini Edition.)

Rent escalation: EZ13 can automatically create a series of rent steps based on a periodic escalation calculation (increasing by 10% every 5 years, or 5% compounded per year, etc.). This complements the existing automatic calculation of rent for leases with level principal amortization.

Expirations report: Get a list of leases scheduled to expire between two dates.

Transfer additions and terminations: A transfer addition picks up the asset and obligation midstream for the lease; a transfer termination is almost the same as an early termination, but is designed to match a transfer addition. These are useful if a lease is being moved from one department to another, and you want to recognize the expenses up to a certain date as belonging to one account and afterwards to another (using EZ13’s account numbers feature or other distinguishing codes).

Month to month extensions: Sometimes leases are renewed after expiration on a month to month basis. There is no future rent commitment; rent is expensed as incurred (using the contingent rent feature noted above). You can optionally leave the gross asset and accumulated depreciation on the books (assuming the lease is depreciated over the lease term, the gross asset and accumulated depreciation are equal, so the net asset is zero).

Capitalize leases at incremental borrowing rate (not in Lite or Mini Editions): EZ13 has had the capability to treat operating leases as capital, using their incremental borrowing rate as the capital rate. This is intended both for current indenture reporting that some lenders require, and in anticipation of the upcoming rewrite of the lease accounting standard, which plans to capitalize all operating leases at the incremental rate. The current draft of the upcoming standard calls for all leases, including those currently capital, to use the incremental rate; there would be no limitation of the asset value to the fair market value of the underlying asset, which currently causes some capital leases to have higher interest rates. This new option lets you see the effect on your capital leases of the FASB/IASB proposal. (See prior blog entries for more information on the FASB/IASB proposed rewrite of lease accounting standards.)

Some of the feature additions were in response to requests from users of EZ13. We will continue to provide updates (at least one per year) with enhanced features at no additional cost to clients who maintain a support contract. Updated CDs are being sent to all such clients. Any clients who have not maintained their support contract can get the update by reinstating support; contact us for details.

The free demo available for download on our website has been updated to v2.3, so you can try out the new features yourself.