Webinar Recap: Managing Lessor Accounting at Scale
This webinar explores how lessor accounting shows up in modern technology contracts, why embedded leases are difficult to identify, and how finance teams manage lease and revenue accounting together as contract complexity increases.
What This Session Covers:
In this conversation, RightRev CEO Jagan Reddy joins Laura, a senior finance leader at CDK, to discuss how lessor accounting operates inside real technology businesses. Rather than focusing on accounting theory, the discussion centers on execution. Where teams struggle, what breaks during close, and how finance organizations manage lease obligations at scale.
A central theme is identification. Many lease obligations do not appear in contracts labeled as leases. They surface inside agreements sold as services, hosting, or bundled technology offerings. The speakers walk through how finance teams assess customer control over assets and why those conclusions often require careful documentation and ongoing auditor alignment.
Another focus is systems interaction. Lessor accounting depends on contract terms, billing schedules, asset details, and cash activity. When those inputs are managed across disconnected tools, finance teams spend significant time reconciling information instead of reviewing outcomes.
Contract changes are also addressed in depth. Price adjustments, renewals, early extensions, customer transfers, and usage changes force recalculation across lease schedules. Manual approaches may work for a limited number of contracts but become fragile as change frequency increases.
Why This Topic Is Showing Up More Often
Lessor accounting is no longer limited to companies that explicitly lease equipment. It increasingly affects software and technology businesses that deliver hardware, provide dedicated infrastructure, or include physical components as part of a recurring service.
As pricing models shift toward usage-based and hybrid structures, lease considerations arise more frequently. Teams that rely on spreadsheets or informal processes often uncover issues during audit or late in the close cycle, when remediation is disruptive.
This session addresses how finance teams can anticipate those challenges rather than react to them.
What Viewers Will Learn
- How embedded leases are identified using operational facts rather than contract labels
- Where lessor accounting overlaps with revenue recognition in practice
- Why payment activity matters differently for lease accounting than for revenue accounting
- How contract modifications stress manual workflows
- What consistency looks like when managing a large contract portfolio
Who Should Watch
This webinar is designed for CFOs, controllers, revenue accounting leaders, and finance teams at technology companies that:
- Bundle hardware with software or services
- Offer dedicated or reserved infrastructure
- Manage global reporting under ASC 842 and IFRS 16
- Handle frequent contract modifications
- Want to reduce spreadsheet dependency during close
Watch the session to hear how CDK approaches lessor accounting at scale and what finance teams should plan for as contract structures continue to evolve.
Want to learn more? Read our blog about the risks of lease accounting.
If you are ready to move beyond spreadsheets and address lessor accounting with confidence, request a demo to see how RightRev can help.
