About Virgin Voyages
Virgin Voyages, a member of the Virgin Family, specializes in adults-only cruises, featuring luxury accommodations, curated dining, world-class entertainment, and a commitment to sustainability. Their operations include managing a diverse lease portfolio, encompassing office spaces, port authority leases linked to passenger volumes, satellite equipment, and onboard slot machines. This operational complexity necessitates solutions like Trullion to simplify processes and maintain compliance.
The challenge: outgrowing Excel
Before adopting Trullion, Virgin Voyages relied heavily on Excel for lease accounting. While functional, this approach presented several challenges:
- Human error: Manual formulas led to mistakes and inconsistencies.
- Lack of centralization: Tracking on-going lease modifications and amendments was difficult, often leading to missed updates.
- Time-consuming processes: Preparing journal entries and reconciling leases often took over five hours. Excel’s lack of standardization also made it harder for reviewers and auditors to use.
The decision to explore other solutions coincided with the implementation of ASC 842, prompting Virgin Voyages to look for software that could streamline compliance efforts. Trullion stood out for its AI-powered capabilities, which automate the extraction of critical data from lease contracts, saving significant time and effort. George Crouch, Senior Accountant at Virgin Voyages, explains: “The AI functionality really helps by identifying key terms and calculations, making it much easier to ensure accuracy.”
Why Trullion?
Trullion stood out with its AI-powered automation, centralized hub for lease data, and easy-to-use reporting tools. It replaced clunky Excel processes with real-time visibility into amendments and automated data extraction, saving hours of work. Auditors praised its transparency and how seamlessly it aligned with the ledger, while its reporting features improved reconciliation and addressed previous gaps in insights.
The solution
Efficiency and ease of use
The implementation of Trullion delivered immediate benefits to Virgin Voyages. The team shifted from manual calculations to a centralized platform with automated accounting entries. Trullion’s intuitive interface made it simple to upload and analyze lease contracts, cutting the time needed for monthly entries.
Dionn DuBois, Corporate Accounting Manager at Virgin Voyages, shared, “The ability to upload a lease contract and let Trullion’s AI extract the details is a game-changer. It saves so much time compared to manually building out lease schedules.”
Crouch echoed this sentiment: “The interface is incredibly user-friendly. Trullion’s reporting tools make it easy to generate journal entries and track every lease.”
Enhanced audit processes
Trullion’s centralized platform boosts the efficiency of the audit process. By providing auditors with direct access to the system, Virgin Voyages has eliminated the need to manually compile and share documents. The transparency of Trullion’s reporting—which aligns directly with the general ledger—has further enhanced auditor confidence.
“Auditors appreciate the traceability and accuracy Trullion provides,” said DuBois. “They’ve never raised questions as long as our calculations align with what Trullion outputs.”
Crouch further notes, “Our auditors are confident as long as we show them the source data from Trullion and how it reconciles with the ledger.”
Diverse lease portfolio
Virgin Voyages oversees a diverse range of leases, spanning from real estate to slot machines. Trullion’s versatility has enabled the team to handle these varied lease types with ease, ensuring compliance across their entire portfolio.
The impact
Virgin Voyages dramatically reduces the time spent on lease management with Trullion. Crouch shares, “The time savings are significant – what once took hours now takes just 20 minutes. Automating tasks like reviewing leases, creating schedules, and performing analyses drastically cuts down the time needed to confidently understand a lease.” Monthly reconciliations that previously took hours are now completed in under 30 minutes. Trullion’s powerful reporting tools also streamline the creation of journal entries and lease roll-forwards, making administrative tasks much more manageable.
Beyond just saving time, Trullion has allowed the team to focus on more strategic, high-value work. The centralized platform, automated workflows, and advanced reporting have completely transformed their processes. As Crouch puts it: “Trullion has made lease accounting smoother, faster, and more accurate. The platform’s intuitive design and AI-powered features have truly elevated our approach.”
Conclusion
Virgin Voyages’ adoption of Trullion underscores the value of leveraging technology to address complex accounting needs. By automating manual processes, enhancing audit transparency, and delivering measurable time savings, Trullion has become an indispensable tool for the team.
“We’d absolutely recommend Trullion. The platform is easy to use, and the team’s responsiveness to our needs has been great.” said Crouch.
Virgin Voyages continues to navigate the seas of innovation with Trullion as their trusted partner in lease accounting.
