ASC 842, also referred to as Accounting Standards Codification Topic 842 or FASB Topic 842 — is the new Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) lease accounting standard, replacing ASC 840.
ASC 842 requires the tracking and disclosure of leased assets. It contains guidance on the required accounting and financial reporting for agreements that meet the standard’s definition of a ‘lease’. Under ASC 842, almost all leases must be represented on your balance sheet. Before this new regulation, leases were like credit card transactions you never checked. Now, you have to share your balance.
Staying compliant means accurately tracking ASC 842 balance sheet information. Under ASC 840, this was simply the start date, end date, and payment stream. Under ASC 842, you also need to collect incentives, allowances, and track options—while making judgments involving capital lease testing, interest rates, lease performance, and more.