Implementing IFRS 16 lease accounting standards is a daunting task as it requires adhering to new policies, adopting new measures, and changing existing processes. As per the new lease accounting standards, assets and liabilities need to be recognized by lessees in the balance sheet. The aim is to make reporting more transparent and allow companies to ascertain the nature of lease transactions. Transitioning to lease accounting software will help your business achieve compliance without hassle. A lease accounting software is a great tool to do calculations, produce journal entries and automate reporting compliant with the new IFRS 16 standards.  The selection and implementation process for a software can be a time-consuming endeavor. There are, however, certain criteria businesses can investigate to determine the best lease accounting software for their needs. You should be clear on the software’s data gathering and reporting capabilities, its cost-effectiveness, and the different benefits you will enjoy after the successful implementation of the software.  Here are some of the features you should look for when reviewing lease accounting software providers. Compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements There are many software solutions on the market promising different sets of features to ease IFRS 16 implementation. However, you must choose a software that helps in meeting all disclosure requirements.  The new standards demand more disclosures in the form of right-of-use assets, interest expenses, and information regarding the outflow of leases. A good lease accounting software should develop all disclosure reports as and when the company needs them.  Look for maximum accuracy and flexibility of the software solution IFRS 16 standards are very complex. A manual fixing of such complexities would take a lot of time, resources and may lead to errors. To prevent this, software solutions should have configurations that support data features that make the process easy.  A company generally has a large lease portfolio. To maintain accuracy after every change operated by different stakeholders, internal control needs support. An advanced lease accounting software solution will help with the data entry validation mechanism and provide role-based access for optimal results. A centralized data repository for easy collaboration A large amount of lease data is one of the most difficult things to handle by account managers. A lease management software solution with a centralized data repository will not only save time but money, as well. It makes it easy for employees of different departments to access the information on the platform.  Additionally, access should be granted to only those who need it, with complex data security protocols and security standards. Notifications and alerts are key As mentioned before, the lease portfolios of some companies are large. Thus, manually managing each facet of the contracts is a tedious task. It may include payment dates, renewals, events, etc. With lease software solutions, you can send automated notifications and get alerts for every important date or event in your lease contracts. Making the transition to new standards takes time and effort. But it can be done at ease with a powerful lease accounting software solution and the right support. COROM Lease Management from Yardi is a great lease accounting software solution that can help you implement IFRS 16 standards. Visit www.yardicorom.com for more...

The framework for learning starts before a student ever sits down at a desk. Stability in the family, a safe home and nutritious meals are the building blocks for learning. In Irving, Texas children battle the odds and graduate without all of the blocks. Irving Schools Foundation is helping them to succeed. Speaking for children who can’t speak up for themselves Crystal Scanio, the president and CEO of Irving Schools Foundation, has wanted to be a child advocate since she was a kid. Scanio grew up in Indonesia as an expat. She recalls neighborhoods of children who did not attend school because they could not afford uniforms. “I vividly remember driving through the village in our nice comfy school bus on our way to learn,” she reflects. “We’d see all the children sitting outside of their modest houses looking at us with such envy in their eyes.” “Even as a small child, I knew that this was not fair and education should be something that everyone has access to if they have the desire to learn,” she says. She later witnessed a woman holding her baby whose arms and legs were severely mangled. “My teacher told me that the mother did that to the baby because she knew that she could garner more money for her children from people driving by if she was standing on the side of the road with a baby that had broken limbs.” Scanio’s heart sank. “From that moment I knew that I wanted to serve in a capacity where I could be an advocate for children that couldn’t speak up for themselves.” After graduating college, Scanio intended to move to a developing nation and help children there. As she learned that American children also faced dire situations, she’d opted to stay Stateside. A circuitous path led her to Irving Schools Foundation where she has advocated for children since 2012. Bridging the gap In most school districts, there is a broad gap between what the District provide from tax dollars and what schools need. Many Districts have formed foundations to bridge that gap. The Irving Schools Foundation is one of the oldest in the US. It was established in 1985 when the demographics were quite different: back then, only 12% of students required free or reduced lunch. Today, it’s 100% of students. Serving a low-income, high-risk population comes with its fair share of challenges, but there are also uplifting surprises. “If you were to simply look at the demographics of our children or hear some of the stories that they share about their home lives– abuse, sex trafficking, drugs–one would assume that these kids would not excel at school,” observes Scanio. “However, our test scores are above state averages and our graduation rates are over 95%. It’s due to the fact that these children know that education is the key for them to get out of their situation,” she says. When Irving Schools Foundation began, its goal was to support teachers with additional training and supplies. The mission has grew to include college scholarships, but some kids never claimed them. They needed to stay home and care for younger siblings, or work to support their families. The program expanded again to include food security, housing, social and emotional health programs. “The results have been incredible to watch,” says Scanio. “Our students have flourished and our claim rate on our scholarships is now over 90%!” Adapting to changing needs during the pandemic The pandemic has had a major impact on the students of Irving District.  Many of them come from homes with an average income less than $25,000 per year. Many students already had jobs to help support their families, but during the pandemic others began searching for work. Still, students faced with food insecurity and homelessness on a regular basis. Many kids relied on the District for food during the week. When schools closed,...

The investment world historically has been an industry filled with spreadsheet reports and snail mail paper checks. Errors can arise when entering data in multiple spreadsheets and relying on disparate systems is inefficient , especially when sharing information between investment, investor and accounting system. Thankfully, technology is transforming investment management for real estate. Investors now expect on-demand service and self-service access to key metrics, capital transactions, important documents and reports. Having the right technology creates better value for investors, which leads to increased investor confidence. Investment management technology can improve communication, increase visibility and provide easy access to performance metrics. Top systems are mobile-friendly and available wherever, whenever access is required. Improve communication Managing the relationships with existing and prospective investors is a key part of growing any investment business and raising capital. Yardi Investment Manager provides a platform that makes communicating with investors more efficient, easier and error-free. Cohen Asset Management’s investor relations staff can log into Yardi Investment Manager and see the online tools their investors are using, deals they are involved in, contact information, returns, distributions and other information. Scott McGinness, principal and chief financial officer, shared: “By being able to deliver information when it’s needed, we don’t have to follow up with the investor later, which is easier on both parties, “ Organizations benefit from a single connected tool that helps: Centralize communications with existing and prospective investors Manage capital call and distribution notices with investors Easily send out correspondence, track activities and follow up tasks quickly Enable better collaboration with new investment opportunities Increase transparency and accuracy Yardi Investment Manager is a single source of the truth for investor and investment information. Provide access to portfolio and property metrics directly to investors. Automate the subscription agreement process for new investment opportunities with existing or prospective investors.. With an integrated solution, there is no need for disparate systems and manual transfer of data.  This allows you to provide timely access to information to your investors. By easily compiling and communicating accurate information, Yardi Investment Manager strengthens Cohen Asset Management’s investor relationships with superior service and allows the company to maintain a lean organization. Access information easily In addition to investment and property metrics, Yardi Investment Manager makes it easy to publish reports, tax documents, subscription agreements and more to investors through an online branded portal. This allows your investors access to information anytime, anywhere. And since the portal can take on your company’s personalized branding, it will offer offer a customized , highly professional experience for investors. Manage portfolios on the go Yardi Investment Manager provides access to investor and investment information on any device. It makes it easy to find and review every piece of information you need, from anywhere, so you can have informed discussions with your team and your investors on: Portfolio and investor data Risk monitoring Fundraising Capital transactions Investor communications Yardi Investment Manager is a single connected solution that brings investing partners together and instills investor confidence. Provide access to reports and detailed documentation so your investors feel an increased sense of connection and value with their partnership. Yardi Investment Manager is part of the investment suite of products, a fully-integrated platform available with Yardi Voyager, Investment Accounting or as a standalone solution. Overall, you’ll improve efficiency and boost visibility into investor activity and investment metrics, making portfolio oversight simpler than ever. Join an Investment Manager webinar to learn...

Is Hong Kong is poised for a real estate resurgence? Two years ago, Hong Kong was the world’s third largest real estate market, trailing only New York and London. The twin challenges of protests and a pandemic have taken their toll. So last week, Yardi called in the experts for their take on Hong Kong’s future. David Green-Morgan, managing director at Real Capital Analytics in Asia Pacific, Tommy Wu, lead economist for Oxford Economics in Asia, and Yardi regional director, Bernie Devine gathered for the first instalment of Yardi’s 2021 Executive Briefing Series. Here’s why they think Hong Kong real estate is ready to bounce back. The macro indicators are positive Political unrest had already damaged Hong Kong’s economy prior to Covid-19, and a 6% contraction followed in 2020, Wu told Yardi’s engaged audience. But Oxford Economics is forecasting a strong recovery, with 4% growth in 2021, and then 2.5% annually out to 2025. All the macro indicators bode well, Devine added, pointing to the vaccine rollout, slowly improving retail performance and unemployment rate, as well as the city’s strong financial governance framework, which remains a source of competitive advantage. Office’s bumpy ride is over Political protests had a greater impact on Hong Kong’s commercial office sector than the global pandemic, Wu highlighted. Office prices fell during the protests, but the market is “bottoming out” and demand is returning. Green-Morgan agreed, pointing to recent deals struck at the 73-storey skyscraper at 99 Queens Road, The Center, which were “more or less on par” with 2018 prices. “Quite a few multinationals have been shifting business functions to other key cities in Asia – like Singapore and Kuala Lumpur – but they are still keeping their offices in Hong Kong,” Wu added. Oxford Economics expects the financial sector “to continue to thrive” and the tech sector, while small, will be a powerful engine for growth. Hong Kong remains “the gateway in and out of China”. Residential remains resilient While Covid-19 hurt the labour market, and unemployment currently sits at 7%, this has not affected housing demand, Wu said. Why is this? Most participants in the housing market are in the financial and other high-paying sectors, and these weren’t hit hardest by Covid. “The real impact on Hong Kong was the protests. In fact, Covid has had hardly any impact on property prices, when you take a high-level view,” Devine observed. Will migration, especially from those who hold British National Overseas passports, affect the housing market? Wu pointed out that the bulk of these migrants are young and footloose, but not asset-rich and were unlikely to be in the market for housing. Meanwhile land supply will remain “tight – at least over the next few years,” Wu added. Risk and rewards in restructured retail Retail could take some time to recover, and Oxford Economics does not expect to see a repeat performance of the bounce back in 2003, following SARS. This marked a golden decade for retail and China’s emergence as a “major force” in tourism. “This won’t happen again,” Wu warned. More than 80% of inbound tourists hail from China, but the falling price of luxury goods in China has eroded Hong Kong’s appeal as a shopping destination. Tourism is now at a “crossroads,” Wu added. Recovery in tourist arrivals will lag other nearby cities, and this will lead to “structural change” in retail. While Hong Kong has some of the highest rents in the world, and while yields have been “incredibly low” in recent years, some investors are beginning to take a punt on the return of Chinese tourism. “This is the big unknown,” but prices are now low enough “that people are willing to take a bet,” Green-Morgan added. Hong Kong stays strong “The last two years have been a real challenge for Hong Kong, but overall investor sentiment towards the city is becoming more positive,” Green-Morgan said. Despite...

Electronic health records, or EHRs, have evolved into a necessity over the past few years in the senior living industry. In fact, a LeadingAge study in 2019 found that nearly 76% of the nation’s 200 largest nonprofit, multi-site senior living organizations use EHRs, as do the majority of single-campus senior living communities. EHRs enable care staff to chart and document residents’ medications and transitions between care settings in real time. Along with this efficiency, notes PharMerica, a pharmacy services provider for the senior living industry, senior community operators “are finding that EHR can help do things like boost occupancy and profitability. And vendors are finding easier to promote EHR benefits around greater resident engagement, streamlined workflow and reduced staff turnover.” Additional benefits of EHRs include facilitating Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements and ensuring compliance. Interoperability is crucial There’s yet another dimension to EHRs. Senior Housing News reports that some providers adopting EHRs “are actually going a step further to connect those EHRs to larger networks in the interest of electronically sharing information with doctors, hospitals or other clinicians.” Making such exchanges securely across multiple systems requires connection to a service provider for health information exchanges, or HIEs. “It’s only a matter of time before mounting state and federal pressure to connect EHRs to HIEs becomes too difficult for senior living providers to ignore,” the news source reports. Some in the industry are still playing catch-up. Clinical information is still often shared via fax, phone or printouts, opening the door to mistakes and omissions. And patients often receive paper medical records when they are discharged, creating additional opportunities for documentation errors and impeded care coordination. “The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the importance of interoperability and the ease in which clinical information needs to be available to an entire healthcare community,” says Jon Elwell, CEO of Scottsdale, Ariz. interoperability provider Kno2. “We cannot rely on paper fax for this important task.” Creating seamless transitions Going forward, the need for interoperability among acute care, private practice, skilled nursing and other healthcare partners will spur the development additional for care transition and coordination. That means “seamless care transitions and sharing of critical patient information between the senior living community and the providers participating in their care, improving coordination and reducing administrative burden from a historically manual process,” Elwell says. Once implemented, this interoperability will spur “increased efficiency and quality outcomes, improved ability to avoid adverse events and timely access to information from your patients’ other providers,” according to the Minnesota Department of Health. “Creating shared care plans and following up on the execution of those plans to optimize outcomes, reduce length of stay, or eliminate unnecessary hospital admissions via HIE will be key,” adds Majd Alwan, senior vice president of technology and executive director of the LeadingAge Center for Aging Services Technologies, an advocate for technologies that improve the aging experience. Yardi’s contribution to EHR interoperability includes a partnership with Kno2®, whose Interoperability as a Service™ drives connectivity for health data networks. Interoperability as a Service’s integration with Yardi EHR lets Yardi clients electronically send and receive health data, ensuring safer clinical care transitions. Look to The Balance Sheet for more updates on the continuing evolution of EHR capabilities, which PharMerica says have the potential to “revolutionize the way seniors are treated and cared for in the years to come.” For more on Yardi’s electronic health record solution for senior living, visit the Yardi EHR product...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have honored ENERGY STAR® partners from 39 states for outstanding leadership in reducing energy bills and tackling climate change. This year, Yardi has received the highest honor — the 2021 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award. For the third consecutive year, Yardi has excelled as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year in its ongoing commitment to help educate and support its clients through energy management software with a built-in dashboard for ENERGY STAR scores and benchmarking using ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®. Ongoing Excellence “ENERGY STAR award-winning partners are showing the world that delivering real climate solutions makes good business sense and promotes job growth,” said Michael S. Regan, EPA administrator. “Many of them have been doing it for years, inspiring all of us who are committed to tackling the climate crisis and leading the way to a clean energy economy.” The 2021 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award acknowledges Yardi’s technology solutions and ongoing philanthropic efforts across a variety of real estate sectors including: Helping more than 140 clients benchmark energy in over 3,500 buildings Benchmarking water in over 3,000 buildings Promoting the importance of ENERGY STAR scores to clients through education, training and visibility Including ENERGY STAR in Yardi’s energy management software dashboard Publishing more than 32 articles on the benefits of benchmarking, energy management and other conservation topics Providing digital courses for over 36,000 attendees from more than 58 countries during its virtual user conferences Again earning ENERGY STAR certification for its Southern California corporate headquarters Akshai Rao, vice president at Yardi, sees the award as a reflection of the company’s clients and their impressive achievements in energy management and conservation. “We’re proud of our clients’ achievements using ENERGY STAR resources to meet their business and sustainability goals. Our benchmarking increased by more than 50% over last year. This is due in part to rapid adoption of ENERGY STAR benchmarking to better understand remote work environment impacts on building energy use during the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to helping our clients and the industry gain even more ENERGY STAR benefits moving forward,” said Rao. Your Turn to Shine For a complete list of 2021 winners and more information about ENERGY STAR’s awards program, visit energystar.gov/awardwinners. To learn more about getting support for your company’s energy management and sustainability goals, join a free energy management...

More than a year has passed since we first issued a survey to understand renters’ responses to the pandemic. A new survey reveals surprising ways that renters’ preferences have changed, and which preferences remain the same. What renters wanted The March 2020 renter survey issued by RentCafe.com gave analysts an understanding of renters’ expectations and concerns at the beginning quarantine in the U.S. About 45% of respondents had no concerns in particular. About 18% of renters were concerned if it was safe to move during that time, and 13% were concerned that they would not be able to pay rent in the near future. Concerns aside, 56% of renters were intent to move as scheduled. (About 18% had a lease that expired, and they needed to move.) Only 8% were postponing their move because of the pandemic and putting the selection process on hold. Of renters who were actively searching, 28% sought a unit that was cheaper than their current home. About 5% wanted a floorplan that facilitated roommates so that they could save money. What renters want now More than 10,600 people participated in the March 2021 survey. Survey questions aimed to reveal: how renters’ preferences had changed after a year of shelter-in-place practices their biggest concerns regarding their upcoming move how the pandemic impacted their rental selection More than 50% of renters listed the pandemic as a trigger in their decision to move.  Many renters relocated to create a better financial outlook: the top reason for relocation was to save money. Nearly 30% of participants who are in the process of moving sought a better deal. A quarter of participants needed a change of scenery after several months in quarantine, but they didn’t seek a massive change. About 48% of renters preferred to remain in the same city. A noteworthy 90% of respondents sought long-term rentals, which could mean that even those seeking a change in scenery wanted a sense of stability. Others may simply want to lock in a lower rate for longer. Lifestyle improvements ranked third and fourth on renters’ lists. More than 20% of renters searched for open-air amenities and 20% desired more space. Safety less of a priority across the board, yet solo living is on the rise? Have renters relinquished their safety concerns? Concerns still linger, though they’re nearly half as prevalent as before. In 2020, 18% of renters were concerned about whether it was safe to move during a pandemic. Exactly 9% are currently concerned about safety. Last year, about 15% of renters were concerned about the hygiene standards of their community. This year, only about 9% listed hygiene as a concern. Interestingly, 4% of respondents were so concerned for health and safety that they sought to live alone in 2020. Fast-forward one year and that number has risen to 8%. So while trends suggest that health and safety are not as important to renters as they were last year, the amount of renters seeking solitude for safety has increased. Does the pandemic still influence renter relocation? Recent survey participants stated that the pandemic had little influence on whether they move now or later. About 67% of renters currently seeking an apartment are committed to relocating now. As before, necessity motivates most moves today. For 32% of respondents, one of their biggest concerns was if they would be able to pay their rent. Even more renters (34%) are seeking a cheaper unit now that their previous lease has ended. In short, more renters are relocating due to the effects of the virus rather than the virus itself. In 2020, a considerable amount of people relocated to avoid exposure. The 2021 survey suggests that an even larger chunk of people relocated due to lease expirations and the desire for greater financial savings during uncertain times. Learn more about what renters want on the RentCafe.com...