You can load lease data into EZLease using an Excel spreadsheet (either .xls or .xlsx format). To do this, you must have a licensed copy of Excel installed on your computer. This function is found on the File menu.
You may enter new leases, make changes to the descriptive information on an existing lease (description and all fields on the Descriptive tab, such as Lessor information, and user-defined fields), add attachments, add impairments, or early terminate leases. EZLease does not currently allow uploads of changed financial information other than impairments; this is planned for a future release.
A template file, laid out the way the data needs to be entered, is available in the installation folder for EZLease (usually C:\Program Files\LeaseAccelerator\ EZLease or C:\Program Files\(x86)\LeaseAccelerator\EZLease), named EZLease upload template.xls. The information for the lease is entered on five tabs: The first contains everything that remains the same for the entire life of the lease, the second contains the rents, the third contains options (there can be multiple rent steps or options per lease), the fourth contains impairments, and the fifth contains attachments (file path only, not the actual attachment). The layout information is also provided if you click on the Layout Help button.
Where the title cell of a column in the template includes a value in parentheses, that is the default value if the cell is left blank (various yes/no options have the same default as they would have if a lease were entered directly on the screen). The default depreciation method is taken from System Options, just as for a new lease entered on-screen. You may leave the classification (column F) blank for EZLease to determine the lease's classification, or enter a recognized classification for your lease accounting standard:
- FAS 13/IAS 17: Capital, Operating
- ASC 842: Finance, Operating, Short Term
- IFRS 16: Finance, Short Term, Low Value
- GASB 87: Finance, Short Term
(If Finance or ASC 842 Operating, you must enter a discount rate in column G.) For any field that is normally entered by selecting from a list, you must enter the exact selection text used for screen input (though upper/lower case is not significant). To ensure proper matching of lease data from the various tabs, please be sure the lease number (column A in each tab) is in Text format.
If the rent starts and ends in the middle of a month (such as starting on January 15 and ending on July 14), you have the option in the upload setup window to recognize the rent paid in the middle of the month (in this example, on the 15th of each month), or to have a prorated month to start and end, and all other rents are paid on the first of each month. If this creates multiple partial months of rent (if there are multiple rent steps that all start mid-month), you may either combine the adjacent partial months into a single rent payment due on the first of the month, or keep each partial month payment separate.
If a rent step is not a whole number of periods (for instance, rent is paid monthly but the step starts in the middle of a month and ends at the end of a month), you have the option to have EZLease create a prorated period to start the rent step, or report an error for the lease. A prorated period is calculated by determining the number of days of a full rent period that ends when the partial period ends, then dividing a full period's rent by that number and multiplying by the actual number of days of the partial period. (This means that the prorated amount for August 16-31 is different from September 16-30, for instance.)
If a lease has an error during the upload, it is discarded. If there are any errors (or warnings of possible errors), you get a list of problems, and have the option to save the leases that didn't have errors, or discard the entire upload (so you can fix errors and start over).
Changes
You may enter early terminations to an existing lease, by filling in the following columns:
- Column A: Lease number
- Column B: “Yes”
- Column D: Early termination date
- Column E: Early termination type (Early, Reversal, Transfer)
You can likewise enter a new or updated month to month extension date, putting the new extension date in column D and “MTM” in column E. If the lease was not previously set for a month to month extension, the option "Keep Asset On Books While MTM" is automatically chosen.
To change a descriptive field, put the lease number in column A, “Yes” in column B, and the updated information in the desired descriptive fields.
To change a lease number, put the old lease number in column A, “Lease” in column B, and the new lease number in column AF (description).
The upload function currently cannot store variable lease payments (contingent rent), customized account numbers (an account group can be specified) or notice dates. Nor can financial changes (dates or amounts) to an existing lease be made via upload. These are planned for a future release. Variable payments can be uploaded separately using Variable Lease Payments Upload, described above.