IFRS 16 Lease Accounting and Reporting Standard Training Course

Course overview

IFRS 16 has changed lease accounting from a disclosure-led activity into a data, modelling and control challenge. Finance teams must identify embedded leases, determine lease terms, calculate right-of-use assets and lease liabilities, manage modifications, and produce disclosures that withstand audit scrutiny. Errors in discount rates, lease populations, index-linked payments or reassessments can materially distort EBITDA, debt metrics, covenant reporting and statutory accounts. This course equips participants to apply IFRS 16 consistently across property, equipment, fleet, technology and service arrangements.

Participants work through the full IFRS 16 accounting method, from contract assessment and lease-component separation to initial measurement, subsequent measurement, modification accounting and disclosure preparation. They learn to build amortisation schedules, select and document incremental borrowing rates, account for variable payments and incentives, test right-of-use assets for impairment, and distinguish IFRS 16 requirements from practical policy choices. The course also addresses lessor accounting, sale-and-leaseback transactions, transition issues and the connections with IAS 36, IAS 12 and IAS 7.

Teaching combines technical instructor-led sessions with worked calculations, contract reviews and Excel-based modelling. Participants analyse realistic lease agreements, identify accounting judgements, prepare journal entries and reconcile lease subledger outputs to the general ledger. Each participant leaves with an IFRS 16 application workbook containing a lease assessment checklist, measurement model, modification decision tree, journal-entry templates, disclosure checklist and a practical action plan for improving their organisation's lease accounting process.

The programme is designed for finance professionals who already work with financial reporting, fixed assets, leasing, procurement or audit and need to make or review IFRS 16 accounting decisions with confidence.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Assess contracts for identified assets, substantive substitution rights and embedded lease components under IFRS 16
• Calculate initial right-of-use asset and lease liability measurements using lease payments, incentives, restoration obligations and discount rates
• Build Excel lease amortisation schedules for fixed, indexed, variable and foreign-currency lease payments
• Determine lease terms by evaluating extension, termination and purchase options using the reasonably-certain threshold
• Prepare journal entries for commencement, subsequent measurement, remeasurements, modifications and lease terminations
• Document an incremental borrowing rate methodology using currency, term, security and entity-specific credit-risk evidence
• Reconcile lease subledger balances, general ledger postings and IFRS 16 disclosure data through a reporting close process
• Produce an IFRS 16 implementation and control plan covering lease data governance, review controls and audit evidence

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Financial Reporting Managers — who own IFRS financial statement preparation and accounting policy decisions
• Group Accountants — who consolidate lease balances and coordinate entity-level reporting inputs
• Financial Controllers — who must validate lease calculations, close journals and balance-sheet reconciliations
• Lease Accounting Specialists — who maintain lease populations and process reassessments and modifications
• Internal Auditors — who test lease-accounting controls, source data and management judgements
• Procurement and Contract Managers — who structure agreements whose terms can create IFRS 16 consequences

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand double-entry bookkeeping, accrual accounting, present value concepts and the structure of IFRS financial statements. Experience preparing journals, using Excel formulas and reviewing contracts or account reconciliations is strongly recommended. Familiarity with IAS 17 is helpful but not required; the course explains transition references where relevant. Participants do not need prior experience with a dedicated lease-accounting system, programming, valuation modelling or advanced Excel macros. Those new to IFRS should first be comfortable with recognition, measurement and disclosure concepts before attending.

Training methodology

The instructor leads technical IFRS 16 sessions using annotated lease contracts, calculation walkthroughs and financial-statement extracts. Participants complete Excel modelling exercises for initial measurement, amortisation, remeasurement and modifications, then compare their results with worked solutions. Small groups assess ambiguous contract clauses and prepare accounting conclusions supported by standard references. Daily close-out workshops convert the day's technical content into practical templates. On the final day, participants assemble an organisation-specific application plan covering data sources, policies, systems interfaces, close controls and audit evidence.

Course outline

Day 1: Lease identification and scope assessment

• IFRS 16 scope, core principles and recognition model
• Identified asset assessment and supplier substitution rights
• Control-of-use analysis: economic benefits and direction of use
• Lease components versus non-lease components
• Practical expedients for low-value and short-term leases
• Embedded leases in service, outsourcing and supply contracts
• Lease population discovery through contract inventory methods

Workshop: Participants review a contract pack and produce a lease-identification register with scope conclusions and evidence references.

Day 2: Initial measurement and lease term judgements

• Lease payment definitions and exclusions from the liability
• Present-value calculation of lease liabilities
• Initial measurement of right-of-use assets
• Lease incentives, prepaid rentals and initial direct costs
• Restoration obligations and IAS 37 interactions
• Lease term assessment for renewal and termination options
• Incremental borrowing rate and implicit rate determination

Workshop: Participants build an Excel commencement-date model for a property lease and prepare the opening recognition journal entries.

Day 3: Subsequent accounting, changes and impairment

• Interest accretion and right-of-use asset depreciation
• Variable lease payments and index-linked payment changes
• Lease liability remeasurement triggers
• Lease term reassessments and revised discount rates
• Lease modifications: separate leases and modification accounting
• Partial and full lease terminations
• Right-of-use asset impairment under IAS 36

Workshop: Participants resolve a lease modification case and produce a revised amortisation schedule, gain-or-loss calculation and journals.

Day 4: Reporting, disclosures and operational controls

• IFRS 16 statement of financial position presentation
• Profit or loss and cash flow statement effects
• Maturity analysis and quantitative disclosure requirements
• Significant judgement and qualitative disclosure requirements
• Lease subledger-to-general-ledger reconciliation procedures
• Lease data governance, change controls and approval workflows
• SAP S/4HANA lease accounting data and reporting considerations

Workshop: Participants prepare an IFRS 16 disclosure checklist and reconcile a sample lease subledger extract to general ledger balances.

Day 5: Complex transactions and implementation planning

• Sale-and-leaseback accounting under IFRS 16
• Lessor accounting and finance versus operating lease classification
• Subleases and intermediate lessor accounting
• Foreign-currency leases and IAS 21 considerations
• Deferred tax implications under IAS 12
• Transition methods and legacy lease data remediation
• IFRS 16 policy papers, control matrices and audit-ready documentation

Workshop: Participants develop an IFRS 16 application plan for their organisation, including policy decisions, data owners, controls and implementation priorities.

Tools & standards covered

IFRS 16 Leases, IAS 36 Impairment of Assets, Microsoft Excel, SAP S/4HANA

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions