One of the most significant accounting changes in recent years, Accounting Standards Update 2016-02, Leases (ASC 842), began taking effect throughout 2022. With such an important change, CPA and advisory firm FORVIS, LLP, needed a firmwide initiative to educate approximately 1,020 audit professionals across all 40 offices on the new concepts.
The resulting Leases Training has been crucial in equipping FORVIS advisors with the specialized expertise required to retain clients and achieve the firm’s 8 percent organic growth goal.
Program Details
The initiative began development in January 2021 and was centered on the creation of a 220-page Leases Training Manual, a resource on important topics and concepts auditors could easily reference when completing testing procedures related to ASC 842. Concurrently, Learning and Development (L&D) worked closely with the firm’s national director of Audit Learning (DAL) to develop seven on-demand eLearning modules to provide case study examples to help learners apply the concepts described throughout the manual. The DAL also served as the on-camera talent and narrator for all eLearning modules.
L&D distributed the manual and eLearning modules firmwide in July 2021, with the first module due within 90 days and others due in June 2022. In addition, L&D created a Leases Resource Center on the firm’s intranet to serve as a firmwide repository of resources and up-to-date ASC 842 guidance.
To keep the training virtual yet still demonstrate to participants how to apply key concepts for typical audit tasks, L&D incorporated elements of the flipped classroom model. Learners first discovered the ASC 842 concepts in the manual and then viewed the eLearning modules with case studies demonstrating their application in real-world contexts. This approach was a first-time innovation in FORVIS’ learning strategy; the firm is planning to use the flipped classroom model for other training topics in the future.
The Leases Resource Center will continue to serve as a single location for new pronouncements, tools, guidance, and resources related to ASC 842. FORVIS also is considering developing subsequent eLearning modules to cover significant future updates.
Results
For an eLearning module to register as complete, learners must score 70 percent on a final assessment at the end of the module. The average firmwide final assessment score for the first eLearning module was 89 percent.
In fiscal year 2022, accounting and auditing (A&A) leaders across the firm noted a new source of revenue resulting from client consultations directly related to questions surrounding the implementation of ASC 842. This revenue helped the A&A practice end the year with a 7.5 percent increase in fees billed, directly contributing to the firm’s 14.7 percent annual organic growth rate.
