What is ASC 842 and does my company need to comply?

ASC 842 is the US GAAP lease accounting standard that requires companies to recognize most leases on the balance sheet as both a right-of-use (ROU) asset and a corresponding lease liability. If your company leases office space, equipment, or vehicles under agreements longer than 12 months, ASC 842 almost certainly applies to you. Private companies are now fully subject to the standard, and non-compliance creates material misstatement risk on your financial statements.

What is a right-of-use (ROU) asset in lease accounting?

A right-of-use asset represents your company's right to use a leased asset over the lease term. Under ASC 842, this asset is recognized on the balance sheet at the present value of future lease payments, then amortized over the life of the lease. It appears alongside the corresponding lease liability, ensuring both the benefit and the obligation are reflected in your financials.

Do I need a spreadsheet to manage lease accounting?

Most finance teams still manage ASC 842 compliance using spreadsheets — present value formulas, manual amortization tables, and copy-paste at close. This approach is error-prone, time-consuming, and difficult to audit. Campfire replaces the spreadsheet entirely with a native Leases module that automates calculations, generates journal entries, and keeps your balance sheet and income statement up to date automatically.

How does lease accounting affect my balance sheet and income statement?

Under ASC 842, operating leases create two new balance sheet line items: a right-of-use asset (long-term asset) and a lease liability (split between current and long-term). On the income statement, you'll recognize a straight-line lease expense each period, which reflects both the ROU asset amortization and the interest on the lease liability. Campfire updates both statements automatically each period, so your financial close doesn't require any manual recalculation.

What information do I need to set up lease accounting in Campfire?

To get started, you'll need three things for each lease: the payment schedule (amounts and dates), the lease term (start and end date), and the discount rate — typically your incremental borrowing rate. Once entered, Campfire handles everything from present value calculation to period-end journal entries. Most teams can set up their leases and be ASC 842-compliant within a single close cycle.

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2026-06-08T19:52:44Z

Lease Accounting is Now Live in Campfire

Brendan Doyle

Head of Product

June 08, 2026

Finance Accounting General

We've been doing lease accounting the same way everyone else does it: spreadsheets, present value formulas, and a lot of copy-paste at close. Starting today, that's no longer necessary.

Campfire now includes a native Leases module, built for ASC 842 compliance, integrated directly into your close workflow.

Here's what that means for your team.

What Is the Leases Module?

The Leases module lives under Accounting in the Campfire navigation. It's where you manage your operating lease payment schedules, track your lease liability and right-of-use (ROU) asset balances, and create journal entries, without touching a spreadsheet.

ASC 842 requires companies to recognize most leases on the balance sheet as both an asset and a liability. Campfire handles the math and the entries so your team doesn't have to.

Lease management software dashboard displaying summary financial data and a table of active leases.

What You Can Do With It

A dark mode web interface shows an "Upload Leases" modal with options to drag or browse .xlsx files, and a progress bar indicating "Upload," "Validate," "Preview," and "Confirm" steps.

Upload your lease schedule once. Enter your lease terms, payments, and discount rate. Campfire calculates the present value of future payments, sets up your liability amortization schedule, and tracks your ROU asset from there.

A "Create Lease" form is displayed in a software interface, showing various input fields for lease details like name, entity, dates, and classification.

Draft journal entries at close. Lease accounting is now a Close Checklist item. Each period, Campfire drafts the entries you need: lease liability reduction, interest expense, and ROU asset amortization. One click to review and post.

See the impact on your financials. Your balance sheet and income statement update automatically. ROU assets and lease liabilities show up where they should, and your lease expense hits the income statement without any manual calculation.

A lease accounting dashboard displaying a summary for "Green Valley Medical Plaza Suite 400," showing operating lease liability, ROU asset figures, and an amortization schedule table.

Get Started

If you're already a Campfire customer, the Leases module is available now under Accounting in the navigation. If you're not, book a demo to see it in action.