Archive for January, 2012
|5 things every corporation should do to prepare for the upcoming lease accounting changes
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
By Brant Bryan, Principal
In the near future the FASB and the IASB will jointly issue new guidelines for lease accounting. These new standards are substantially different from the current standards and will affect every corporation that issues public financial statements.
In the new standards all leases will be reflected as both an asset and a liability, thus “inflating” the size of corporate balance sheets. During the lease term, the asset and the liability will be expensed, but in different patterns than under current standards.
The new standards will likely become effective in about 2 years. What should corporations be doing now to prepare for this sea-change of lease accounting?
1) Update your lease database. The new accounting standards will require corporations to assign a value to every lease transaction. The value will be based on more information than most corporations now include in their lease database.
2) When entering into new leases evaluate them using both the current lease accounting implications and the new standards. All leases will be included in the new standards. There will be no “grandfathering”. Therefore, you need to know what impact each lease will have on your financial statements in both 2012 and in future years.
3) Examine the effect of lease length on your financial statements. Longer term leases will normally cause a greater increase in the size of the lease asset and liability. How will increased balance sheet size impact your performance ratios and metrics? Begin to establish a philosophy of what your company wants.
4) Talk with bankers, real estate consultants and rating agencies about how the changes will impact your credit capacity, rating and borrowing cost. Leased assets will be a separate category on the balance sheet and effectively is a source of financing for lessees. Most companies believe it should be “business as usual”, but understand what it means for you and your borrowing costs.
5) Look again at the options in your leases and how you structure those options. More than ever, lease options will be important. Some rent streams may shift onto or off of your balance sheet, depending on your objectives and the facts and circumstances. Also, the new standards may cause you to prefer your options to be structured differently than you have done so previously.
Tags: corporate real estate, FASB, IASB, lease accounting, lease structuring
Posted in Capital Markets | Comments Off
Tenant’s Guide, North American Markets
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
Overview
As we begin a new year, U.S. and Canadian businesses will once again face a very challenging economic landscape with the twin worries of a still tepid economy here in North America, and the unknown effects of the ongoing European debt crisis. Global growth has already been scaled back as recession like conditions had become evident in a number of European countries at the tail end of 2011. This will almost certainly delay business leaders from pushing forward with any expansion plans until more is known about the breadth and depth of a European recession and any possible bank failures or credit difficulties.
The good news for tenants in the market for space this year is that leasing markets in North America will remain fairly benign with still significant discounted rents and an abundance of for lease space in all but a small number of submarkets. Canadian markets are certainly further along the real estate cycle, but for North America as a whole, leasing markets are at best treading water and are unlikely to tighten in any significant way in 2012 and quite possibly 2013.
Barring the unexpected, business conditions in North America should be marginally better in 2012 than in 2011, but for many industries the economic landscape will seem as daunting as it has for the past three years. The worldwide trend towards lowering debt (a process referred to as deleveraging) by governments and individuals alike will be a contracting force impacting many countries. This is sure to act as a significant drag on economic growth, both here in North America and countries around the world. This will not escape the notice of business leaders and real estate decision makers and will again stifle leasing markets. Varied sources of instability are also making businesses more nervous about making long term commitments. While Cresa doesn’t have the inside edge on what surprises might be coming our way, what we can say with almost complete certainty is business leaders will again be confronted by a large array of “shocks to the system” whether they be domestic or foreign. As a result, most businesses are expected to stay largely cautious as they continue to be challenged by a very uncertain and volatile economic landscape. Add in the prolonged uncertainty and further erosion of confidence in the U.S. political system and it is not unreasonable to foresee a further delay in expansion and hiring that would ignite leasing markets and put a floor on lease rates. Decision makers will continue to err on the side of caution until there is a significant increase in job growth, most likely well into 2013.
Business Drivers
For business leaders the fragile nature of the U.S. economy will continue to be paramount. A reasonably strong finish to 2011 should lead to a relatively good start for 2012, but with consumers largely tapped out and governments at all levels making spending cuts it is highly unlikely the U.S. economy will grow by more than 2.0 percent – just marginally better than 2011. Themes that dominated in 2011 are again expected to be front and center in 2012. Relatively anemic job growth, high oil prices, deleveraging and a still shaky housing market are all expected to be stiff headwinds for much of the year. Monthly job gains are expected to mirror 2011 with approximately 150,000 workers added to payrolls per month leaving the unemployment rate stuck between 8.0 to 9.0 percent. Industries adding jobs include technology, social media, energy, healthcare, and education. One key source of weakness, however, will be finance which has shown little growth over the past few years and is unlikely to do so in 2012.
To read the complete North American Market overview, please visit our Tenant’s Guide page. There you will also find guides for individual markets, from Albany, NY to Washington, DC.
Posted in Tenant's Guides | Comments Off
ROI for Workforce & Location Planning Projects
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
By Tim Myllykangas, Principal
I was recently honored to have presented a workshop at the 2011 CFO Rising West Conference and Expo, which focused on “The Top 10 Strategic Challenges for the CFO.” Our workshop—Stay or Go?: Corporate Location Planning”—was well-received, with those in attendance interested in the variables that drive corporate location. As expected, they wanted to learn about the savings that can be realized when workforce and other performance benchmarks of an existing portfolio are measured and aligned with the business.
To reiterate what Workforce & Location Planning (W&LP) is all about, it is the first step in the corporate real estate cycle since it starts with a clean-slate perspective—i.e., it looks at the broader picture beyond the current real estate portfolio. Addressing what the C-Suite is most interested in, it focuses on ideal corporate locations based on workforce recruitment, retention, labor market saturation, competition, turnover, and salary levels.
But how can we demonstrate the value proposition, or return on investment, regarding W&LP and incentive fees? Actually, it is easy to do so.
Money-Saving Measures
In general, workforce and location planning specialists save companies money because:
-Labor cost reductions of 20%-40% per year are regularly achieved and easily measured.
-Labor cost reductions are typically 6-12 times that of real estate cost reductions.
-Labor performance indicators typically increase by 15%–25%.
-Turnover typically declines by 25%–35%, eliminating significant re-training costs.
-Incentives from municipalities generate savings through grants, abatements, discounts, etc.
-W&LP specialists measure sector saturation (the competition for and degree of utilization of the workforce) in the company’s current location(s) as well as in alternative locations. Sector saturation is the most important, yet least understood, factor in determining optimal locations. Since saturation data does not reside in any database or web site, it requires real-time primary research.
-Underemployment data is one of the top three workforce analysis factors, but this also does not reside in any database or web site. And most cities do not calculate it due to its complexity. Identifying which city has higher underemployment is actually more critical than identifying one that has a higher population or sector presence, and this will identify the city with lower labor costs, lower turnover and higher labor quality. Unemployment, a common data point used by companies, is not only an inaccurate measure of workforce availability but in some cases is an inverse indicator of work ethic. High unemployment, while thought to be a positive factor, often signals a lower work ethic, while low unemployment often signals a strong work ethic with the local workforce less willing to file for unemployment insurance and more likely to take a job that is below their skill level. And this is reflected in higher underemployment.
As a typical example of W&LP in action, consider our experience in identifying optimal labor markets for a 300-employee customer service center. The process resulted in higher labor quality and lower turnover, and over the five-year term of the lease, labor savings equaled $16 million, real estate savings was $3,200,000, and incentives added $500,000.
Labor Costs, Incentives, and Real Estate Cost
What if we were to extrapolate typical, minimum and average savings for a 500-employee, 60,000-square-foot facility? Consider the following projections:
Here are two ways to concisely summarize the numbers presented to the left:
-$1/SF/yr rent savings on 50,000 SF = $250,000 (5-year term)
-$1/hr labor savings on 250 jobs = $2,500,000 (5-year term, 50K SF)
Or…
-10% rent savings on 50,000 SF = $500,000 (5-year term, $20/SF rent)
-10% labor savings on 250 jobs = $6,250,000 (5-year term, $50K average salary, 50K SF)
Savings will vary according to individual circumstances, but the preceding examples give you an idea of what can be expected. It confirms that a properly planned workforce relocation, consolidation, and/or expansion can drive substantial savings in real estate and incentives, but the most significant savings is derived from reduced labor costs. As cost containment continues to be the mantra in the C-Suite, it makes sense to see how Workforce & Location Planning can improve the bottom line.
Tags: corporate real estate, cost savings, Site Selection
Posted in Workforce & Location Planning | Comments Off
Where did I put that lease? Finding your best real estate strategy
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
By Ralph Benzakein, Vice President
Here’s the scenario: You just realized that your lease will be expiring in a few months and you start to think about what that will mean. For the most part, your current space works for you. You might need more open space or a couple of additional offices; the carpet is starting to show some wear; the walls have been marked up a bit. But, it’s close to home and you have a comfort level there (the car practically drives itself to the office). You also remember the nightmare of moving and the disruption to your business.
So…now what? You didn’t get into business to have to worry about this stuff, but now you need to. You decide there is plenty of time to address this and go about doing “more important” things.
At the same time, you begin to notice all of the “Available Space” signs on your way to and from your office. You call one or two of them and discover that although there is a sign in front of the building, there isn’t necessarily any space that would suite your operation, but the broker representing the building would be happy to show you other buildings. It then occurs to you that those signs never really come down and that they are really just a lead generation system for the broker.
More time goes by and brokers are calling you every other day to pitch you new space or tell you how much free rent they can get you. Nobody has taken the time to evaluate what your business needs are and how they can be aligned with your real estate needs.
It all becomes a little overwhelming and with about 30 days left on your lease, you contact you current landlord and “ask” him if you can renew your lease. He says, “Sure, I’ll send you a renewal letter, just sign it and you’ll be good for the next five years.”
Wow, talk about the path of least resistance. You think to yourself, done deal. You read the lease renewal, notice the part about continued escalations (seems reasonable), sign it, and it goes back in the drawer for another four and a half years.
You, my friend, are a landlord’s dream come true!
You may have saved some time, but it came at a very high price. Here are just a few of the items that a tenant rep would have negotiated for you:
- Lower rent (those continued escalations in the renewal have committed you to rent that is well above the market)
- Rent abatement (free rent)
- Refurbishment allowance (new carpets, paint, move partition walls, etc.)
- New base year for real estate taxes
- Reduce or enlarge space, per your needs
- Lower escalations
Your rationale that your landlord would not want a broker involved is accurate. I’ve just shown you why. It’s not because he doesn’t want to pay a broker’s fee, though he probably doesn’t. It’s because many of the countless clauses you are not equipped to negotiate are his profit centers.
And by the way, some landlords are more than willing to pay a broker’s fee, even on the renewal. Some even insist on it to ensure that the broker is not motivated to move the tenant out of their current space.
Bottom line: give yourself plenty of time to determine the best real estate strategy for your business. That usually means at least one year, if not more, depending on the size of your space.
Tags: corporate real estate, cost savings, landlord, lease, tenant
Posted in Transaction Management | Comments Off
