Exponential-e is a UK-based technology and connectivity provider supporting organizations with secure, resilient, and high-performance digital infrastructure. The Exponential-e Group boasts a unique blend of experience, expertise, and technical capabilities. Working closely together, teams from across the Group drive new digital innovations and successfully execute the most challenging projects across numerous sectors, delivering complex technology solutions for its customers. Operating in a fast-paced environment, the finance team plays a key role in maintaining control, transparency, and compliance while enabling continued growth. With the introduction of IFRS 16 and UK lease accounting requirements, Exponential-e faced increasing complexity in managing its lease portfolio efficiently and accurately. That’s the starting point of the project for Board Lease Accounting (BLA) at Exponential-e with PlanPulse.
UK GAAP (FRS 102) is shifting to an IFRS 16-aligned model, requiring most leases to be recognized on the balance sheet from 2026. This means lessees book a Right-of-Use (RoU) asset and a lease liability, replacing the old off-balance sheet “operating lease” concept for most, except for short-term/low-value ones, significantly impacting KPIs like EBITDA and debt ratios.
The Challenge: IFRS 16 Compliance at Scale
As a UK organization reporting under IFRS 16, Exponential-e is required to recognize nearly all leases on the balance sheet. This involved managing right-of-use assets, lease liabilities, depreciation, and interest along with frequent reassessments due to contract changes and renewals. Previously, lease data was spread across spreadsheets and manual processes. This made month-end close time-consuming, increased the risk of inconsistencies, and limited visibility for audits and management reporting. Exponential-e needed a robust, scalable solution that ensured compliance without adding operational burden.
Exponential-e operates tens of thousands of fibre connectivity leases, and is growing so fast that the finance department encountered challenges in accurately identifying new leases and processing lease payments. We created a bespoke Data Staging Area that Exponential-e can use to upload bulk data, automatically create new leases, auto-match invoices to existing leases, generate reports and gain insight into non-matches. The correct data synchronizes to feed back into Board Lease Accounting to calculate the lease transactions.
