Cloud accounting: Dealing with the ever-growing complexity

Accounting for cloud—its complexity affects the bottom line

As cloud adoption increases at an ever-faster pace, many organizations are realizing that the only thing as complex as building their perfect cloud solution is ensuring the proper accounting treatment for cloud. In this episode, David Linthicum and Deloitte & Touche senior consultation partner Sandie Kim Kulick discuss the complexities of accounting for cloud. According to Sandie, as cloud implementations evolve, accounting and finance will need to have a detailed understanding of the company’s cloud posture. Companies will also need to continually rethink and revise their accounting treatment for all things cloud—especially those companies that are global and/or those that want to potentially market the apps they develop.

Disclaimer: As referenced in this podcast, “Amazon” refers to AWS (Amazon Web Services) and “Google” refers to GCP (Google Cloud Platform).

For those companies that are becoming more and more tech, they're largely dealing with similar complexities [as tech companies] in determining the right revenue recognition model to apply.Sandie Kim Kulick is a senior consultation partner at Deloitte & Touche, and she provides consultations to audit practitioners and clients on complex accounting issues. She also serves as the lead partner for the National Office revenue recognition team.

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Cloud economics: The new cloud accounting mandate

New changes in accounting rules may provide beneficial accounting treatment for cloud costs. To better navigate the changes, companies may need to put new controls in place and invest in more process automation.

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New accounting rules can bolster cloud’s appeal

The standards that govern accounting for cloud implementation costs are shifting, often with significant benefits for organizations that adopt the technology.

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