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Asset tracking is often considered to be an imposition on US businesses purely as a consequence of SARBOX, but asset tracking is more than just an accountancy compliance issue.It’s an essential component of informed and sound management.Assets must be managed both financially and physically and to do that you require knowledge of just where all your assets are.Many companies rely on a conventional spreadsheet approach to try to keep track of their fixed assets to ensure the company is compliant with national and international regulations.

That’s especially important with IT asset tracking for example tracking fixed assets.IT equipment is at the heart of any business today and often changes during its operational lifetime.Components can be switched, replaced or upgraded.Software especially is frequently installed, uninstalled or upgraded.Many of these changes are internal and therefore normally “invisible”. The value and highly portable nature of laptops, notebooks, peripheral devices and other items like the Blackberry may also explain their tendency to “disappear”. (more…)

With US finance departments and corporate governance being held increasingly accountable under the stringent requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley (Sarbox) and IFRS in particular, the need for an asset tracking system has never been greater for US companies or their overseas operations.Company accountants have to ensure they remain up-to-date with the compliance requirements for their sector and CEOs and CFOs must be in a position to personally certify that the company’s books and records do not contain untrue statements and fairly represent the company’s results or face severe penalties for Sarbox violations.

For that reason alone it’s wise to invest in a depreciation accounting package. At the level of accounting complexity required in today’s legislative and business environment, spreadsheets can rapidly become complex and difficult to verify.Integrating a spreadsheet with other enterprise systems and tracking asset changes or producing a clear audit trail is also very difficult. (more…)

We’ve all used them, spreadsheets, whether it’s to do a simple list of items, or whether you are looking to create advanced sums for business forecasts. Despite being a pain to use and not having all our required features, we still use them for our work. No doubt the reason for this is because we would rather use a free package that came with our PC, instead of buying a new one that’s more suitable for the job. (more…)

We’ve all used them, spreadsheets, whether it’s to do a simple list of items, or whether you are looking to create advanced sums for business forecasts. Despite being a pain to use and not having all our required features, we still use them for our work. No doubt the reason for this is because we would rather use a free package that came with our PC, instead of buying a new one that’s more suitable for the job. (more…)

Asset management can be the worst job you have to do in your business. Although almost every company hates having to do it because it’s costly in time and money, it’s still a big part of business. Getting up to date information about what assets you have is extremely difficult. (more…)