Real Asset Management Blog

Security basics of hosting solutions

Data centers have experience dealing with a wide scope of security policies and practices and have specific operating procedures for the management of the facility.  Some of the security basics include:

1.  Climate Control – a data center’s performance depends on the right environmental climate.  The premium data centers have a continuous circulation of cool, perfectly conditioned air to provide the ideal environment for servers, routers and other equipment.

2.  Fire Detection…

How hosting solutions work

Automated upgrades ensure the software is always up to date – a key consideration for compliance requirements, particularly in relation to the latest IFRS regulations affecting organizations; while the hosted model also ensures the upgrade process can be achieved without and disruption or dent in user productivity.

Furthermore, a hosted model provides access to the system from any location, allowing members of the finance team to run reports, analyze asset information and…

Demand for hosted solutions

Demand is growing globally for hosted solutions as organizations wrestle with continuing financial constraints that are now seriously hampering ongoing business development.  With many organizations continuing to pare back internal IT resources, business managers have to wait months to get access to critical IT skills.  They are facing a complete lock down on the capital expenditure required to deploy much needed new software solutions; indeed they are even struggling to…

Financial software finds home in the cloud

The pros and cons of cloud computing may be regularly debated by the IT team but what about the rest of the business?  How many CFOs are still afraid to take the plunge?  Most are familiar with the compelling benefits of lower capital expenditure, improved financial control and rapid deployment – all key issues when facing an over-worked IT department struggling to find the time to even discuss business requirements,…

The 5 common failures of fixed asset management – failure #5

Failure #5: Poor reporting or lack of reporting

Composing reports and forecasts can be a lengthy, arduous and costly process that is often subject to human error if conducted by hand.  Bad reporting can affect organizations by:

• Misinforming management of information that is critical to business decisions
• Causing non-adherence with compliance issues, resulting in the consequences mentioned above

In order to avoid unreliable reports for your fixed assets, it is best to use a…

The 5 common failures of fixed asset management – failure #4

Failure #4: Non adherence to compliance issues

Corporate tax regulations implemented by the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury are constantly requiring enhanced levels of accountability from finance executives.  Various tax forms can be difficult to manage and complete.

You may experience problems with different regulations for the various states your organization may conduct business in or have the inability to regularly review US tax rules nationwide and regularly update…

The #3 common failure of fixed asset management

Failure #3: Unauthorized changes are occurring

There are two ways in which unauthorized changes can occur and cause problems.  The first is unauthorized access to the system and the second is not having the correct procedure in place for changes to asset events.

Security of data is critical to compliance for corporate governance regulations including Sarbanes-Oxley, IFRS, IAS and GAAP. In order to avoid unauthorized changes occurring in your organization’s fixed asset…

Failures of Fixed Asset Management – Failure #2

Failure #2: Not completing a proper physical audit

The credibility of an organization’s data (the existence of assets and its Net Book Values) will be in question if it cannot be verified.

Verifying what an organization owns and the whereabouts is essential for credibility and complying with US GAAP and SOX.  A physical audit is also an effective asset management procedure that can help ensure assets are insured at the correct level,…

5 common failures of fixed asset management – Failure #1

Failure # 1: Using Spreadsheets

Nearly all spreadsheets contain errors, which is to be expected with information entered without effective controls.  Whether it is because of incorrect background asset data or a wrong formula, there’s little doubt that information you pull from the spreadsheet, such as depreciation calculations, is likely to be inaccurate.  Spreadsheets allow for several different types of errors to occur, thereby making it difficult to ensure precision.  Additionally,…

The 5 Common Failures of Fixed Asset Management

There are common failures that often occur with fixed asset management, largely due to ineffective systems or policies.  However, the common mistakes that many organizations experience don’t need to be a consistent force in your management.  Each of these problems has a solution that can easily remedy the situation.  Over the next few weeks, we’ll address each of these failures, which are:

1. Using Spreadsheets
2. Not completing a proper physical audit
3. Unauthorized changes…