Can spreadsheets effectively manage your fixed asset register?

Spreadsheet Quandary

The problem for most organizations is that despite going through the process of moving to IFRS and adapting to the new requirements for asset accounting and revaluations, the majority of organizations are still reliant upon spreadsheets to manage the asset register.

The process is cumbersome, prone to errors and provides the finance team with no insight into an asset’s location or its current operational role within the business. Those organizations that have moved to component accounting as part of the shift to IFRS may have achieved a greater insight into the overall asset register but still have no proactive way of imposing control over this base. The result is a massive, highly valuable corporate investment that is, to all extents and purposes, visible only on the balance sheet.

Yet organizations that can impose control and rigor over the asset register will be in a far better position to maximize the existing, deceptively valuable, asset base. They will have a complete picture of asset location and current use; they will be able to keep track of assets – a key issue with the growth in portable IT equipment. And they will be able to ensure that new employees are not automatically purchasing brand new equipment but that existing, serviceable assets are reused where appropriate.

In a recession, this degree of prudence and operational control are essential. Businesses that take care of the pennies on the asset register will soon start to see the dollars appearing on the balance sheet.