As with most projects, the up-front planning of a physical audit is very important.  In order to perform an efficient and effective audit an organization needs to take 3 essential steps when planning.

Step 1: Agree on items to be audited

Determine what fixed assetsyou want to include in the audit.  Are you going to solely base the audit on your capital asset policy or will you also include expensed items that fall below the capitalization threshold?

Step 2: Decide what details you will collect

Some organizations are only interested in finding and verifying items.  However, other organizations may take the time to gather additional data, such as the condition of the asset.  If details haven’t been previously recorded (such as serial numbers, make, model, last serviced date, etc), then this may be a good opportunity to collect this type of information.

Step 3: Review and consolidate data for the audit

 Generate a report that includes all  your items that need to be audited.  Make sure to consolidate any data from multiple spreadsheets and reconcile them to eliminate potential duplicates and errors.

Once you have completed these 3 steps, you are ready to begin your physical audit.  Whether you are using barcode technologyor are manually checking, it will be simpler to complete the audit if you have planned correctly.