The proper way to record assets

The problem is that while most companies have good systems in place for recording initial investments, they pay lip service at best to managing later asset disposal. Far too many organizations are still reliant upon spreadsheets for recording fixed assets and create confusion by failing to record the movement of assets between locations.

While that may not affect their value to a finance team concerned primarily with depreciation, should a company opt to divest a number of locations, inaccurately recorded assets could severely compromise the value of the agreement to either party.

With such a lack of robust information, how can any acquiring organization undertake due diligence on behalf of shareholders? And for those organizations looking to maximize company value prior to a sale, poor asset information can only result in significant undervaluation.