Most organizations face significant challenges in tracking their assets: how many they have, what condition they are in and how far they have depreciated. This job is mostly done with spreadsheets, a fixed asset register (FAR) or an ERP system.
Periodic physical verification is often the only way records are brought up to date, and it takes a lot of effort and inconsistent processes.
Organizations know that fixed asset accounting can only be precise and reliable if the fixed asset inventory behind it is accurate, and a fixed asset accounting system helps with this.
Even so, maintaining a physical inventory register for fixed assets can be daunting. Budget restrictions and a lack of ready-made systems are other reasons why organizations start with basic, old-fashioned asset tracking methods.
How Is Asset Tracking System Designed?
These challenges are pushing organizations toward automated processes that can tell them their asset inventory at any point.
An asset tracking system is designed to be open to users, so they can track assets themselves and find critical resource information on a common tracking platform.
An active inventory system makes it far easier to redeploy equipment that is already owned than relying on whatever sits in an excess warehouse.
Fixed asset accounting records capture the depreciation of assets, support company financial reporting, and are used mainly, if not only, by accountants.
Without access to a live asset tracking database, end users are known to build their own private stores of information in spreadsheets and desktop databases.
On top of this, a high capitalization threshold leaves many assets that still need tracking outside the system altogether.
For example, hospitals, hotels and government agencies may still need to track such assets for calibration, maintenance, security, IT, contractual or regulatory reasons.
Absence of Asset Tracking System
An asset tracking system gives you current data on available assets, their location and their status. In the absence of an asset tracking system, equipment information often breaks up into a series of mismatched databases that cannot be combined into one.
This has led organizations to bring maintenance, calibration and IT asset management software together into one asset tracking and management system.
Expensive ERPs can provide effective accounting, but relying on them alone for true asset management leaves asset information fragmented.
How Asset Tracking and Management Software Addresses the Problem?
Here is how asset tracking management software addresses the problem.
- Asset tagging and tracking is a proven tracking and reporting approach. It supports tracking assets in government agencies and companies, assets with customers such as leased assets, special tooling, IT assets, laboratory equipment, office assets, and test and manufacturing assets.
- Inventory tracking software helps manage stock in satellite and main warehouses so available items are used well.
- Preventive maintenance supports calibration, maintenance, repair and work scheduling. It also generates tickets and reminders for maintenance.
- Asset purchase requisition software supports the decision process for buying and allocating assets within an organization. It also makes the process more transparent and keeps vendor selection fair.
- Asset depreciation management keeps assets within cost limits and in good use over their useful life.
- User management lets the system administrator control what each user can see and keeps the interface simple at different levels and locations.
- Asset management reports and graphs improve the transparency and traceability of assets and leave an audit trail for accounting purposes.
Asset Infinity works alongside your ERP, keeping asset records current through everyday transactions and exporting depreciation journals to the general ledger, instead of relying on cumbersome wall-to-wall inventories once a year.
With this approach, much of the inventory is brought up to date in the system during normal work, well before the next inventory cycle.
Tracking and Accounting Work Best Together
The bottom line is that Asset Infinity improves asset accountability and reduces the risk of loss through more timely and efficient inventory methods.
It also removes the hidden costs and inefficiencies of fragmented databases and gives better visibility and control of the assets that critical projects depend on.
It also helps you avoid wasting money on capital purchases for resources you already own and can redeploy through smarter asset management processes.
In simple terms, a fixed asset accounting system lets you keep track of fixed assets. Paired with asset tracking, it keeps assets safe and secure and makes people accountable for them, which is why organizations should invest in fixed asset management software.