Asset not found: clearing, reporting and disposal

The asset register lists a laptop, a printer or a forklift, but nothing stands in the room. Before anyone calls for a "disposal", an orderly search is needed, because "not found" is not the same as "not there". Often the asset is simply somewhere else, no longer carries a legible tag, or was sold long ago without the document ever reaching accounting. This article describes the search steps, the documentation and the question of who may finally decide.

Search first, then decide

1. Check the register: do asset number, description and location agree? Typing errors and duplicates are more common than one thinks.
2. Search the surroundings: neighbouring rooms, store, workshop, earlier locations of the department.
3. Ask the users: head of department, last known user, building services.
4. Look for documents: transfer slip, repair order, loan note, sales invoice, scrapping record.
5. A second walk-round by a different team that does not know what the first team found.

Every step is noted with date and name. A search that is not documented cannot be followed later by anyone.

The order matters. Start with the simple steps, the register and the neighbouring rooms, before you question people or look for documents. Ask the users neutrally: "Where was the device last?" gets further than "Who took it?". A walk-round in pairs, with the register list in hand and a photo of the type of device being sought, usually finds more than a search from memory.

Common causes

• A move or a rearrangement of rooms was not reported.
• A sale or scrapping took place without notice to accounting.
• The device is in repair, travelling with an employee or at a home office.
• The tag has fallen off or been covered over: the asset is there, but without a legible number.
• The same asset was recorded twice under two numbers.
• Theft or loss. This is the rarer case, and it is assumed only after the other possibilities have been checked.

Keeping the missing-asset list

Keep a separate list of the assets not found, with asset number, description, location according to the register, search steps taken, persons asked and result. Four statuses are enough:

• found, new location is updated,
• document found, disposal to be posted,
• confirmed with employee or service provider,
• not found.

A worked example (illustrative)

The register of a site contains 640 assets. On the first walk-round 612 are found at once and 28 remain open (612 + 28 = 640). After the search steps the picture is this: 15 stand in a different room, for 6 there is a sales or scrapping document, 4 are confirmed with employees or in repair, and 3 remain not found (15 + 6 + 4 + 3 = 28). Out of 28 open cases, three genuine questions are left. For all the others there is a document or an explanation, and accounting only has to update locations and post two disposals.

Reporting and disposal

The disposal of an asset is a decision for accounting and management, not for the count team. The team supplies the facts: search steps, statements and documents. For the decision accounting will normally need:

• the missing-asset list with the documented search steps,
• a short written statement by the person responsible for the site,
• approval by management.

If theft is suspected, the matter goes through the internal reporting chain to management, with legal advice involved where necessary. How a disposal is to be treated in the accounts and for tax purposes, and which local rules apply, you settle with your tax adviser, your auditor and the local chief accountant.

In short

An asset is "gone" only when the search is documented and the decision has been made. AuditMaster reconciles the asset register with the locations on site, keeps the missing-asset list with statuses and labels assets with inventory tags, so that the next count goes faster.