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In the modern business world there’s a good chance that your business is spending a lot on IT. This might be software that’s required in your field and hi tech security or it could be as basic as kitting your business out with computers, printers and copiers. Either way its money you’re spending and that’s coming out of your revenue that you’re not going to see a direct return on it. The physical things like telephones and computer screens are called fixed assets. These fixed assets must be tracked as you’re spending money on them but not seeing a direct ROI.

The easiest way to demonstrate this is with an example, so let’s meet Bob, Bob works up in marketing and he claims his laptop needs replacing as it’s on its way out. Bob can’t do his job if he doesn’t have a computer so of course you’re going to sign it off and make sure he gets his new lap top right? well first you might want to check the asset tracking software. All of a sudden you’re not so sure about getting him a new one now because you can see that the laptop is still under warranty as it’s only a few months old. You can then use the built in depreciation software that tells you whether it’s already had any money spent on maintenance (you can see it hasn’t) and how much it’s worth. Now you know it’s still worth almost the same as when it was purchased and you’re spent money on software for it you don’t want to simply write it off. From all this data you can see it would make more sense to just get it repair rather than giving Bob the new laptop he’s asked for.

When Bob comes to you again in three months claiming that he’s spilt his coffee over his laptop and it’s definitely dead you might start to get suspicious especially when you look back though your fixed asset software. Over the last couple of years you can see that Bob has lost three phones, had four faulty printers and two dodgy laptops all of which he got replaced. Now either Bob is very accident prone of one of your staff are taking advantage.

Tags: assets, Business, productivity, staff
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Physically auditing and creating an accurate inventory of assets is a time consuming process that can be disruptive and pull valuable employees from their normal job. Implementing some form of automated solution can dramatically reduce the time and man-power required to keep track of your assets and provide better visibility.

Many think RFID (radio-frequency identification) is the future of asset management software. Bar-coding may have worked for years, but it may soon become obsolete. The war between the two technologies has been protracted, and RFID is actually around 50 years old. Only recently have falling prices brought the cost of scanning devices and tags to a widely appealing level. RFID and barcodes both provide a way of encoding product information and are both workable. However, they both bring their own advantages, disadvantages and benefits to depreciation software. RFID tags can be read at much greater distances than barcodes typically distances up to 300 feet while the range limitation for a barcode is around 15 feet.

On the other hand, Barcode labels have the advantage of cheaper, easier production and versatility. Barcode can be printed onto many different materials with different tolerances. Vinyl and Polyester labels are popular in clothing, and survive heat, cold and moisture well. In extreme and exceptional circumstances, Barcodes could even be etched into the metal of drums of radioactive waste. The availability, portability and affordability of Handheld barcode scanners is also an important factor. Despite these barcode cost benefits, It is probably true that fixed asset tracking could be considerably improved and speeded up by the use of RFID. Imagine walking into a room to complete a physical audit of every item in inventory, and completing it in seconds rather than having to manually sort and scan the barcodes of your items! Even though it is expensive, RFID is a fabulous value for money proposition. It can save enormous amounts of time and money, is more accurate than convenient than methods that require too much human input.

Tags: asset management, assets, barcode, RFID
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Although msot of the employees couldnt care less about asset management when you learn that doing it the right way could bring you extra money you might start to listen. Christmas could come early indeed because of these very nices bonuses you could be seeing. How could this actually happen for you?

Once asset tracking is in place the compnay will know exactly what to do with the assets which is good as they may save a bit of cash. Does this really mean a nice bonus for all of the employees.

So How Can Asset Tracking Actually Help You?

Well it is mainly used for bigger companies but there is not reason why a smaller company cannot use it too. For some of the bigger companies it can certainly be very hard to go out and track all of the assets that are needed. Make sure that you remember that every computer every single fax machine and desks are all assets too. This is not even including all of the buldings you may not have. This becomes a really big problem for someone who is actually trying to track all of these assets.

Basically if you get something like inventory management software it will allow you to track all of your fixed assets and will tell you when things are perhaps looking a bit old or the insurance is almost up on them. This is going to allow the business to see what needs replacing which is going to be very useful indeed.

This could mean that there is a bit of extra money available at the end of the year for those very nice bonuses. This is something that the employees would love and I think that if you can afford it you should go for it.

Tags: assets, Business, christmas
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Christmas is a very important time of year for a company and as everything comes to a close for one year you have to be either looking forward to a new year or of course dreading the next. Whatever the case you still need to take care of the company when everyone is away and using something like asset tracking can really help when it comes to looking after things when the boss is out of the office.

When you have asset tracking in place a company will know exactly how much money to spend on what which does mean that potenially they will have a bit of money at the end of the year. Not having to drag the boss in over the holidays is certainly something that is very nice indeed.

What on earth is asset managemetn about? Well buy getting something like inventory management software you are able to track all of the things that you might want to track by using this software. One of the best things about this is that it will tell you exactly when something is in need of replacing. A lot of people feel that you only need something like this if you are a bigger company and I have to say I do not think that this is the case at all.

Smaller companies with many computers are in certain need of something like this because it can be very hard to track all of the machines at once!

So this Christmas could be the year that you company is in need of some fixed asset accounting as it can really help out. One of the really cool thing is that you may have a bit of extra money to hand out some really nice Christmas bonuses.

Tags: accounts, assets, Business
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There are many companies that have suffered closures this year, some bigger than others but what are the reasons behind this?

Woolworths PLC

Well as a former member of the group I must say that I know exactly why the company closed and part of it was indeed down to the poor fixed asset accounting that the company had been doing. They had over 800 stores and quite simply they had a team of idiots behind the company. The directors knew fully well that they were a failing business and they had over a year to sort this out and they seemed to do nothing. This obviously failed and I must say a lot of this was to do with the thick headed directors not being able to manage their assetsThis obviously failed and I must say a lot of this was to do with the thick headed directors not being able to manage their assets.

XL

A lot of this was of course down to the fuel prices that had been steadily on the rise in the late part of 2008 and the other was that XL were not filling their planes. Planes were of course the major asset of the company and because of this they were clearly not managing their assets in the best way. One of the other reasons that this company fell is because the recession had started to make people stop and think about going away.

MFI

Once again this could be put down to a number of different things. One of the major reasons is because they didn’t really put enough time into caring for their customers. Most of the offers that these companies had were often lies and most of the things they said were included were not at all. As well as this they didn’t seem to recognise IKEA as a real competitor and of course they didn’t do well on the asset management front.

So the advice here? Get some asset tracking in there and make sure your inventory management software is perfect!

Tags: assets, Business, finance, recession, Woolworths
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Well before you even think about asset tracking you need to think about asset management as this is the thing that every company must do and everyone has to note down which assets they have.

So what is asset tracking? Asset reacking is something that really could benefit a company that is big or small as it is a piece of software that will track all of the company assets for you.

For the large companies

It is very important for larger companies as many managers do not have the time to go and check every single asset they have to look on how long the depreciation will be for each new asset which is why using inventory management software is something that can be crucial to a big company.

For the smaller companies

It can be very costly indeed to get someone to actually come in and look at all your assets every other week and this is especially as important for the smaller companies which is why software may help you out a lot more in the long run. So basically you get a system in to track all of those fixed assets. This is something that is seriously going to help you out when it comes to the early years of the business.

Why is it important?

Well there are several companies out there that haven’t been too bothered about their assets and they include Woolworths, XL Airlines and MFI. Any connection between these three companies, well of course there is, they are all no longer in existence.

The one thing that you need to remember is that you need to be checking all of your assets on a regular basis and if you arent then you should be. One of the best ideas has to be to invest some money into a computer system, this way you can sleep easy knowing your business assets are safe.

Tags: assets, Business, finance, recession
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If you are seriously considering starting up a new business then it can be very difficult to come to terms with the things that are going to have to be done, this is just one of those things. Even if you currently work or own a business this could benefit you too.

What is the difference between Tangible Assets and Intangible Assets?

To kick things off, tangible or fixed assets are basically physical forms that the company owns like a building, computer and that secret condo in France no-one knows about yet!

Of course intangible assets must be something that is not physical so for example something you cannot see or touch. One of the best examples of this kind of asset is company name and company image. Believe it or not something like the brand name has become very important indeed when it comes to the bigger companies and Coca-Cola have been told that if they sold off all of their fixed assets they would still have over 90% of their company because of the brand name.

When someone is badgering on about asset management they are simply talking about sorting out all of the things that are worth something to the company.

This is where you can dive into things such as asset tracking software and RFID asset tracking. These are really handy for people who just do not have the time to spend their working days looking at what is in need of replacement as not only is this time consuming but it is often just not needed.

If you have one of these systems it will allow you to put in loads of information and the computer will work at doing the majority of the work for you. It does many other things too like tell you when something you have is almost out of warrenty and needs a replacement!

So throw away those pens, papers and calculators’s and get something like Sarbanes Oxley Compliance software.

Tags: assets, Business, finance, recession
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Believe it or not something like Asset Management is actually very important for a business and this doesn’t matter if your business is small or large although it is of course more beneficial to a bigger company.

Why is it almost crucial for many companies to have a product like this? Well it really does help save on money in the long run. There are many people that will simply just take a small stroll around the office and see if things are looking a bit old, this is not enough. This is often not the case as many things can hold it out for months if not for years longer. This is where Asset management comes into it as there are many pieces of software out there that will tell you when exactly you will need to replace bought items in the company.

Loads of information is given out to you on one database and each bit of information is just as important as the last which is why asset tracking is so important.

The system well actually tell you quite a lot of things like when you purchased the asset and whether or not you have things like insurance on it!

It really can help you out as you can have a look and see just how old the office computers are and you may be surprised to see that you do not have to upgrade them at all and if one of the machines has broken you may be able to claim it back on the warranty which is also shown on the database!

Why on earth do you need to do all of this? Well believe it or not if you are in charge of a business it is actually a legal requirement for the balance sheet and having some form of asset inventory saves you the trouble of dong it manually in a frantic rush at the end of a financial year.

If you want to do it manually you can do but you will certainly have problems when it comes to fixed asset accounting if you are a larger company.

Tags: assets, Business, finance, recession
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With the current recession that’s affecting companies all around the world, managing your fixed assets UK and getting the most money out of them has never been more important. A great deal of companies are finding that asset management is more of a competitive edge as they try and get the most money from their assets that they own.

This need for more efficient asset tracking UK has resulted in a large number of companies investing in real time management solutions. By knowing the latest information about your assets, you can make informed decisions to avoid making poor deals. It has also led to more companies using asset management services like reliability centered maintenance (RCM) or condition based maintenance (CBM).

RCM is a form of asset management where it trys to ensure that your equipment used doesn’t fail, effecting the business. RCM finds out how the item is used within the company. It then looks at how that piece of equipment can fail and how the company would be effected by a failure. Finally, it then looks at how these failures can be avoided.

The Aberdeen Group has released a study named “Asset Performance Management: Driving Excellence Though a Reliability Approach in Real Time”. The study looked at companies under 3 different areas: overall equipment effectiveness, complete and on time ships, and unschedules asset downtime. The study found that the best companies managed a 89% equipment effectiveness, 97% complete and on time shipments, and finally only 2% unscheduled asset downtime.

The study also discovered how the best companies will use a range of managment techniques to get the most data about their assets. There are a number of different technologies that are used by the best companies. It was discovered that many of the top performers would happily invest money in more advanced methods of asset managment, such as remote asset monitoring.

These different technologies allow the companies to keep the information about their assets up to date for their employees and maintenance staff. This means that the companies can use the data from their assets to make informed business decisions. It also allows the companies to see how the impact that their assets have on their financial earnings.

The overall need for more managed asset tracking has led to a rise in companies offering different ranges of asset accounting UK software to aid your business manage your asset data.

Tags: asset management, asset tracking, assets, Business
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We’ve all used them, spreadsheets, whether it’s to do a simple list of items, or whether you are looking to create advanced sums for business forecasts. Even though they are not really advanced enough for some of our requirements, we still use them. This is mainly because the majority of people would put up with a free one that comes bundled in when you buy your pc, rather than forking out the cash for a decent package.

Even though spreadsheets come with a number of problems, they do have some useful features. The major ones are that they are able to create simple calculations, create graphics and manage your business forecasts. These all come in handy for certain jobs. However, because of the amount of downsides they have, they aren’t useful for tasks like tracking your companies’ UK fixed assets.

Although spreadsheets sound like they would be good for storing company asset data, they are simply not as advanced as an asset tracking software UK package.

To a certain extent, a spreadsheet can prove to be useful for tracking assets, however, once you start wanting to store more data about more assets, the spreadsheet is no longer useful.

Here are some handy features that you should look out for in your asset management software.

• They are required to store enough in-depth data about your items. Despite being able to store massive amounts of data, a spreadsheet can’t store enough for asset management. The data that’s stored may not provide enough detail.
• They must be able to match the structure of the company. If the particular asset can be located in a number of sectors within a company, a basic spreadsheet cannot reflect this complex formation.
• They should be able to be restructured quite easily. Once you start creating a more advanced spreadsheet, it then becomes tough to add new data and alter the structure.
• It must be able to cope with calculating several different depreciation levels on different assets. If items were bought at different points in time, for example a computer and a monitor. The software should be advanced enough to calculate a range of price depreciation factors.
• Must be able to handle re-lifeing of assets. If one of your assets is assessed and found to be no longer useless, the levels of depreciation on the item should be changed.
• Must be able to create structured reports. Spreadsheets are not good for creating structured graphical reports.

Those were just a few of the points that a specifically designed asset management software package must include. Also it’s the reason why a spreadsheet is not good for adding asset data to a fixed asset register.

Tags: asset management, asset tracking, assets, Business, spreadsheets
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