In today’s globalised marketplace, business accounting is complicated by the international relationships that many companies may have in place.f you are a US company with a listing on the US stock exchange, a UK or European subsidiary of a US listed company or a UK or European company with no division in the USA, but a listing on the US stock exchange, then you must comply with Sarbanes-Oxley.

With finance departments being held increasingly accountable for their UK software for fixed assets and with the ever-changing requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley, IFRS, GAAP  and the Turnbull Guidance, the need for an effective fixed asset tracking software system has never been greater amongst commercial and public sector organisations alike.Whether in relation to reporting, security or providing an audit trail, organisations have to ensure they remain current with the international compliance requirements for their sector.  For many accounts departments, fixed asset accounting software is based on the tried and trusted spreadsheet which will handle simple calculations and is a practical tool for management wanting to make “what-if” decisions.However at the level of accounting complexity demanded today, spreadsheets can quickly become complex and difficult to verify and integrate with other enterprise systems and problematic in tracking asset changes or producing a clear audit trail.

A far better solution is to use dedicated and tailor-made asset tracking software, particularly for asset register, that can track, control and record changes that occur in an asset’s lifetime.Systems like these save both time and effort by eliminating the need to manually enter or update each asset and provide a seamless interface with leading general ledger products without damaging your legacy software investment you may have made.

Organisations can choose to consolidate multiple registers for group reporting purposes while maintaining discrete financial information.Any number of historic or current cost accounting books can be set up to allow different values and currencies to be associated with individual assets which means that keeping track of your physical and IT assets is fully compliant, easier, quicker and cheaper.

Tags: financial regulation, fixed assets