New asset management system for East Staffordshire

The system, Asset4000 from Real Asset Management (RAM) aims to deliver the Council with what’s described as “the detailed functionality required for Statement of Recommended Practice (SoRP) and IFRS compliance, as well as creating a robust audit trail and increasing back-office efficiencies”.

 

The new platform will also integrate with the Council’s current finance system, Agresso Business World.

 

“We were previously using a mix and match approach for our asset register, including a property system with asset records and spreadsheets for producing the statutory accounts,” explained Lisa Turner, chief accountant at East Staffordshire Borough Council. “These spreadsheets were time-consuming and prone to error and were becoming increasingly complex with the changes to local authority accounting in recent years.”

 

Turner continued, “The introduction of SoRP has significantly changed the way in which we report, as we have to record the historic cost, current value and depreciation for each individual asset. Holding all of this information on spreadsheets is very difficult. The Council also wants to prepare for the introduction of IFRS, which will require component accounting detail, and this will be very cumbersome to manage manually.”

 

The features of the new platform will enable East Staffordshire to calculate historic and current cost depreciation, maintain audit trail records on historic impairment, and component valuations and accounting. Turner added, “The system will improve back-office efficiencies by replacing manual records and spreadsheets and put everything in one place, minimising the risk of errors and saving time.”

 

Councillor Frank Startin, deputy leader for Corporate Services at the Council, has been involved with the procurement of the Asset 4000 system and commented, “A key benefit for us is the improvement in the accuracy and robustness of the underlying records which will make the auditing process easier. The solution also integrates with our current finance system, Agresso Business World, with the easy transfer of information speeding up the period end process. Small gains such as these make a big difference to the operational efficiency of East Staffordshire Borough Council.”