Administration and Finance

Tip of the Week - January 15, 2007

Inventory Procedures

The Property Department of the Controller’s Office would like to remind the University community that the Inventory season has arrived.   In keeping with the continuous processes and improvement of the accountability of our inventory we would like to provide the following information to assist departments:

There are two aspects to Property management:  Maintaining a Current Inventory and reconciling that inventory by the accounting of obsolete and transferred items or items that are on loan to staff.   A reconciliation must occur for each department to account for all items and to identify any unaccounted for items within the University’s inventory.  To assist in keeping the inventory current there are three forms that are needed to be maintained by each departments as property becomes obsolete, is transferred to other departments or is check out by employees.   The three forms are as follows:


Survey Form - Use the Survey Form for the following reasons:

1. To identify departmental property that is worn or obsolete.
2. To determine the degree of obsolescence, and if the property may still be useful and denotable or if it must be disposed of.
1. Not all property may be thrown in the dumpster.  The University must comply with proper disposal procedures for certain items, like computers and peripheral hardware.
3. To donate obsolete property to certain organizations where there are needs.   Contact the Property Office for the guidelines on donations.
4. To report stolen property.   A police report must accompany this form.  
5. To remove an item from your inventory.
6. Remember that University property may not be donated or disposed of until the Survey form has been reviewed by the Property Department and approved by the University Survey Committee. 
   
   

Checkout Form - Use the Equipment Checkout form for the following reasons:

1. To authorize current employees to use or carry tangible property, such as laptop computers, off campus.  
1. A copy of the form must accompany the property at all times.  
2. An employee may checkout property where authorized and there is a specific benefit to the University for up to 30 days with departmental head approval.
3. An employee may checkout property for longer than 30 days where authorized and where there is a specific benefit to the University for up to 12 months with departmental head and the Division Vice President approval.
4. Checkout forms are required to be renewed by the end of each checkout period or no later than June 30th of each fiscal year, where authorized by the appropriate signatures for the given period if the checkout is to continue.  

Transfer Form - Use the Property Transfer Form for the following reasons:

1. To transfer tangible property from one location to another within the same department on campus.
2. To transfer tangible property from one department to another on campus.
3. Please note that you should not use this form to donate property to another State of Florida agency or University within the State of Florida system.  Please refer to part I of this Tip of the Week.

Forms Completion Information:

1. Are available on the Controller’s Office web page (or use links on this page).   
2. The forms are all interactive and may be completed on-line and saved to your computer file or printed and completed by hand. 
3. Forms must have all the proper signatures before they are submitted.
4. Submit all original forms to the Property Department in Controller’s Office.
5. Departments must maintain a copy of the forms.

We want to assist you in maintaining an updated and accurate inventory. However, this can only be accomplished if the initial purchases of items being added to the inventory are entered into the requisition correctly and items being removed from inventory are recorded by the use of the proper documentation.  Please remember that each department is responsible for the property inventory that is in their custody and failure to properly document these inventories will lead to inaccurate information that will undermine the audit process.

If you have any questions regarding this Tip of the Week information or need information regarding the inventory process, please contact any of the following individuals in the Property Department:

James Mousa at extension 2779
Jean Glasgow at extension 2707
Furman Reese at extension 2737


Back to the Administration and Finance's main page