Companies undergo a variety of audits every year. Whether they’re evaluating financial standings or fixed asset inventory, these processes allow companies to gain more insight into their current situation and help government agencies ensure public and private organizations comply with regulations.

A new form of auditing is gaining popularity among companies of all sizes. Energy audits are proving extremely beneficial to businesses looking to reduce costs associated with fuel consumption and those that wish to weaken their carbon footprint. As sustainability is becoming increasingly important to both business leaders and consumers alike, collecting and analyzing information about energy use can help businesses improve processes and gain notoriety among the public.

The basics of energy audits

Conducting energy audits can help companies improve sustainability efforts and cut costs.

Energy audits are conducted in two main parts, according to Chemical Processing. The first involves analyzing the organization’s purchased energy and how its converted into different forms of fuel. The second part measures energy use and evaluates efficiency. Once an audit is complete, decision makers can pinpoint exactly how and where waste can be minimized or eliminated, thereby reducing fuel costs, maximizing equipment use, and reducing pollution emissions.

According to the source, there are several aspects that should factor into effective and successful energy audits, especially in manufacturing facilities and processing plants. These include the cost of heat derived from natural gas and biomass fuel, all steam expenses throughout operations and the cost of compressed air.

At the end of the process, business leadership has a thorough, organized breakdown of energy costs and use, which allows them to determine where improvements can be made. From there, decision makers can move forward with a plan of action to implement better practices for fixed asset use.

Evaluating fuel consumption helps organizations of all kinds

While it’s extremely important for factories and plants to conduct energy audits to increase consistency, small businesses and government organizations can perform these evaluations as well to cut expenses and embrace sustainability. It’s a good idea to measure how energy is consumed in office buildings as well as by vehicles, machinery or equipment.

Because green-minded practices are becoming more important in a variety of industries, effective fixed asset management is growing increasingly vital for organizations of all types and sizes.

By partnering with a reliable property accounting software provider, entities can keep track of items in a central, secure, and error-proof platform. This allows them to access, input, and modify fixed asset information efficiently without compromising existing data, which makes conducting energy audits less painlful and more effective.

Fixed asset managers work with decisions makers and with employees who oversee equipment use.

As companies expand, they face the need to bring in more employees and create new departments or branches to suit growth. To meet the growing needs of clients and improve processes for further expansion, businesses should focus on improving fixed asset management to maximize property use, eliminate ghost assets from accounting books and ultimately cut costs associated with taxes, insurance fees and productivity losses.

In addition to partnering with an inventory accounting solutions provider that can provide custom organizations and companies may need to consider the benefits of having a full-time, in-house fixed asset manager. These professionals serve as the link between accountants, the finance department, equipment managers, and organizational leadership. There are many other positive aspects to having someone in charge of tracking property value, condition and use.

Beyond overseeing equipment use

It’s important for supervisors and decision makers to understand how machines and tools get used to ensure employees are using correct processes and maximizing fuel and resource efficiency. However, relying solely on an equipment manager to balance associated expenses can lead a business to miss out on potential cost savings and operational improvements.

Fixed asset managers can bring in the financial knowledge necessary to keep the books healthy and accurate. Most have accounting certifications or may have received training from the Association of Equipment Management Professionals. Many of these professionals have taken the Certified Equipment Manager Exam, Energy Global explained.

While they do have the qualifications to work as a finance professional, fixed asset managers have skills that pertain specifically to overseeing the use, purchase and disposal of property, equipment, furniture and other items.

“Asset managers are involved in everything from procurement to benchmarking, evaluating life-cycle costs to purchasing technological tools, parts management to safety assurance,” the source explained.

To keep your business’s fixed assets under control, accounted for, and essentailly working to better the overall position of the business, dedicated personnel may be a profitable solution.

As medical and health organizations prepare for the changes mandated by recent health reforms, many industry decision makers are seeking ways to limit expenses throughout their institutions. While many health centers are zoning in on ways to improve the care delivered in their facilities, they should consider whether current processes related to equipment maintenance and repairs are as cost effective as they should be. There are several ways management can reform their current practices to ensure proper use of fixed assets and prolong equipment life cycles.

Improving maintenance procedures can extend fixed asset lifecycle.

1. Evaluate fixed assets

As advances in the medical world constantly improve the technology and tools used to treat patients, health centers may either invest in the newest trends or be wary of costs associated with new equipment purchases.

It’s a good idea to take the time to evaluate organization needs thoroughly and determine whether equipment meets these demands. Management should oversee treatment, evaluate fixed asset storage and use, and interview employees about their daily interactions with equipment. Hospitals, doctors offices and clinics may discover items aren’t serving the right purposes or aren’t being cleaned or stored correctly, which could shorten  fixed asset lifespan.

2. Determine equipment necessity

By evaluating how fixed assets get used every day in the organization, leadership can assess which items are the most valuable based on availability, use and function. This way, management can decide how to prioritize maintenance. In addition, by determining how often critical items get used, it’s easier to evaluate whether a second piece of equipment is necessary or if resource sharing across the organization demands an overhaul.

3. Cap repair prices

It’s a good idea to set a limit on the amount an organization is willing to spend on maintenance and repairs, according to Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. Managers should track equipment repair history to determine when it would be more cost-effective to replace items instead of fixing them.

Fixed asset management software can help organizations easily keep track of item maintenance and value depreciation. This way, decision makers can schedule preventative maintenance more effectively to prolong the item lifecycles.

4. Enforce best practices

It’s important to maintain strict oversight to determine whether employees are using equipment effectively. Supervisors should ensure staff is handling delicate equipment correctly, sanitizing items and storing fixed assets to keep in good condition for as long as possible.

Educate leadership and staff on the importance of compliance with formal procedures.

Centralizing fixed asset inventory management with the right technology is an important step for businesses for several reasons. By implementing software, companies can significantly reduce the amount of time and manpower needed to track and account for items, cut insurance and tax costs, prevent loss and theft, improve budgeting and better prepare for natural disasters and emergency situations that may jeopardize property conditions.

After partnering with a fixed asset management solutions provider, there are several initial steps leadership can take to ensure a smooth and effective transition, whether their company is adopting inventory tracking software for the first time or upgrading to a better system. Fixed Asset Inventory: A Guide to Getting Started highlights important initial actions that will help staff embrace and make the most of the company’s technological investment.

1. Formalize processes and procedures

After reviewing implementation information from the software provider, management and human resources should work together to create policies that outline the guidelines for inventory tracking. These formalized documents should explain which items should be inventoried and how fixed assets should be entered into the system, tracked, disposed of and removed from budgeting records to ensure accounting is standardized across the organization.

2. Make fixed asset management an inter-department priority

Accounting and equipment management should not be the only departments concerned with the effectiveness and accuracy of property inventory. It’s important for leadership in all areas of the organization to understand the implementation process so they can better manage their department’s use of equipment, furniture, asset accessories and other items.

3. Educate staff

If leadership from various departments are well versed in the reasons for software implementation, its benefits and what common policies and procedures are in place, they can train employees to use fixed assets correctly to avoid rapid item depreciation and accounting errors.

4. Maintain oversight to ensure compliance

After spending time and resources preparing members for a transition and educating certain employees on the use of fixed asset management software, it’s important to ensure the investments don’t go to waste. Management should maintain constant oversight to enforce policies and procedures. In addition, it’s a good idea to revise these formal documents frequently to make sure they are up to date as the company undergoes growth and other changes.

Barcode systems help SMBs save time and cut costs.

The healthcare industry is changing rapidly. Today, more technologies than ever are going online, especially with new standards for electronic health records. The United States government has mandated the meaningful use of these information management systems by 2015, but what about fixed asset management? As medical professionals prepare to go paperless, they should also consider upgrading their inventory management system.

Strong solutions for practical practitioners

There are many benefits to implementing an advanced inventory management system in a medical setting. One of the most apparent may be that clinicians can save time by knowing the exact location of many materials. Healthcare professionals can use inventory tracking technologies to tag an array of items, including pill bottles, wheelchairs, defibrillators and patient monitoring cables. Saving time often correlates with saving lives in a medical setting, and inventory tracking can help with both.

By carefully tracking medications on the shelf, hospitals may also be able to cut costs. If it seems that some products linger longer, with a large amount of stock passing its expiration date, the organization can cut back on orders gradually to reduce waste. For the most commonly-used products, hospitals can better gauge demand and make sure that they are unlikely to run out at a critical moment.

Most importantly, inventory tracking not only allows for quicker care, but for better patient outcomes. A doctor can easily check hospital computers to determine whether medications have reached their expiration date, and even see how long the items have been on the shelf. With each bottle and case tracked in an automated system, it is simple for medical professionals to ensure that they have important treatment materials in stock, guaranteeing that patients won’t have to suffer due to accounting errors. For any hospital, patients’ are the top priority, and inventory tracking may result in happier, healthier ones.

Two of the more reliable solutions for hospitals looking to make changes to their inventory management system are radio frequency identification (RFID) and barcode asset tracking. Through these methods, professionals are able to keep accurate, to-the-minute records of just about every object in the healthcare system with the use of unique markers that allow the items to be located electronically. With an RFID or barcode system implemented, clinicians can easily check their computers for updates on a piece of equipment’s location or a drug’s expiration date, for example. This technology makes life much simpler for staff, as well as guarantees that patients are receiving the best care possible.