Monthly Archives: June 2012

Article – Imagine There’s No Excel

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David Rosenbaum, a writer for CFO posits the following: With the rise of analytics and Big Data, replacements for Excel are proliferating and CFOs of companies large and small are beginning to pay attention.

Even the people selling business analytics (BA), business intelligence (BI), and financial planning and analysis (FP&A) software — jobs traditionally performed through Excel — sing Excel’s praises. “But,” says Adaptive Planning president Rob Hull, who founded the company because of his frustration with the time he had to spend inputting data in Excel, sending it out in e-mails, making sure the right people had the right versions, and error checking, “if you have a process that requires integrating data from other sources — SaaS or on-premises — and if you need to consolidate it and add analytics and share that broadly over a number of players who are going to add their own stuff, Excel is a poor application for that.”

We here at Bassets agree with Mr. Rosenbaum’s assertion that, while spreadsheets can certainly perform complex calculations, they are prone to formula errors and are not the best solution for asset management.

Read Full Article Here

Questions or comments about this post? We invite you to respond in the space below.

More information about Bassets eDepreciation software can be found at Bassets.net. While there you can set up a demonstration, download a free evaluation copy and get a personalized pricing estimate.

Calculating ROI for a Fixed Asset Software Package

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Fixed Asset Software sometimes does not get the attention it deserves. Some companies will utilize spreadsheets to track fixed assets and perform depreciation calculations. While spreadsheets can certainly perform complex calculations, they are prone to formula errors and are not the best solution for asset management. A better approach is to select fixed asset and depreciation software that is specifically built for this complicated accounting function. For additional information, read my white paper “Evaluating Fixed Asset Management Software.”

When you have decided to convert from spreadsheets or upgrade your existing fixed asset software, you can choose from a number of asset management solutions. First, you will need to get an approval for the software purchase from your management team. The best approach for justifying the cost is to make a solid business case by calculating Return On Investment (ROI). The purpose of this document is to help you determine the current costs associated with managing your assets and then project potential savings and benefits of an improved solution.

In order to calculate ROI, there are four basic steps involved (see Diagram below). First, perform a need assessment. This can layout any problems with the spreadsheets or your current system. This is also a good place to establish potential benefits of a new fixed asset software package. Second, establish benchmarks of the current monthly and annual processing of fixed assets. Third, define what technology, operational and economic value can be found in a new system. Fourth and finally, present your findings to management with projected savings and intangible benefits that show purchasing new fixed asset software will easily return the cost of purchase in a short period of time.

Once you have performed these steps  you are will be armed with the information you need to present your findings to upper management. Use the benchmark calculations as a starting point. Review these numbers and determine how much time and money will be saved with an improved fixed asset management system.

In addition, you need to present the other “value” improvements. While it is difficult to put a dollar amount on some of the intangible benefits, they can have a powerful impact on gaining management approval.

 

This modified version of a White Paper is intended to give you an overview of how to calculate the ROI for a new fixed asset software package. You can find a more detailed version, including including how to’s on each of the four steps and a handy ROI calculator, on the Bassets White Papers page.

Questions or comments about this post? We invite you to respond in the space below.

More information about Bassets eDepreciation software can be found at Bassets.net. While there you can set up a demonstration, download a free evaluation copy and get a personalized pricing estimate.

 

Change the Useful Life on an Active Asset

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How can you change the useful life of an asset without altering prior accumulated depreciation and only impact the calculations going forward?

The Remainder Life method provides the user with the ability to shorten or lengthen the useful life of an asset at any time during the original recovery period. When the Remainder Life method is selected, Bassets eDepreciation will amortize the net book value as of the effective date of the change to Remainder Life in equal amounts over the new remaining life. There are four key pieces of information shown below:

The start date is the effective date to begin the remainder life calculation and the new useful life can be entered in both years and months. The original method is stored to ensure the accuracy of the prior calculation.

Changing the useful life of an asset will not alter the total amount of depreciation of that asset. However, it will impact the amount that is depreciated by year. For instance if a $6,000 asset was using straight line depreciation over 5 years, then the annual depreciation amount would be $1200 or $100 per period. If the useful life was then changed to 1 year after 2 years have already been depreciated, the remaining $3,600 would be spread over 12 months or $300 per period.

Questions or comments about this post? We invite you to respond in the space below.

More information about Bassets eDepreciation software can be found at Bassets.net. While there you can set up a demonstration, download a free evaluation copy and get a personalized pricing estimate.

Home Page Summary – Easily Summarize Your Critical Data

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A special feature of Bassets eDepreciation is called the Home Page. This is a great tool that presents 7 summary views of your critical data in a simple format rather than sifting through many reports. A refresh button allows for instant recalculation of a single period or any group of periods in prior, current and future tax years. Even greater visibility can be achieved by using the powerful drill down feature to view the detail behind each summary. To find out more detail on how to utilize this powerful feature, watch the short video below.

Questions or comments about this post? We invite you to respond in the space below.

More information about Bassets eDepreciation software can be found at Bassets.net. While there you can set up a demonstration, download a free evaluation copy and get a personalized pricing estimate.

Case Study – Mount Sinai Hospital

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Founded in 1852, The Mount Sinai Hospital is one of the country’s oldest and largest voluntary teaching hospitals. Mount Sinai is internationally acclaimed for excellence in clinical care, education, and scientific research in nearly every aspect of medicine. Mount Sinai’s 1,171-bed tertiary-care teaching hospital with a medical staff of nearly 1,800 provides physicians who deliver the most advanced and compassionate inpatient and outpatient care. Located at 98th Street and Madison Avenue, The Mount Sinai Hospital serves Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Harlem.

For a hospital this large, Mount Sinai had some special requirements. Bassets provided the construction in progress (CIP) add on module to solve Mount Sinai’s property accounting problem. Invoices (Property Accounting) are entered into the Bassets CIP module and then converted to Assets (Accounting) when they go into service. Mount Sinai manages over 100,000 assets in Bassets with the same care and efficiency as they provide for their patients.

Mount Sinai recently upgraded to Bassets eDepreciation and has seen a tremendous boost in the processing speed of their reports. In the prior version they would have to wait as depreciation was recalculated, but eDepreciation’s dynamic calculations produce reports in a fraction of the time. In a hospital environment where every minute counts, it’s important that their software also has an excellent response time.

To read more about how Bassets has helped other companies with their depreciation needs, go to the Bassets Fixed Assets case studies page.

More information about Bassets eDepreciation software can be found at Bassets.net. While there you can set up a demonstration, download a free evaluation copy and get a personalized pricing estimate.