Property Menu - Property Manual

Property Manual - Chapter Seven

Physical Inventory

Overview

Physical inventories of property are conducted at Stanford to verify the accuracy of the property records in Sunflower Assets (SFA) and the PMO Material Tracking System as well as the existence and activity status of the assets. Results of an inventory provide an excellent overall assessment of the effectiveness of the property management system at the university and the level of compliance with established policies and procedures. Data is used in various management reports, including financial statements, ONR and sponsor reports, and data presented to the Board of Trustees.

A biennial physical inventory is conducted and reconciled on a campus-wide cyclical basis. The biennial period is a two-year period with beginning and end dates coinciding with the fiscal year calendar. In addition, special inventories are also conducted either at the close of a contract or as otherwise required by the accountable department or owning sponsor.

Planning, performing, and reconciling the inventory is a team effort. Key personnel involved are the Property Management Office (PMO) Physical Inventory Group and the Property Service Representatives (PSRs), Department Property Administrators (DPAs), Principal Investigators (PIs), and asset custodians or users. Depending on the department and the location or type of property being inventoried, other personnel may be involved.

Specific performance objectives and goals are defined in the operational instructions for the physical inventory. They are defined at the beginning of each biennial inventory cycle or at the beginning of each special inventory and are made available at the pre-inventory planning meetings.

When a DPA maintains good property management practices on a routine basis, the physical inventory is truly a matter of verification and should pose little stress or inconvenience on the department. Good property management practices, considered routine in the day-to-day operations of a department, include but are not limited to:

Tagging and recording in SFA all capital, sponsor-owned, donated or leased property within 14 days of acquisition
Non-capital overlay tags are placed on non-capital equipment
- At the Department’s discretion, tagging and recording non-capital Sensitive Property to facilitate basic tracking and correct disposal processing
SFA records are updated with new locations, custodians, and use status
Off-Campus Equipment Verification forms are filled out and updated annually
Excess requests are processed via SFA on a timely basis

These tasks should not be rushed through in the few weeks prior to the inventory, and are not performed just "to pass the inventory".