Asset Management & Asset Accounting Training

In keeping with the global move towards the improvement in public sector accounting the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) were introduced, which provides for, inter alia:

• the safeguarding, maintenance, management & disposal of assets.
• allocating the responsibility for asset management to specific incumbents of posts within the public sector. Provision is also made for public sector entities to account for these assets as per the provision of section 216(1) of the South African Constitution, which requires that “National legislation must … prescribe measures to ensure both transparency and expenditure control in each sphere of government by introducing:
• generally recognised accounting practice (GRAP),
• uniform expenditure classifications,
• uniform treasury norms & standards.

The resulting accounting for and reporting on assets is a main component of the financial statements. Good asset management and asset accounting is key in any business environment and more so in the public sector, particularly as some of the significant assets are infrastructure assets with long life spans and enormous capital outlay that are vital to providing a sound foundation for service delivery.

Ducharme can provide capacity building and operation support pertaining to asset management and asset accounting application and implementation challenges.

In terms of training support, we can provide tailored training per the audit findings of the entity or the 5 day open-session presented ‘Asset management & GRAP Asset Accounting training’ together with Enterprises: the University of Pretoria, which focusses on:

• Asset management: This covers aspects such as asset management principles & context, the asset life-cycle process, asset planning & budgeting, acquisition, operations and maintenance of assets, disposal and replacement of assets, etc.
• GRAP Asset accounting & asset register: The applicable GRAP standards on GRAP (property plant & equipment; investment property; intangible assets; leases; heritage assets; inventory) and practical implementation elements on recognition, measurement and disclosure. The asset register section focusses on the elements and processes to maintain an asset register, sub-registers, updating & linking to the general ledger, etc.