12.15 Equipment Inventory Reporting Requirements

1. Physical inventory. Each department is required to conduct a complete physical inventory of equipment every two years. Any additions, deletions, transfers or corrections discovered during the biennial physical inventory must be reported to Capital Assets Management on the appropriate CAM reporting form, i.e., Additions Request form, Deductions Request form, Internal Transfer of University Equipment form. Departments should coordinate the physical inventory effort with Capital Assets Management. Capital Assets Management can provide bar code scanners with which to take an initial inventory or with a listing of the departments current inventory. Upon completion of the department's physical inventory, the departmental executive officer must sign any applicable equipment adjustment forms and forward them to Capital Assets Management, along with an approved, signed certification letter, certifying that the physical inventory has been completed. Physical inventories should be completed in a timely manner to ensure that the property records are up to date and that the recording of the depreciation of equipment, where appropriate, is accurate.
2. Spot checks. Spot checks may be performed by Capital Assets Management to test the validity of the biennial inventories received from departments. In general, inventory spot checks may be undertaken in any department responsible for more than 200 assets. If a sufficient number of discrepancies is noted during a spot check, the department may be asked to perform additional work on the inventory before the physical inventory is accepted by Capital Assets Management.
3. Federal compliance. The federal government requires the University to audit its federally titled assets each year and conducts its own audit once every two years. Departments holding federally titled equipment must annually provide appropriate information to Capital Assets Management for validating and updating the location, custodian, and condition of these federally titled assets. The departments also need to provide disposition requests when appropriate. The Grant Accounting Office is responsible to submit the disposition requests to the appropriate federal agency and for the government award closeout process as defined by the Department of Defense Property Manual 4161M. Submission of year-end property reports (i.e., DoD 1662, NASA 1018, and grant reports) is the responsibility of the Grant Accounting Office.