There's no room for error when you need a precise picture of your company's physical assets. Knowing exactly what assets you currently have, where these assets are located and how these assets are changing over time, allows a company to keep track of details of each fixed asset, ensuring control and preventing misappropriation of assets.   

Assets are physical items of business property. They are categorized into:
Movable Assets: Movable assets are assets that are either not affixed to a building, or are fixed to a building, but not permanently affixed, can be removed without costly or extensive alterations or repairs to the building, and can be used after removal.

Examples of movable assets include furniture and equipment that are easy to move from one building to another.

Immovable Assets: Immovable assets are assets that are permanently affixed to a building, cannot be easily or cheaply removed from the building, or cannot be used after removal from the building.

Fixed assets physical verification and tagging entails the following activities:

1. Comprehensive and complete physical verification exercise of all the organizations Fixed Assets.
2. Physical identification and labeling of the assets with special bar coded labels.
3. Capturing of the following Fixed Assets information electronically:
   • Barcode number
   • Description
   • Location
   • Fixed Asset Classes
   • Departments and Cost Centre's
   • Serial numbers
4. Matching of the output of the verification exercise with existing records. A process of linking the asset values in the existing records and the assets tagged at each location is carried out.

This exercise helps to keep track of the correct value of assets, which allows for computation of depreciation and taxes for insurance purposes while ensuring compliance with corporate and government policies. The use of bar-coding technology makes asset verification simple and efficient. The exercise also helps to clean up the asset register of any disposals or movements that may not have been captured in the books and by giving up to date records of the asset. 

Benefits of Asset Tagging:

• Identify owned assets quickly and easily with visual inspection.
• Track serial or model numbers efficiently with barcode stickers.
• Simplify inventory with bar code imprinting of property ID asset tags.
• Track high value movable equipment such as laptops & PDA's.
• Save time and money in duplication of assets between departments.
• Increased security with regular tracking & monitoring.
• Reduction of theft with visual identification of assets with security labels
• Monitor asset movement between locations
• Compliance with insurance or government regulations
• Track useful life of assets and depreciation schedules
• Schedule maintenance, service and replacement of owned assets