Acting like the BIG GUYS

Large corporations understand the importance of having an accurate inventory which documents the value of the personal property, or assets, that the company owns. It is just as important for small and mid-sized businesses to follow similar formalities. A few key reasons are:

• Buy-sell agreements should always include a valuation of the business, and a current inventory is an essential part of that valuation.
• Additional key info even if you're using a business valuation company - most do not get deep into details because the deeper they delve, the more time and cost involved. Sometimes these "details" (or personal property) can add up to a large sum of money.
• When they do add up to a high value, it can make a difference when seeking funding.
• If you don't know the true value of your assets, there is high probability of not having a sufficient amount of insurance to properly recover from a fire, theft or natural disaster. 
• A list of all assets can provide information for tax purposes for depreciation and losses or other accounting or auditing purposes.
• Cost savings. Often the CFO or Department Managers don't know what the company owns or where items are stored. This frequently causes more items to be purchased since they are unaware the company already owns them.
• Time savings. Rather than spend hours hunting (then possibly purchasing) for specific items that would be in storage, the inventory list will tell you exactly where they are located.

Obviously, there are number of reasons to have an inventory of your company's assets. It can be a time-consuming process, but well worth the effort.

Oh, by the way ... if you don't want to take the time - or your employees' time - there are personal property inventory service companies that will do it for you.