Glasgow’s oldest housing co-operative has signed up to use the latest specialist component accounting software from Real Asset Management to ensure long-term SORP compliance.
Cassiltoun will use RAM’s Asset4000 software to streamline the management of its £42 million asset register comprising nearly 8,000 assets including houses, offices, a children’s nursery and training rooms. The software is being implemented at the moment and is expected to be live by the end of November 2012.
Cassiltoun’s finance department originally used a spreadsheet-based tool in order to meet the April 2012 deadline for SORP compliance but as many other housing providers have found to their cost, spreadsheets were only suitable as a short-term fix.
Gamal Haddou, finance director, Cassiltoun Housing Association, said, “After working closely with our external auditors to develop a detailed, spreadsheet-based asset management model, it became apparent that minor errors were creeping into the data and it was increasingly difficult to maintain a multitude of different worksheets. It was also very time consuming to extract information and difficult to get an overview of the components included.
“Efficient and accurate component accounting requires a level of detail that is beyond the capabilities of both traditional finance solutions and housing asset management systems. Asset4000 allows us to control, track and accurately record changes that occur within the lifetime of each individual asset. Not only does this ensure SORP compliance at all times, but it also gives us much better management information and streamlines administrative processes within the finance department.”
One of the limitations of Cassiltoun’s original spreadsheet-based tool was that access was limited to one person at a time. Asset4000 allows multiple users within the finance team to access it simultaneously making it easier and faster for them to produce the various monthly management reports.
