601 - Property

Finance 601: Property Management

Purpose

To provide departments with guidelines for the control and protection of university property

Reference

Statewide Property Manual

Definitions

Controlled Property: Non-expendable equipment owned by or under the control of the university having a unit cost of $5,000 or more and expected life of one year or longer. Also includes equipment purchased with restricted funds irregardless of cost where the title remains vested with the funding agency. Sensitive Property: Non-expendable equipment having an acquisition value of less than $5,000 that is subject to special university title requirements or liability exposures. Firearms and vehicles are always considered sensitive and shall be issued property tags and accounted for in the property records regardless of acquisition value. Property Records: The official accounting information maintained on all controlled and sensitive property acquired by the university. Controlled and sensitive property is assigned a unique numerical tag number and a bar-coded tag is physically affixed to the item. Current property records are a result of previous physical inventories and have been increased by subsequent purchases and reduced by disposals.

Policy

Purpose of Property Management The purpose of property management is to ensure that university assets and equipment resources are preserved and protected. An inventory of equipment is maintained to provide administration with accurate and up-to-date information for managing property and to comply with federal and state requirements. In addition, the property valuation information presented in annual reports must be accurate to obtain an unqualified audit report from the external auditors.
Responsibilities Departmental offices are responsible for the proper use, protection and accountability of all controlled or sensitive property in their custody. Departments must designate a Departmental Property Custodian to perform the duties described under The Role of the Departmental Property Custodian in the Statewide Property Manual. Items currently in or added to the property module are required to be physically inventoried by department custodians on an annual basis.
The campus Property Coordinator, whose duties are also described in the Statewide Property Manual, is responsible for overall property management and property control at UAA. Questions regarding property management may be directed to the Property Coordinator.
Effective: 8/30/2005

Forms and Instructions 
The following property forms and instructions are available online in a PDF format at Statewide Property and may be downloaded for processing property transactions: