Procurement & Support
Services
Property Accounting Procedure |
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Purpose and
Objective of Property Accounting
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The State Administrative Manual (SAM), Section 8600,
states: "Property accounting procedures are
designed to maintain uniform accountability for
State property. These standard procedures are used to
provide accurate records for the
acquisition, maintenance, control, and disposition of property. The
combination of accurate
accounting records and strong internal controls must be in place to protect
against and
detect the unauthorized use of State property."
A. According to SAM, Section 8602, State property is
capitalized for accounting purposes
when all three of the following
requirements are met:
1. Useful life of at least one year.
2. Unit acquisition cost
of at least $5,000. Unit cost includes the purchase price
plus all
costs to acquire, install, and prepare the property for its
intended use.
3. Used to conduct State
business.
B. Only property that meets these requirements shall be
charged to account codes for
property.
C. Property that is permanently attached or integrated
into a building will not be capitalized.
D. Property acquired with Cal State San Marcos
Foundation funds, Associated Students, Inc.
funds, and San Marcos
University Corporation funds do not meet these requirements.
E. See Section IV for a complete listing of property
definitions.
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Areas of
Responsibility |
A. The Property Office is located within the Materials
Management Department, and is
responsible for the State property
inventory of California State University San Marcos.
Responsibilities include:
1. Maintain accurate accounting of the acquisition,
control and disposition of property.
2. Maintain up-to-date property records and
initiate all actions necessary to properly
carry out its function
with respect to property.
3. Reconcile to financial accounting
records of all capitalized equipment and
expenditures as reported in
official university financial statements. Notify Fiscal
Operations of any variances or
changes needed.
4. Tag all capitalized property in a timely
manner with a Cal State San Marcos
bar-coded identification number. The property remains so
identified as long as it
is in the custody of the
university. Assigned property numbers are removed only
by
the Property Office and only when
property is sold, scrapped, or otherwise disposed.
Should the identification number be
accidentally or mistakenly removed, notify the
Property
Office. Any additional identification used by a department should be applied
in
a manner that avoids confusion with the
state property number.
5. Solicit Deans, Directors, and Chairs to
appoint a Departmental Property Administrator
(see Section IIB).
6. Propose the disposition of
non-capitalized university property. Relocate or propose
the
disposition of
items in one of the following ways:
a. transfer between Cal State San Marcos departments.
b. donate to public schools or charitable organizations.
c. dispose of useable property at surplus auction.
d. dispose of unusable property through the university
Recycling and Waste
Management Program and/or Risk Management.
7. Propose the disposition of all capitalized university
property to the Property Survey Board
(see Section VII).
B. Departmental Property Administrators are designated
by a Dean, Director or Chair.
Responsibilities include:
1. Maintain up-to-date departmental records and initiate
such actions necessary to fully
inform the
Property Office with respect to the care, custody and
records involving said
property.
2. Conduct, in conjunction with the
Property Office, an inventory of the department a
minimum of
once every three years.
3. Promptly report any loss of
property to the University Police.
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Property
Requiring Special Handling |
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A.
Personally Owned Property
If a university employee keeps personally owned
property on campus, it should be reported
to his/her department and identified as personal
property. The university will not be
responsible for loss or damage to personal property.
B. Loaning Property
Loans of property must be properly documented.
1. Loans of Capitalized Property (Tangible Property
Over $5,000) to Employees for
Off-Campus
Use.
Any loan of
capitalized university property to an employee for
off-campus use must have
prior,
written approval of a Dean, Director or Chair. All
property being loaned is to be
listed on a
Property Action Request Form, and submitted to the
Property Office. Tracking
and liability
of loaning property to employees for off-campus use
will be the responsibility
of the
loaning department.
2. Loans of Non-Capitalized Property
(Tangible Property between $1,500 and $4,999.99)
to Employees
for Off-Campus Use.
Tracking and
liability of loaning non-capitalized property to
employees for off-campus
use will be
the responsibility of the loaning department.
3. Loans of Property to External
Organizations.
Use of
university property by an external organization,
whether initiated by the university
or the
external organization must have the prior written
approval of a dean, director or
chair. The
Department must complete a Property Action Loan
Agreement Form and
forward a
copy to the Property Office.
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Property Definitions |
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A. Capitalized Property (Tangible Property over $5,000)
For university accounting purposes, to record
(capitalize) property for accountability, it
must meet the conditions as listed in
Section I.
B. Non-Capitalized Property (Tangible Property
between $1,500 and $4999.99)
The Property Office will record property items
with a unit cost between $1,500.00 and
$4999.99. These items will not be
capitalized for accounting purposes, but will be
tagged
with a bar-coded identification
number in a timely manner. Property
Administrators will be
responsible to maintain records for
this property.
C. Theft Sensitive Property (Tangible Property
under $1,500)
Theft sensitive property is defined as highly
desirable and portable items (e.g., palm pilots,
digital cameras, etc.). It is highly
recommended that departments with theft
sensitive
property record the receipt of these
items. Make, model, value, and serial numbers
should
be noted and recorded in departmental
records. Property Administrators will be
responsible
to maintain records for this
property.
D. Computer software
Computer Software is not considered a property
accessory. Software purchases are
classified as operating expenses.
Software costing less than $5000, with a useful
life of less
than four (4) years, may be charged
to the IT Software Expense account, code 5740 or
to
the Supplies and Services account
code 4501. Software that exceeds $5000 must be
approved by IITS, recorded as a
capital asset and charged to account code 5745.
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Acquisition of Property |
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A. No property should be delivered to and/or
picked up by departments unless arrangements
have
been made with Procurement & Support Services
and Shipping & Receiving.
B. Departments taking direct delivery of Property will notify the
Property Office within 30 days of receipt.
C. Incorrect or damaged property must be reported immediately to
Procurement & Support Services.
D. Budget managers will be responsible for the use of correct
account codes on requisitions.
E. Purchase Order
Property procurements exceeding $1,500 using
a purchase order are recorded on property
records
and will include the following information:
a. Date received
b. PO document number
c. Description
d. Make
e. Model
f. Serial number
g. Department (End User)
h. Location (Building/Room)
i. Vendor
j. Acquisition cost
k. Fund Organization Account Program
number
Any gift to the university that is
transferred to university ownership and that
meets the definition of
property is to be tagged and added to
the property records in a timely manner.
G. Transfers of Property to the University
from Other Agencies
The Property Office must be notified of
acquisitions of surplus property from other
agencies.
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Inventory of Property |
Physical Inventories of University
Property
SAM Section 8652 details parameters for
inventories and designation of
departmental property
administrators.
Department Deans, Directors, or Chairs
should ensure compliance with these
guidelines
when appointing personnel to
this position.
The Property Office will provide
inventory instructions to each
department at inventory time. Inventory
of
capitalized property ($5,000+) will
be completed at least once every three
years and reconciled with the
property
records.
Any property that is not found or
accounted for during inventory will be
surveyed as lost (see Section VII).
Replacement of the lost property will be
at the discretion of, and funded by, the
responsible department.
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Survey
(Removal) of Property from Property Records |
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A. The Property Office is responsible to maintain accurate
accounting of tangible property for its life
as university assets, including the
disposition. Only the Property Office is
authorized as the official
university entity to propose the
disposition of all university property. The
Property Survey Board
will review all property requesting to be
surveyed with a value of $5,000 and over for
the best
interests of the State (see Section VII.B).
Eventually, all capital and non-capital
property will be
surveyed (removed) from inventory records as
determined by the Property Office (see
Section II.6)
Reasons for this survey are not limited to but
may include, trade-in, donation, sale,
theft, loss,
obsolescence or break down.
The following procedures must be followed to
remove property items from a department’s
inventory
records:
1. When it is determined that retention of
property is no longer in the best interest
of the
department, a Request for Property Survey
Report must be prepared by the departmental
property administrator and submitted for
approval and signature of the appropriate
Dean,
Director or Chair. The request to survey
property should include the Cal State San
Marcos ID
number and the reason why the property needs
to be removed from inventory. If the
property
has been lost or stolen, the accountable
individual is to immediately notify
University Police,
ext. 4567 and the Departmental Property
Administrator.
2. The
Property Administrator forwards a completed
Request for Property Survey Report to the
Property Office.
3. The
Property Office will pick up the property
and remove the property from departmental
records. If a department wishes to
permanently transfer property to another
department, the
property administrator will notify the
Property Office by means of a memo or email.
The
notification should include the property
identification number, the new department
name and
the location of the item(s).
4. The State
Administrative Manual, Section 8643, states:
"Employees will be charged with any
loss
and damages to State property due to their
negligence or unauthorized use."
5. Surplus
Computing Equipment
IITS is solely responsible for the purchase,
lease, support, maintenance and re-issue of
all
computing equipment on campus. Departments
should contact IITS with any computer needs.
When computing equipment becomes surplus to
the campus, IITS will prepare a Request for
Property Survey Report. Disposition of
surplus computing equipment will follow the
procedures
as listed in II.A.6.
B. Property Survey Board
Section 3520.2 of the State Administrative
Manual states: “Each agency will have a duly
appointed
Property Survey Board. It will be the
responsibility of the Board to determine
that the best interest of
the State is served in disposing of State
property. To the extent possible, there will
be a sufficient
number of members on the Board that both
business management and program
responsibilities will
be represented. At least two members of the
Property Survey Board will approve all
Property Survey
Reports.”
Cal State San Marcos has an appointed
Property Survey Board that includes the
Associate Vice
President for Finance and Business
Services, the University Controller, and the
Director of
Procurement & Support Services. The
Property Survey Board will review all
property requesting to
be surveyed with a value of $5,000 and over
for the best interests of the State. A
Property Survey
Report, STD 152, will be prepared by the
Property Office for submission to the Board
for review and
approval. The Survey report will list the
property to be surveyed, the reason for the
survey and the
proposed disposition.
The Director of Procurement & Support
Services will review the disposition of
property under $5,000
requesting to be surveyed. A Property
Survey Report, STD 152, will be prepared by
the Property
Office for review and approval of the
proposed disposition of property. Future
issues, discussions
and changes to the Property Accounting Policy
and Procedure will be brought to the
attention of the
Property Survey Board.
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Transfers and
Relocation of Property |
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It is the responsibility of the department to notify the Property
Office of all transfers and relocations
of
property.
A. Relocation of Entire Department
When an entire department relocates, the
department should complete a physical
inventory of
property and notify the
Property Office, via memo or e-mail, of
such relocation.
B. Surplus Property Under $1500
Departments having excess/surplus
property with an original cost of $1500
or less should notify
the Property
Office via memo or e-mail. The Property
Office is the sole designee for
determining
the
disposition of University Property as
outlined in Section II.A.6. Departments
who may be able
to use
excess/surplus property, should contact
the Property Office, via e-mail, to
check on
availability.
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Property
Procedures for Instructional and Information Technology Services |
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Due to the large volume of purchased computer property, the
Property Office and IITS have developed
special procedures for capitalization.
A. External Computer Hardware Over $5000
All external computer hardware purchased by
IITS with a unit cost over $5000 will be
capitalized
on Property records
and charged to the 7850 account code. Upon
receipt in Shipping and
Receiving, computer property
will be tagged with inventory bar codes and
delivered to IITS.
IITS will notify the Property Office of
the location of the new computer property by
scanning the
equipment and updating the
Equipment Inventory Database.
B. Internal Computer Components Over $5000
All purchased internal computer equipment
with a unit cost over $5000 will be
capitalized on
Property records
and charged to the 7850 account code. The
value of the internal component will
be added to the
computer hardware that is being upgraded.
IITS will provide the bar-code number
of the designated
equipment to the Property Office.
C. External Computer Hardware $1,500.00 -
$4999.99
External computer equipment with a unit cost
of less than $5000 will not be capitalized
on Property
records, but will
be bar-coded for tracking purposes.
Locations of this equipment will be scanned
by IITS personnel
and downloaded to the Equipment Inventory
Database.
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