South Staffordshire District Council selects Asset4000 from RAM to manage over £20m of assets

Local authority selects Real Asset Management’s Asset4000 to achieve IFRS and SORP compliance, flexible reporting and improved external audits

South Staffordshire Council, a local authority provider, has implemented Asset4000 from Real Asset Management (RAM) to manage its £20 million worth of assets. The RAM solution, valued in the region of £20,000 enables the Council to achieve IFRS and SORP compliance, flexible reporting functionality and full integration with its existing COA Solutions financial management system, providing improved audit preparation and streamlining processes.

The District Council supplies local authority services including waste collection and recycling, benefits, planning and building control to the South Staffordshire area, with its asset base consisting mainly of commercial and industrial units as well as council offices.

Helen Ogram, Accountancy Financial Services Manager at South Staffordshire District Council, comments, “Historically we have used spreadsheets to record and manage our fixed assets – a manual process which was lengthy and complicated. With IFRS compliance increasingly a key issue, the asset management system also had to clearly demonstrate compliance capabilities.”

The flexible reporting functionality of the RAM system was also a key driver for the Council. Ogram continues, “As well as providing component level accounting, complete integration with our existing COA Solutions finance system and saving considerable time over manual spreadsheets, the RAM solution also offers flexibility in reporting. We report in many different formats to meet the demands of our businesses, external agencies and statistical returns – the RAM system will ultimately make this simpler.

Ogram adds, “With the RAM system we expect to see higher quality reporting. In effect, this will help to shorten the external audit process. In the past, a member of staff had to sit with the auditor, explaining the manual spreadsheet system. The RAM system, however, can demonstrate that it produces clear and robust output, making the audit process much less cumbersome.”

Ogram concludes, “It is also reassuring for us that Asset4000 is being adopted by so many other Councils and is working effectively to aid their processes. We have confidence in the system and its ability to provide legislative compliance as well as clear operational benefits.”

Back to previous page