RAM improves health of asset register for Fitness First

Leading health club chain implements Asset4000 in UK and Europe

Fitness First, the largest health club chain in the world, is planning a European roll-out of Real Asset Management's specialist fixed asset accounting solution. The project, which has already seen implementations in the UK and Spain, will continue throughout 2009. The chain, which has over 550 clubs and 1.5 million members worldwide, aims to offer everyone, regardless of their size, shape or ability, the opportunity to improve their fitness level and have fun at an affordable price.

With such an extensive number of clubs, asset management has become a crucial part of the management process at Fitness First. In the UK alone, there are over 100,000 items on the asset register, across 160 clubs, mainly consisting of gym machines and IT equipment.

"It is important to maintain tight control over such a large asset base," explained Emma Stark, project accountant at the UK office. "Gym equipment often moves around between clubs so it is a real benefit that the Asset4000 system can hold a history of movement between locations or cost centres. It is good to have complete confidence in the accuracy of the asset register and be able to access a full audit trail for any item at any period of time."

Asset4000 is currently being used alongside the Sage Line 500 accounting system to bring extra control and reporting functionality to the fixed asset management function. "The integration with Sage Line 500 is beneficial as it allows us to automatically post debits and credits to the nominal ledger, along with supporting individual or batch transfers and disposals, saving us countless amounts of time and effort. The next step for us is to work closely with RAM to see how else the integration with Sage can benefit us."

"A particularly useful aspect of RAM's software is the ability to forecast the effect of changes in company policy," continued Stark. "The finance team recently carried out an exercise to evaluate whether to depreciate the sun beds over a longer period of time and was able to use Asset4000 to calculate what effect this would have on the annual accounts. Also, if the company is considering the disposal or sale of a particular range of machinery, the outcome can be both forecasted and reported on. Ad hoc reports of this type are often generated to help make management decisions."

Having recently implemented RAM's latest enhancement for Asset4000, the Tool Kit for Excel™, Fitness First will benefit from being able to easily import and export information using an Excel™ spreadsheet. Using Microsoft Excel™ it facilitates easy modification of asset analysis codes, descriptions, notes and date fields, en mass. "We are really excited about the time savings this new tool will afford us, in terms of dealing with impairments and the transfer of assets," commented Stark.

Fitness First has clubs in twelve countries worldwide including Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Spain. Following the UK implementation, Asset4000 was installed in Spain, replacing a series of spreadsheets. "It has really improved the efficiency of fixed asset reporting," declared Emma Stewart, the financial accountant responsible for co-ordinating group accounts. "The users in Spain can view the data in Spanish and in Euros but still follow the same reporting format as the head office in the UK. This makes collating data much easier. Other European sites will soon implement Asset4000, which will again improve control over fixed assets and provide a centralised and effective reporting system."

Real Asset Management has recently completed a similar project with a leading automotive manufacturer which involved implementations at over 40 sites in 11 European countries. "The strength of RAM is its flexibility to meet individual requirements of European countries whilst still providing a centralised solution if required," said Karen Conneely, RAM's marketing manager. "Many organisations are struggling to meet strict reporting guidelines and to verify data on a regular basis because of their reliance on a variety of local systems at different sites. RAM has seen a sharp rise in pan-European and worldwide implementations as organisations are increasingly looking for global solutions with local functionality."

RAM is a leading supplier of fixed asset management software to the leisure industry.