Asset Management and Valuation Services

If your institution currently depreciates its buildings over a 40, 50, or 60-year life, you are probably not maximizing your potential depreciation benefits. Building Componentization allows you to adjust the average asset lives from say, 60 years to perhaps 20 to 30 years, thus accelerating your depreciation and increasing F&A reimbursement. Additionally, with periodic/ongoing building renovations, new PI’s occupying new space, the lifing of these assets due to renovations, improvements, or betterments, could be significant and should be accurately reported.

Maximus will perform a Building Componentization study in accordance with OMB 2 CFR 200 of your research-intensive buildings (Organized research activities of a defined percentage of Organized Research activities) by accurately identifying and segregating construction and renovation costs into the OMB designated cost reporting groups below:

     Building Shell                         Building Services                  Fixed Equipment

While we are componentizing the building structures, we also perform a formal lifing analysis of the Building Shell, Building Services, and Fixed Equipment Asset classifications via an interview process with your facilities department to arrive at individual lives, “based upon institutional experience,” consistent with OMB 2 CFR 200.

Having an accurate inventory of your Moveable/Fixed Equipment  Assets and identifying these assets to the Building/Floor, Department and Room level is very important. This effort will allow your institution to comply with the OMB 2 CFR 200 bi-annual inventory requirements, comply with asset stewardship requirements for Federally Funded assets, allow for asset screening requirements to avoid duplicate asset purchases, and bring the asset depreciation to the room level to maximize your deprecation by research function for F&A reporting purposes.

For this effort, we will conduct a complete wall-to-wall physical inventory with barcode/RFID asset tagging services on a room-by-room basis, of your moveable and fixed equipment with little to no disruption to ongoing research activities. We will verify the Building, Floor, Department, and Room Number for each location included in our proposed study. We will scan each current barcode asset tag affixed to each asset, that meets your current capitalization policy of $5,000, and greater. If an asset is not currently tagged at the time of our inventory, we will affix a new tag to those assets. Once these assets are scanned, we will also verify the Building, Floor, Room, Department, Asset Description, Model, Manufacturer, and Serial Number data fields for each asset scanned. In the event an asset was relocated from its previous location, we will update the new location of the transferred asset.

At the conclusion of our inventory, we will reconcile the “new” physical inventory to the “current” inventory that your institution maintains and provide you with the following reconciliation reports:

• Assets Matched - assets scanned that match assets currently recorded in your Fixed Asset Database.
• Unrecorded Additions - assets not previously tagged and not currently identified in your current inventory database.
• Unrecorded Retirements - assets reported in the current Fixed Asset Data Base, but not physically located during our physical inventory study.

We will perform a Physical Space Inventory of all buildings where significant Organized Research/Other Sponsored Activities take place. 

This space inventory will include the following tasks:

• Electronically Measure Each Room to Verify Reported Square Footage
• Assign the appropriate Higher Education General Information System (HEGIS)/Facilities Inventory Classification Manual (FICM) Codes
• Assign Principal Investigator (PI) for rooms where Organized Research/Other Sponsored Activities take place
• Provide Physical changes to the room layout, or occupancy designation on the floor plan
• Provide a database in an Excel Space Inventory File with a Letter of Certification

It is important to note that every entity must have current formal Asset Management Policies and Procedures in place that are subject to Internal/Independent, as well as State & Federal cognizant auditor review.

Maximus can review your Fixed Asset policies and procedures, as well as your Real Property facilities construction policies and procedures. This service will include a review of your institution's acquisition, capitalization, updating, and disposition Policies & Procedures associated with your Moveable/Fixed Equipment Assets. Additionally, with this effort, we will review your institution's Buildings (Real Property) Policies & Procedures to include Renovations/Improvements, Capitalization Policies for Improvements/Betterments vs ongoing Maintenance/Repairs,  Acquisition/Donations of Buildings vs Construction, and Improvements to Leased property.

Insurers, Brokers, and Underwriters rely on accurate moveable equipment and real property data for insurance risk management reporting purposes. Underreported, or inflated insurable property values could possibly result in payment of inaccurate premiums, which can result in inadequate insurance coverage in the event of a catastrophic loss.

Our service offering can support your institution's Risk Manager with accurate replacement costs and asset documentation for insurance placement requirements with current/accurate asset values. In the event of a loss, we can provide “Proof of Loss” services as part of our Insurance Valuation Services.

During the audit process, your Internal/Independent/State/Federal auditors will typically review your Asset Management Policies and Procedures, to include:

• Asset Capitalization Policies & Procedures
• Asset Tagging Policies & Procedures
• Biannual/Cyclical Physical Inventory Policies & Procedures
• Real Property Asset Management Policies & Procedures (Land, Land Improvements, Buildings/Building Improvements, Infrastructure, etc.)
• Leased Property
• Donated Assets/Property

In most circumstances, the "auditors" will not only review these written Policies & Procedures but often will “test/verify” these Policies and Procedures to ensure that the  Institution is following these procedures, as written.

If there is a "Finding", an Audit Remediation Plan by the Institution is recommended and subsequent remediation is required within a specified timeframe.

Our Maximus Asset Management Team can assist your Institution with these efforts specific to your response to your Auditor’s Asset Management audit findings, recommendations, and your subsequent remediation efforts.