Disposing of Assets

Assets can be a significant investment for an organisation. Those assets can have value to the organisation at the time those assets are due to be disposed of.

Risk

The risk is that assets that may have a value to the organisation at the time of disposal are not disposed of in a method that is in the best interests of the organisation.

Methods of Mitigate the Risk

An organisation should set out a clear policy on how assets of the organisation will be disposed of when they are not longer needed by the organisation.

If the asset has some value the organisation needs to clearly define what is to happen. A transparent method of disposal needs to be in place. Examples of this include:

• Motor Vehicles – It may be decided that all motor vehicles that are no longer needed by the organisation will be sold at auction and that any employees or volunteers wishing to purchase a vehicle may do so but only through the auction process;

• Computers – It may be decided that all computers be sent to auction when they are to be disposed of and employees or volunteers wishing to purchase a computer may do so but only through the auction process; or
  It may be decided that employees or volunteers can ‘purchase’ a computer when its useful life has been reached by the organisation. Any such purchase price could be a pre-determined percentage of the original purchase price.
  

In general if the asset is something that will have no value if attempted to be sold, it can be appropriate to allow employees and / or volunteers to take the asset at no cost. However this needs to be done transparently. For example a disposal form is completed and the employee and / or volunteer signs the form acknowledging that they have received to asset in a ‘as is’ condition. The form can then be used as a reason for the asset to be written off / removed from the asset register.