Asset Management

Asset Management is the process of safeguarding, maintaining, managing and accounting for Property, Plant and Equipment (PP&E), Finance Leases and Intangibles used and controlled by UNDP. Assets are recorded (capitalized) in UNDP’s books when ALL the following criteria are met for an item:

• Provides future economic or service benefits to UNDP – i.e., the PP&E item is held for use in the implementation of UNDP Programmes or for administrative purposes;
• Is expected to be used during more than one reporting period (12 months);
• Has a value of $ 5,000 or more (Capitalization Threshold);
• Is used and controlled by UNDP; and
• Has a cost that can be reliably determined.

“Use and control” is critical, in that it determines whether an asset should be capitalized or not. When an asset is capitalized, the total cost of the asset is expensed over several accounting periods instead of expensed upon purchase.

Examples of specific assets for Global Fund projects are IT equipment, vehicles and furniture used and controlled by the Project Management Unit (PMU) or Country Office (CO) staff during grant implementation. Vehicles and Equipment (Health and Non-Health Equipment) that are used and controlled by Sub-recipients (SRs) and Sub-sub-recipients (SSRs) are expensed and not capitalized as assets. Examples would be vehicles, IT equipment, bicycles, generators, medical laboratory and diagnostic equipment.

With the exception of leasehold improvements, donated assets and intangibles, all PP&E will be acquired through the Procurement Catalogue in Quantum. The Procurement Catalogue is an electronic purchasing list embedded within Quantum to enable accurate and consistent account coding and efficient navigation. It automatically populates GL account codes and item description and consequently, sets the accounting treatment for the item or service at the requisition stage. Under the Procurement Catalogue; there are 2 sub-catalogues:

• UNDP Catalogue: To be selected when all the UNDP criteria for capitalization are met (see above). The item will be coded to an asset GL account and capitalized in the Asset Management Module of Atlas.
• Non-UNDP Catalogue: Items that do not meet the UNDP criteria for capitalization must be selected from this catalogue and will be expensed immediately. For example, PP&E delivered to a 3rd party, used in less than one reporting year or that costs less than $ 5,000.

For non-medical GF items, either the UNDP Catalogue or Non-UNDP Catalogue will be selected based on the prevailing circumstances. For Global Fund health products, there is a special set up within the Procurement Catalogue where item descriptions are captured at a high level due to the multiple number of suppliers and medical items. Again, either the UNDP Catalogue or Non-UNDP Catalogue is then selected based on the prevailing circumstances. It is therefore crucial that the purchase objective must be known at the requisition stage as this determines the accounting treatment of the PP&E though out its life.

Refer to the following for detailed Asset Management policies and procedures:

• UNDP POPP Asset Management
• UNDP GFPHST Guidance Note on Asset Management in the context of Global Fund grants (the document is under development)