The Bank Wants an Asset Schedule and the Insurer Wants Proof
Printed the day it is asked for, not rebuilt
Invoice and a dated photograph attached
Carried at cost less depreciation, ready for the accounts
No second list maintained by hand
1. The Problem
A working capital or term loan application asks for a schedule of fixed assets: what you own, when you bought it, what you paid, and what it is worth now. For most small businesses that list does not exist. It is reconstructed each time from purchase files, the accountant memory, and a walk round the premises with a notebook, usually in the week the bank asks for it.
The same gap shows up after a fire, a flood or a theft. The insurer asks you to prove what was there and what it was worth. Without dated photographs and invoices tied to specific items, a claim becomes a negotiation about your word against theirs, and the settlement reflects that.
2. How ASTITVAAMS Handles It
For a single-site business this is usually a two to three week job, most of it spent tagging what you already own. Four things matter:
One walk round, with a phone
Every machine, vehicle, computer and fitting gets a QR label and a photograph as it is tagged. The photograph is dated, which is the part insurers care about.
The invoice attached to the item
The purchase bill is stored against the asset, not in a folder. When the bank asks how you arrived at a value, the document is one tap away.
Depreciation worked out for you
Items are carried at cost less accumulated depreciation on the basis your accountant already uses, so the schedule matches the books.
Tally gets the same numbers
Asset values post across, so you are not keeping a register in one place and accounts in another.
The schedule stops being a week of work every time somebody asks for it. ASTITVAAMS prints it from a register that was already current, with a photograph and an invoice behind every line.
3. What Changes for You
- ✓The loan file stops being a fire drill: When the bank asks for a schedule of assets you print it. The figures reconcile to the books because they came from the same place.
- ✓A claim rests on evidence, not memory: Dated photographs and invoices tied to individual items give an assessor something to work from, which usually shortens the argument.
- ✓You find out what you actually own: Most first-time counts turn up equipment written off years ago and still working, and a few items being paid for that nobody can locate.
Take This Away
A PDF covering what a bank-ready asset schedule contains, what to photograph and why, and how the tagging is done without stopping work. Useful for your accountant as much as for you.