Use our updated Best Practices for Tracking Small and Attractive Assets today, to prevent your assets from walking away tomorrow

Most governments own a variety of assets that they track and inventory, beyond what they do for financial reporting purposes. We call them small and attractive assets here in Washington state, but across the nation, people refer to them as theft-sensitive assets, walk-away assets or controlled assets.  

Small and attractive assets tend to mysteriously disappear more than other asset types, due to their portability and attractiveness for personal use. Employees might also find them easy to resell for cash. Some examples include computers, power tools and shop equipment. 

All local governments must have a small and attractive assets policy, in accordance with their respective accounting manuals. Our auditors often find that governments lack a small and attractive assets policy, because well-intentioned government staff believe they must track every single item and then get overwhelmed. Or, inventory and tracking is handled at the department level, leading to inconsistent practices throughout the organization.  

Our Best practices for tracking small and attractive assets resource can help you navigate your options – so that you can develop a policy and set of internal controls that works for you. It starts with a risk assessment, so that you can identify your most at-risk assets. We now include a step-by-step approach for conducting your own risk assessment. We also outline some options to reduce the administrative burden, for example, you can exclude certain asset types from your policy. Alternatively, you can set a minimum threshold and only track assets that exceed it. For example, the State of Washington only tracks laptops over $300 and desktop computers over $1,000.  

We first published this resource in 2018, but it’s now updated and improved. The Best practices for tracking small and attractive assets resource now includes: 

• Expanded best practices, organized by subject 

• How-to steps on how to perform your own risk assessment, included as an appendix 

• A robust list of policy considerations, included as an appendix 

Download a copy and get started on strengthening your asset management system today. 

Visit our Resource Library 

All our guidance is available online at no cost. We have a lot of great information to share, so spend a few minutes in our Resource Library to see what we have to offer! 

How to reach us for more assistance 

Remember, the State Auditor’s Office can help. If you have technical questions, submit them using our HelpDesk in the client portal. 

We also have internal controls specialists at our Center for Government Innovation available to talk with you about best practices and resources. For assistance, reach out to us at Center@sao.wa.gov.