Asset tagging for banks, SACCOs and microfinance institutions

IT equipment takes tamper-evident tags. This is not optional in our view. The entire control value of tagging a laptop rests on the tag being non-transferable, and only a tamper-evident tag delivers that. At KSh 55 for the 39 × 13 mm size, it is the cheapest control you will ever implement.

Branch furniture and fittings take anodised aluminium barcode tags, which survive cleaning and daily customer-facing use.

ATMs, safes and security equipment take acetone-activated aluminium — permanently bonded, and on equipment that will not be moved for a decade.

Generators and plant take riveted tags.

For institutions with a large branch network, QR tags at KSh 55 are worth considering so that branch managers can perform an interim self-verification with a phone, between formal counts.

Roll out branch by branch, starting with the largest asset concentrations — head office, data centre and the highest-value branches. A branch can typically be tagged in a day without disrupting banking hours if the work is scheduled outside customer-facing times.

Time the completion ahead of your external audit and your insurance renewal, since both consume the same register.

Three separate audiences consume this register and they want different things from it.

Internal audit wants evidence of existence and custody: every asset identified, located and attributed to a responsible officer, with a documented verification history.

External audit and the regulator want the register to reconcile to the general ledger, with acquisition costs, depreciation and net book values that support the financial statements under IFRS.

Your insurer wants a current schedule of insured property with values. A tagged, reconciled register produces that as a report rather than a project.

The register that satisfies all three is the comprehensive one, with full accounting detail per asset.