Equipment Inventory (Oct 2023)

The Equipment Inventory Office is responsible for tagging and reporting all movable equipment purchased for Ohio University.  Policy 19.054 , Equipment Inventory Control, outlines the responsibilities of departments and the policy requirements associated with properly maintaining equipment inventory records. Movable equipment must meet the following criteria to be capitalized as an asset:

• Must be movable and not permanently affixed;
• Have a cost of $5,000 or greater when purchased, or be a gift with an appraised value of $5,000 or more;
• Have a useful life of one year or more and be non-expendable.

There are two types of tagged equipment that must be tracked:

• University-owned equipment is tagged with a green inventory tag and is referred to as a “green-tagged” item.
• Equipment purchased using external funds from a grant or contract; or equipment that is furnished or loaned to the University while the title to that equipment remains with the sponsor of the grant or contract, is tagged with a red inventory tag.  This equipment is referred to as a “red-tagged” item. The Grants Accounting Office audits red-tagged equipment each year.

It is critical to properly charge the equipment to the correct object code as well. If an item does not meet the capitalization criteria above, please use an appropriate supply object code. See the below chart for guidance on capitalizable object codes:

Pay particular attention to the object code when purchasing equipment on a sponsored award to ensure it is identified properly in our accounting records. This also ensures that we tag the equipment as either University-owned or Sponsor-owned (Green tag vs Red tag) if the University remains in possession of the equipment.   In addition, the Principal Investigator (and the Award Administrator, where applicable) must be aware of the terms in the award agreement associated with any equipment and where ownership of that equipment is maintained (either with the University or the external sponsor). Knowing this requirement will help you ensure that the equipment is properly reported, tagged, and tracked, in accordance with the external award agreement.

The following are examples:

University will own equipment and is in possession of the equipment.    Use equipment object code if meets equipment threshold in the column labeled ‘University owns equipment (green tag equipment)’.

Sponsor owns equipment and University is in possession of equipment.  Use object code 715210 EQUIP VESTED IN SPONSOR. This means that while the University physically possesses the equipment, ownership of the equipment remains with the award sponsor or another external party.

Sponsor owns equipment and University is returning to sponsor at end of the project.   Use object code 744700 RESTRICTED NONTAG EQUIP when it is non-capitalizable equipment. Equipment does not receive a red or green tag since the University will not be in possession of the equipment. It is not uncommon for an external award sponsor to provide equipment as part of a grant. However, in this scenario the sponsor expects the equipment to be returned to them once the work of the grant has been completed. However, the University is still required to track and know where this equipment is located, while it is in the University’s possession.

Gifts

If your department has received any gifts that meets the criteria for moveable equipment, you need to contact Equipment Inventory for guidance and next steps. The University has to ensure that the gift is properly recorded. and that any equipment is properly tagged.

Grants and Equipment

When you acquire equipment with grant funds you need to be aware of the restrictions that apply to that equipment. All equipment must be used for the program or project for which it was acquired per  Uniform Guidance §200.313 - Equipment .

Fabricated Equipment

Fabricated equipment is defined as an item of equipment that is built or assembled from individual parts. When a completed item of fabricated equipment has an aggregate cost of $5,000 or more it is considered capital equipment. This most commonly occurs on grants. Should you have questions, please contact  finance.grants@ohio.edu  and Grants Accounting can walk you through the process to capitalize fabricated equipment.

Disposal of Equipment

Policy 55.071 Disposition of Surplus Property governs the disposal of university equipment. At no time can a University department or office discard a University asset without proper authorization; nor can a University asset be given or donated to any individual, private corporation, or non-profit organization.

Annual and Biennium Inventory

Each year, the Grants Accounting Office completes a physical inventory of red tagged equipment.

Every two years, the Equipment Inventory Office notifies each department equipment contact person about the biennial auditing process.  This process involves verifying each departmental inventory listing and certifying that:

• Any additions, deletions or transfer of equipment have been properly recorded;
• The equipment inventory listing is complete and accurately reflects the equipment owned by the department.

Audits

Equipment inventory is periodically audited by both internal and state/external auditors as well as University accounting personnel. Accurate inventory records are important to ensure that:

• The value of equipment owned by the University is reported properly in financial statements.
• A complete and accurate record of inventory exists. 
• Ownership for an asset can be easily identifiable.

Need to Make Changes to Departmental Equipment Inventory?

If you move equipment to a different room or building or dispose of equipment, you must report that to Finance on the Equipment Status Change form.

• For Green Tag equipment the Equipment Status Change form should be sent to finance.equipmentInventory@ohio.edu
• For Red Tag equipment the Equipment Status Change for should be sent to finance.grants@ohio.edu

Resources

The equipment inventory  webpage  is a great resource when making purchases equipment. There is also an Equipment Inventory Dashboard in OBI that is available to view departmental equipment at any time. Please see the Equipment Inventory Quick Reference Guide on how to use this dashboard.

Questions? For the equipment inventory process, please contact  finance.equipmentinventory@ohio.edu and for capital equipment questions related to external grants contact finance.grants@ohio.edu