Property Control System Manual (PCS)

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Effective: 2/15/1995

Revised: 7/1/2012

PCS 004: Definitions

Abandoned Property: Property that is not sold after being placed on the public floor for 30 days.

Betterments: Improvements, changes, or additions which extend the useful life of an asset, increase the asset’s efficiency, or change the asset’s intended use.

Cannibalization: The act of disassembling or dismantling equipment to the point of making the equipment unable to perform its intended use.

Capital Equipment: Movable tangible property having a life expectancy of one year or more and a unit cost of $5,000 or more (exclusive of sales and/or use tax, freight, and installation).

Capital Improvement Projects: Projects embodying the construction or purchase of new facilities, construction of major additions to existing facilities, or construction incident to a major change in function of an existing facility.

Capitalization: The process of assessing assets to determine if the property has a life expectancy of one year or more and an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more.

Capitalized: Recognized an expenditure and/or gift as an asset rather than an expense, usually at its present value.

Excess Property: Property no longer needed by the custodial department but that may be used by another department within the university or sent to Surplus Property.

Fabricated Equipment: Equipment that is constructed from individual parts by ASU and is identifiable as a discrete item (not a “project”). The equipment requires creative design effort by university faculty and cannot reasonably be built by an off-campus vendor (i.e., it is one-of-a-kind). It likely includes custom components, does not include modular equipment, and construction of the item is complex (e.g., not simply plugging various electrical components together). The finished item’s function does not bear resemblance to the functions of the individual components (e.g., an engine converts energy, a frame provides structure, and wheels reduce friction, but, a car provides transportation). The finished product must have a unit cost of $5,000 or more and a useful life of one year or more.

Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE): Equipment provided to the university by the federal government or government contractor for grant or contract-specific use.

Idle Equipment: Equipment that currently has no known use for the department, contract, or grant but eventually may be used.

Interdepartmental Sales Rights (ISR): The rights reserved by a university department to the calculated proceeds of an equipment sale.

Inventoriable Equipment: Capital equipment and any other equipment designated by a sponsor for inventory.

Lease: An agreement for the right to use property for a specified period at a specified cost. Title remains with the lessor. At no time does the lessee build equity in the property.

Lease/Purchase: An agreement for the right to use property for a specified period at a specified cost. During the term of the lease, the lessee builds equity at a specified rate so that, at the end of the lease period, the lessee has the option of purchasing the property at a specified amount. Title to the property remains with the lessor until the lessee exercises the option to purchase.

Loaned Equipment: Property provided by an outside party for use by the institution for sponsored project or research-related activities; title to the property does not normally pass to the university.

Personal Property: Property of any kind except real property or property permanently affixed thereto. It may be “tangible” (having physical existence) or “intangible” (having no physical existence), such as patents, inventions, and copyrights.

Personally Owned Equipment: Equipment owned by a university employee or other private party from whom the university employee has received proper and valid authorization for use.

Records Management: The creation and implementation of systematic controls for records and information activities from the point where they are created or received through final disposition or archival retention, including distribution, use, storage, retrieval, protection, and preservation.

Remodeling: Changing the use of building space or refurbishing to make space more functional or more cosmetically appealing.

Retired: Removed from actively reported assets in the Property Control database.

Sales Tax: A transaction privilege tax imposed on the seller for the privilege of making sales in the state; it is generally passed on to the buyer by the seller by contract.

Scrap: Surplus material, such as metal pieces, broken component parts or inoperable equipment, which has no utility value in its present state.

Spot Sale: Individual sales of surplus property during the regular office hours.

Surplus Equipment: Equipment currently not in service and with no anticipated future use.

Surplus Property: Property not needed by a department within the university. Surplus property includes all excess items and materials other than items that would be typically disposed of in a wastebasket, such as scrap paper, consumed pencils and pens, etc.

Temporary Warehouse Storage: The temporary storage of university property for the convenience of university departments. Storage will not exceed one year without vice presidential approval.

Use Tax: A tax imposed on the buyer for the in-state use of items purchased from out-of-state suppliers.

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