0.1 Literature review  (Page 18/19)

(1) the governing body of a public school, with the assistance of the school principal and staff members identified by him or her for this purpose, must cause a separate register to be kept for all inventory items: purchased from school funds, and donated to the school or purchased from funds donated to the school

(2) the governing body of a public school, with the assistance of the school principal and staff members identified by him or her for this purpose, must ensure that all stock items are properly maintained and looked after

(3) the governing body of a public school, with the assistance of the school principal and staff members identified by him or her for this purpose, must ensure that: the stock registers clearly indicate the source from which the stock items are acquired, and stock is taken annually

The viewpoint expressed in the gazette are supported by Clarke (2008; 324) who states that the school’s assets should be as carefully looked after as the school’s money and an inventory of all assets needs to be kept and the items listed on the inventory need to be checked on an annual basis. From the above extract of the provincial gazette it is clear that the management of assets is the joint responsibility of the school governing body and the school principal.

Asset management principles

Leo (2003; 15) identifies five primary principles of asset management, which she has diagrammatically represented in the figure below.

Figure 6: Principles of Asset Management

Source: Leo (2003; 15)

Her theory is based on the assumption that assets exist solely to support service delivery. She goes on to say that the five principles are not definitive but represent the current practice:

• service delivery needs guide asset acquisition decisions
• asset planning and management are to be integrated into the School Improvement Plan (SIP)
• asset management decisions are to be informed by a cost-benefit analysis
• control, accountability and reporting requirements are to be established, clearly communicated and implemented
• asset management activities must be integrated into the asset management policy established by the school governing body

2.10.2.record keeping

Clarke (2008; 282) states that the (school) governing body generally delegates a number of its duties to the principal or bursar (finance officer) but remain liable should problems arise, a view supported by Leo (2003; 17) who states that the responsibility for the maintenance of the accounting records is frequently delegated to the principal and finance officer – this does not mean accountability as been delegated. This merely facilitates the accurate, reliable and timely publication of reports.

One of the more important stock records is the asset register. The maintenance of a proper asset register is essential to safeguard and control the custody of current and non-current assets and to facilitate the preparation of the financial statements of the school [Leo (2003; 17)].

Board of survey

In order to assist the school governing body in its asset management strategy they (the SGB) needs to have updated information on the condition of existing assets. This information is best obtained via a Board of Survey, which is a team comprising of the principal and at least two members of the school management team whose task is to inspect and report of the schools assets as follows: