Today’s Form: Receipt for Company Property

(If you’ve heard the story of Free Form Friday before, you can skip the explanation of our FFF program and see the description of this form below.)

What is Free Form Friday (FFF)?

Unless your organization has gone totally digital with biometrics and e-signatures, you probably are still using at least a few good, old-fashioned paper forms. Best practice suggests that your goal should be to reduce all your paper forms to electronic versions. However, when electronic options are not available, paper will have to do.

FFF is our gift to any registered user of this site, in the name of best practice, to help you maximize the efficiency of your operation. You must be registered to download this form. No worries, registering is free!

Today’s form is provided to you in Open Office Writer format, a free word processor available at www.openoffice.org. If you already have an up-to-date word processor, such as Microsoft Word, you probably won’t need “Writer” and can open in that format. You are free to alter this form as you wish or use it as is.

Why Forms are Important

In Mobility Management, forms are used to perform or record any number of items, including:

• Document plans, events or incidents, such as on-site accidents, applications for employment, daily attendance, employee schedules, etc.
• Record the movement of cash and cash equivalents (equipment, access cards, supplies, etc.; things that have a cash value or potential cash value) from one person or location to another.
• Place and fulfill requests, such as expendable supplies.
• Reconcile, summarize, or link one document to another, such as a daily summary of all cashiering activity.
• Serve as a checklist reminder for performing detailed activities, such as inspections or audits.

Now, all about:

Today’s Form: Receipt for Company Property

The “Receipt for Company Property” form is ideal for use in the orientation process for a new employee. However, it can be used at any stage of the employee lifecycle. For example, prior to a special event, items can be issued to the employee, then reclaimed when the employee checks out at the conclusion of the event.

The basic concept of the form is simple: “We (the company or organization) are entrusting to your care the following items which we value and either want returned to us upon demand or accounted for by you upon request.” You can download this form at the conclusion of this article or it can be found in our store, here.

Instructions for Use

1. Is there more than one page for this form? Mark “Page__of__Pages” to ensure additional pages are kept together with the first page.

2. The issuing manager is clearly identified by printed name and initials/signature. While the primary purpose of this form is to hold the employee responsible for the items described, it also holds the issuing manager accountable. TIP: If the manager says the items were issued, but there is no acknowledgment by an employee, you may have a concern for what became of the items and the manager’s veracity.

3. The “ITEMS ISSUED” listed are fairly typical but you might have some special needs to include in this column. TIP: If you issue keys, try to mark them in some way, such as an etching on the side or permanent marker. This way you know you are receiving the original key issued. This will not, however, tell you if someone has used the key issued to produce additional duplicates. If that is a serious concern, you need to issue non-reproducible keys, switch to combination locks, or use some less common key types.

4. As the items are returned, such as following a special event or following termination of employment, the manager acknowledges return of the item by initialing in the column marked “RETURNED” and “DATE RETURNED”.

5. The acknowledgment section at the bottom is a critical control. The employee agrees to what has been issued and documented on the form. The employee is also put on notice that to the maximum extent allowed by labor law governing the workplace, he/she will be held responsible for returning the items or replacing them at cost. Another important aspect of control here is the employee has a right to receive a copy of the transaction. We recommend providing a copy of this form to the employee as a part of the routine for longer term issuance. TIP: As mentioned before, this is also a check on the manager’s actions as well, especially where the manager is issuing cash for operating funds, to buy supplies, etc.

Final TIPS:

Employees should be routinely audited to ensure all items issued are in their possession.

The issuing manager should also be audited. In this audit, the manager is asked to account for all items listed in the company inventory under the manager’s control.

Items in the care, custody and control of the manager should be the total of:

(1) All those issued via these forms to all employees under the manager’s supervision; plus,

(2) Items physically remaining in inventory.

CLICK THIS LINK TO DOWNLOAD THIS FORM: COPROPT

(Want more information? Please check out our forums. If you have comments or suggestions, please share your experiences and ideas with us and other professionals visiting our site. Add your comments below – if Comments are “on” – or by contacting us directly here. Our How-2 series are written by mobility management professionals for mobility management professionals. Thank you for helping H2 become the how-to resource in public and private transportation management.)