STATE OF CONNECTICUT PROPERTY CONTROL MANUAL
October 2011
PREFACE

A Summary Of The Key Points Of The Property Control Manual And New Policies

Inventoriable Property - State Owned

1. Personal Property having a value of one thousand dollars or more.
2. “Controllable” Personal Property, as defined by the Comptroller and sanctioned by the agency head, personal property having a value of less than one thousand dollars.
3. All Software.

Reportable Property - CO-59

1. Real Property
2. Personal Property having a value of one thousand dollars or more
3. Software owned by the State
4. Infrastructure (DOT only)
5. Fine Art
6. Inventory in Warehouses
7. Other Property owned with Trustee Funds

Important Date
The CO-59 is due to the Office of the State Comptroller on or before October 1st of each year reflecting the total assets within each agency as of June 30th.

Buildings
Financial information on buildings are reported in the Asset Management Module of Core-CT. Additional building characteristics are reported via the Joint Effort State Inventory Reporting (JESTIR) system to the Office of Policy and Management.

Disposition of Property
Disposition of property is handled differently for land, buildings, personal property, and software. Refer to the appropriate section of the manual.

Reporting of Losses and/or Damage
Report all losses and/or damage to Real and Personal Property (Section 4-33a of the General Statutes of Connecticut). Refer to the appropriate section of the manual.

Software Inventory
A software inventory must be established by all agencies. This inventory will include software acquired with State funds (excluding external funding sources) and installed by an agency or its funding units. Most state software is not state-owned and consequently would not be included on the CO-59, but accounted for in the respective agency's software inventory records.

Software inventory that is reportable on the CO-59 would be listed in the Software category within the state-owned personal property section. This would include in-house developed software systems.

GASB Statement No. 34
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 34, “Basic Financial Statements-and Management's Discussion and Analysis-for State and Local Governments”, issued in June 1999, defines new financial reporting guidelines. The effective date of implementation for the State of Connecticut, except for retroactive reporting of infrastructure assets, was the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002. Most state agencies asset reporting will not be affected by this statement. The State Department of Transportation will be required to report infrastructure assets within the government-wide statement of net assets. Depreciation on assets will be required, which will be handled centrally by the Office of the State Comptroller and is now part of the Asset Management Module in Core-CT.

Works of Art and Other Historical Treasures
GASB Statement 34 provides a new definition of the category “works of art, historical treasures and similar assets”. The state needs to determine which agencies have any of these asset types, determine those which are exhaustible and therefore depreciable, if any, and define new accounting policy and procedures that will accommodate the reporting of these asset types. This category includes the following items:

Works of Art- statues, paintings, sculptures

Appraisals are no longer a mandatory requirement but highly recommended when resources are available.

Books, Maps, Records, Videos (For Libraries Only)
This category includes a regular book collection that is not included in the Fine Arts category and should be valued at cost. If the cost is not ascertainable, estimate cost by using “The Bowker Annual Library and Book Trade Almanac”. The “Current Value” column is used to report the “present value” or replacement cost value.

Questions and/or comments regarding the manual may be directed to:

Brenda Halpin, Director
Office of the State Comptroller, Fiscal Policy Division
55 Elm Street, Hartford, Connecticut 06106
(860) 702-3443
brenda.halpin@po.state.ct.us

Revisions to the Manual
The Comptroller's Fiscal Policy Division will maintain a master control copy of the manual. This Division is responsible for updating the manual and distributing the new or revised policies and procedures to the State agencies.

The Office of the State Comptroller's Fiscal Policy Division maintains a distribution list for issuing Property Control Manual material. This list identifies each State agency and the address to which material will be sent. Normally, updates will be addressed to the agency property control individual.

Additional Copies
Requests for additional copies of this manual should be directed to:

Office of the State Comptroller
Fiscal Policy Division
55 Elm Street
Hartford, CT 06106
860) 702-3440

Upon request, this publication will be made available in large print, computer readable formats, or Braille pursuant to the requestor's requirements.

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