PROVIDING AGGREGATE FORECASTED IMPACT INFORMATION FOR PHYSICAL TO FINANCIAL ASSET RECONCILIATION

• US 20090063310A1
• Filed: 08/30/2007
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: APTE, Umesh Madhav, ALONZO, Jason Aron, SCULLION, Ann, YEE, John Leong
• Granted Patent: US 7,945,490 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A reconciliation process identifying financial assets in a financial system that do not also exist in the real world, such as is indicated in a discovery system, generates a list of exceptions that can be examined by type of exception. The list of exceptions also includes aggregate financial impact information for the exceptions, such as aggregate cost, fair market value, and net book value. An interface allows a user to view the financial impact information and better decide how to handle the assets corresponding to the exceptions, such as by retiring at least some of the assets, routing some of the exceptions to another user better able to handle the exceptions, or storing the list so that an investigation can be done into at least some of the assets. The financial impact information becomes particularly critical near quarter-end and year-end, as any material impact to the books requires timely disclosure.

Claims

1. A method of presenting aggregate financial impact information for handling asset discrepancies, comprising:

determining a plurality of asset exceptions, each asset exception corresponding to financial asset information for an asset in a financial system that does not have corresponding physical asset information for the asset in an asset discovery system;

calculating aggregate financial impact information for all asset exceptions of a first type, the aggregate financial information indicating a financial impact of retiring all asset exceptions of the first type in the financial system, and displaying the aggregate financial impact information to a first user; and

based on the aggregate financial impact information, allowing the first user to perform at least one of routing the asset exceptions of the first type to a second user and storing the plurality of asset exceptions for later retrieval after investigating a status of the asset.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the first user to partition the asset exceptions of a first type into groups; and

calculating group aggregate financial impact information for all asset exceptions of each group and displaying the group aggregate financial impact information to the first user.

3. A method according to claim 2, further comprising:

based on the group aggregate financial impact information for each group of asset exceptions, allowing the first user to perform at least one of retiring the group, routing the group to a second user, and storing the group for later retrieval after investigating a status of the assets of that group.

4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the second user to perform at least one of retiring the asset exceptions of the first type, routing the asset exceptions of the first type to a third user, and storing the plurality of asset exceptions for later retrieval after investigating a status of the asset.

5. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

further calculating aggregate financial information for at least asset exceptions of a second type.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

the aggregate financial information includes at least one of cost information, fair market value information, and net book value information.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

running an asset discovery process in order to determine the presence of physical assets connected to a network and storing the physical asset information in the asset discovery system.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

the first user is able to view each asset exception separately, including financial impact information for that financial asset, in order to determine how to process each asset exception.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

the first user is an asset manager and the second user is a finance manager.

10. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sending a message to the second user when the first user decides to route the asset exceptions to the second user, the message including a link to access a display of the asset exceptions.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

the asset exceptions visible to the first user depend on a role of the first user.

12. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

removing an asset from the asset exception if the financial asset information and physical asset information for that asset are reconciled.

13. A system for presenting aggregate financial impact information for handling asset discrepancies, the system including a processor operable to execute instructions and a data storage medium for storing the instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

determine a plurality of asset exceptions, each asset exception corresponding to financial asset information for an asset in a financial system that does not have corresponding physical asset information for the asset in an asset discovery system;

calculate aggregate financial impact information for all asset exceptions of a first type, the aggregate financial information indicating a financial impact of retiring all asset exceptions of the first type in the financial system, and display the aggregate financial impact information to a first user; and

based on the aggregate financial impact information, allow the first user to perform at least one of routing the asset exceptions of the first type to a second user and storing the plurality of asset exceptions for later retrieval after investigating a status of the asset.

14. A system according to claim 13, further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

allow the first user to partition the asset exceptions of a first type into groups; and

calculate group aggregate financial impact information for all asset exceptions of each group and displaying the group aggregate financial impact information to the first user.

15. A system according to claim 14, further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

based on the group aggregate financial impact information for each group of asset exceptions, allow the first user to perform at least one of retiring the group, routing the group to a second user, and storing the group for later retrieval after investigating a status of the assets of that group.

16. A system according to claim 13, further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

further calculate aggregate financial information for at least asset exceptions of a second type.

17. A system according to claim 13, further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

allow the second user to perform at least one of retiring the asset exceptions of the first type, routing the asset exceptions of the first type to a third user, and storing the plurality of asset exceptions for later retrieval after investigating a status of the asset.

18. A system according to claim 13, wherein:

the aggregate financial information includes at least one of cost information, fair market value information, and net book value information.

19. A system according to claim 13, further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

provide the first user with an ability to view each asset exception separately, including financial impact information for that financial asset, in order to determine how to process each asset exception.

20. A system according to claim 13, wherein:

the first user is an asset manager and the second user is a finance manager.

21. A system according to claim 13, further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

send a message to the second user when the first user decides to route the asset exceptions, the message including a link to access a display of the asset exceptions.

22. A system according to claim 13, further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

remove an asset from the asset exception if the financial asset information and physical asset information for that asset are reconciled.

23. A computer program product embedded in a computer readable medium for presenting aggregate financial impact information for handling asset discrepancies, comprising:

program code for determining a plurality of asset exceptions, each asset exception corresponding to financial asset information for an asset in a financial system that does not have corresponding physical asset information for the asset in an asset discovery system;

program code for calculating aggregate financial impact information for all asset exceptions of a first type, the aggregate financial information indicating a financial impact of retiring all asset exceptions of the first type in the financial system, and displaying the aggregate financial impact information to a first user; and

program code for, based on the aggregate financial impact information, allowing the first user to perform at least one of routing the asset exceptions of the first type to a second user and storing the plurality of asset exceptions for later retrieval after investigating a status of the asset.

24. A computer program product according to claim 23, further comprising:

program code for allowing the first user to partition the asset exceptions of a first type into groups; and

program code for calculating group aggregate financial impact information for all asset exceptions of each group and displaying the group aggregate financial impact information to the first user.

25. A computer program product according to claim 24, further comprising:

program code for allowing the first user to perform at least one of retiring the group, routing the group to a second user, and storing the group for later retrieval after investigating a status of the assets of that group, based on the group aggregate financial impact information for each group of asset exceptions.

26. A computer program product according to claim 23, further comprising:

program code for further calculating aggregate financial information for at least asset exceptions of a second type.

27. A computer program product according to claim 23, wherein:

program code for allowing the first user to view each asset exception separately, including financial impact information for that financial asset, in order to determine how to process each asset exception.

28. A computer program product according to claim 23, further comprising:

program code for sending a message to the second user when the first user decides to route the asset exceptions, the message including a link to access a display of the asset exceptions.

29. A computer program product according to claim 23, further comprising:

program code for removing an asset from the asset exception if the financial asset information and physical asset information for that asset are reconciled.

30. A computer program product according to claim 23, further comprising:

program code for allowing the second user to perform at least one of retiring the asset exceptions of the first type, routing the asset exceptions of the first type to a third user, and storing the plurality of asset exceptions for later retrieval after investigating a status of the asset.