GLOBAL HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY COMPANY STUMBLES UPON MAJOR DISCOVERY

Gambro BCT Eases Depreciation with Real Asset Management International’s (RAMI) Asset4000

[ClickPress, Fri Feb 29 2008] Gambro BCT, a global leader in the blood bank technology industry, continues to reap the benefits of Real Asset Management International’s (RAMI) fixed asset management software years after purchasing the system.

Gambro BCT manufactures various machines that assist hospitals and blood donation centers with a wide range of cellular therapies and therapeutic aphaeresis procedures commonly used to treat certain types of cancer, congenital and immune disorders. Founded in 1964 as Cobe Laboratories, Gambro BCT now has offices in 96 countries and employs a workforce of 2,100.

For over nine years Gambro BCT struggled to properly depreciate its asset base. The fixed asset module within its general ledger (GL) system failed to produce accurate figures making life difficult for the accounting team and its auditors. The decision was made to keep the GL software and discontinue use of the fixed asset management module.

Sue Barosh, staff accountant at Gambro BCT, now uses Asset4000 to properly maintain and depreciate the fixed asset base and confirm that the data on the GL is valid. Each month she checks all events then reconciles the GL to the sub-ledger. Assets are tracked by account number, department, product line or product ID, depending on how Sue needs to slice and dice the data.

“I can generate an asset list by department quite quickly then send each list off for verification,” Sue explained, “It’s a very flexible system, which makes everyone’s jobs much easier.” Prior to implementing Asset4000, Sue spent an entire day running depreciation; that process now takes about five minutes. The same goes for reports, “I use the asset history report quite a bit, that’s produced with a few clicks of the mouse,” Sue said. Auditors have appreciation for Asset4000 as well, “They love the automation,” Sue continued, “This system shaves hours off the process and they feel very comfortable with the data.”

As for the selection process, Sue and her colleagues conducted a thorough review of three systems. Only Asset4000 offered the functionality and automation required by the accounting team. “The system can track and manage our CIP (construction-in-progress) assets, which was a must,” Sue explained, “We track accumulated spend per period for all assets in development, then close the project and transfer the asset to the correct department to begin depreciation.” This process makes for a comprehensive asset history and audit trail prior to the start of depreciation.

“Asset4000 is also capable of exporting journal entries to the GL, another bit of functionality unavailable in the other solutions,” Sue noted. Cost was a consideration too; the others were not only lacking essential features, the prices were certainly not reflective of the offer. Gambro’s accounting team had great things to say about RAMI’s sales group: “They were always very responsive and quick to answer questions. It was a surprisingly smooth process,” added Merima Kustura, also a staff accountant. She continued, “We come up against constant deadlines in the accounting profession and RAMI’s sales and technical support teams have been instrumental in helping us to adequately meet those deadlines.”

Gambro BCT has seen rapid expansion over the last few years, taking on an average of 50 new employees per month. The asset base will inevitably increase as well. “We won’t be outgrowing RAMI anytime soon though,” Sue concluded. “We really rely on Asset4000 and I see it being that way for a while.”

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