This white paper explores the present state of audits of fixed assets, as well as what changes can be made to improve the process. When you consider a company's internal controls, audits of fixed assets tend to be cumbersome, infrequent and perhaps the most routinely avoided. The quality of the underlying data is often out of date and, for audit purposes, difficult to use. As a result, the fieldwork becomes tedious and the reconciliation process inaccurate. Often the results are viewed with suspicion. Although, the requirement for conducting an inventory of fixed assets has not changed, the way a company conducts an audit and the level of commitment it has to reducing risk and making the process more accurate and cost effective can change.