FAQ- A requirement to access all the assets in Oracle Financials from one user

responsibility?

A fixed asset register needs to have controls in place so it can only hold

transactions belonging to the asset owner. The security by book feature is used

segregate data in fixed assets. Unless security by book feature is used a risk of

posting into the wrong asset book will exist. To ignore the security by book

feature would be to undermine the controls existing in Oracle Financials.

The security by asset book feature is one of the built in controls features in

Oracle Financials. This functionality uses the Asset Organisation to secure each

fixed asset book so that assets owned by each individual organisation are

accounted for in each individual asset register. Only if the assets in separate

asset books are owned by the same organisation and posting journals to the

same general ledger then access can be given from one user responsibility.

The recommended way is to set up each asset book under an asset organisation.

To do this the asset organisation is defined in human resources. To do this

create Company-A Asset Org. Create a security profile for the assets e.g.

Company-A asset security profile. Attach a hierarchy for each asset book by

location e.g. UK Asset book1, UK Asset book2 Ireland book1.

The detail behind defining the hierarchy depends on how the following are used

in Oracle Financials.

Organisation set up

Payables operating unit

project organisation structure

General ledger posting

Set the security profile FA Security: this will give access to users of the asset

book. Set this profile option at the responsibility level e.g. FA Shared Service

user UK, FA UK User. FA IRE User and each Fixed Asset Responsibility.

Once the hierarchy is set up then the security can be set. This is done by

running the security list maintenance program for the profile option FA Security:

this needs to be run every time a new asset book is added.

The requirement to access all assets in all books from one user responsibility can

be made available with a view only access.

The consequence if asset security by book is ignored Example: UK & Ireland

operations and accounts payable in the UK transfers asset lines to the UK asset

book if the security by book feature is ignored then the Ireland books will be

available for these asset lines to be created into the Ireland Asset book and in

addition the access to the fixed asset registers will be available to all Fixed Asset

responsibilities e.g. Ireland Fixed Assets Users will also have access to the UK

fixed asset register.

In practice although unlikely that an asset would be created in the incorrect

fixed asset book it can happen. Usually an automated process which would

create the asset lines into the correct fixed asset books as defined in the transfer

to asset book process. If a mistake is made in a manual process this would

result in an incorrect entry being made. Errors can be corrected during the mass

additions process to do this the asset line is deleted then the asset is created in

the correct fixed asset book. The issue with this is that the accounting has been

created and the fixed asset register control system has been compromised. This

will also cause underlying issues in the sub-ledger accounting tables which

cannot be corrected. Once an asset has been created in the fixed asset register

in error it cannot be corrected. The immediate fix could be to retire the asset

and add it into the correct asset book. If a large number of assets were

processed incorrectly the only way forward would be to re-implement the asset

book or apply a technical fix.