ePartner Consulting Ltd
PO Box 1578
Lightwater
GU20 5AR
UK
Tel: 03300 100 000
Email: sales@epc.co.uk
Company registration number: 05192543
VAT number: GB842064740
Read our privacy policy.
ePartner Consulting Ltd
PO Box 1578
Lightwater
GU20 5AR
UK
Tel: 03300 100 000
Email: sales@epc.co.uk
Company registration number: 05192543
VAT number: GB842064740
Read our privacy policy.
According to Wikipedia, Capital expenditure, sometimes referred to as CapEx or capital expenses, is money spent on acquiring or maintaining fixed assets, such as land, buildings, and high-value equipment. It comprises the purchase price or construction cost, including any other costs directly attributable (e.g., professional services) to bringing the assets to working condition for their intended use.
There are two types of capital assets:
Capital expenditure is accounted for over the useful life of the asset. Typically, if the asset’s useful life is longer than the current financial year, the cost is capitalised and depreciated over the life of the asset or a fixed period.
Types of capital expenditure include:
Capital expenditures are significant investment purchases whose useful life will extend beyond the current financial year.
In contrast, operating expenses (OpEx) are expenses incurred through the normal daily business operations or ‘cost of sale’ expenses to keep the organisation running, e.g., staff wages and other expenses. For example, the purchase of a new hotel building or a large piece of equipment is a capital expense while heating/electricity and office supplies are an ongoing operational expense.
CapEx planning is the process of devising an organisation’s capital expenditure budget for a period in accordance with its long-term strategic objectives.
The CapEx budget will outline the planned capital expenditure for the forthcoming year. Capital expenditure proposals are initially screened by the business units/departments that will submit their budget requests to a Board of Directors for the next financial year. The capital expenditure budget requests will be reviewed, edited, and approved.
Organisations will each have their own motivations for initiating CapEx projects, but reasons often include:
The process commences when a business unit requisitions CapEx, usually against an approved budget.
Often, requests for capital expenditure are made on paper or in Excel files, with additional information appended where necessary. It is common for organisations to store information on paper, in spreadsheets, eMails and repositories across multiple divisions and geographies.
This form is used to gather information relating to the expenditure project including:
Once completed, the originator signs the capital expenditure request form and routes it around the organisation for multiple approvals.
Despite the manual process, many organisations have a formal capital expenditure policy. The approval is made following pre-agreed limits of authority based on hierarchy/job role, such as any expenditure above £50,000 may require CEO approval. Simple rules, such as seeking approval from the IT Director for all computer-related expenditures, may also exist.
If approved, the capital expense request (and supplementary information) will be signed and dated at each step and stored on a PC, in someone’s inbox or physical filing cabinet.
Unfortunately, without any automation and enforcement of these policies and rules, they can be seen as hard to understand and therefore become de facto optional.
CapEx software facilitates the completion of capital expenditure requests online and creates the workflow to automatically route the forms throughout the organisation for review and approval.
Key benefits of capital expenditure management software include:
Efficient management of capital expenditure is important to organisations seeking to deliver corporate strategy, manage cash flow, achieve cost savings, and improve bottom-line performance.
Poor capital expenditure management stagnates growth, yet many companies continue struggling with manual processes leading to delays in capital spending and reduced competitiveness.
Today, more organisations are automating capital expenditure approval processes to manage their capital projects more efficiently.
At ePC, our CapEx system offers near limitless flexibility to meet varied customer-specific requirements for capital expenditure request approval and reporting – without lengthy development cycles.
The platform offers:
To identify the most attractive projects for capital investment
To set up period budgets in the system and to track spending
To create, submit, and route submissions for approval and monitor progress
To evaluate the project and demonstrate return on investment (ROI)
Are you looking to automate CapEx approval processes? You can schedule your CapEx system demonstration or call 03300 100 000 to discuss your requirements.
Trusted by Rentokil Initial, Next plc, and the British Council, ePC support organisations to replace manual, paper-driven tasks with data capture, workflow, and document scanning solutions that reduce manual data entry and automate critical tasks. Visit our website.
Company registration number: 05192543. VAT number: GB842064740.
Address: PO Box 1578, Lightwater, GU20 5AR, United Kingdom.
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