With the software certification according to the IDW PS 880 auditing standard, the security and regularity of the software product UniWERT from BARTHAUER was successfully confirmed by an auditor in October last year. In this context, IDW PS 880 supports the compliance of companies in Germany with legal or regulatory requirements. The associated benefits and the protection of data and software against unauthorized access meet the highest possible security standards.

UniWERT is used for the detailed calculation and management of fixed assets of public infrastructure objects and operating facilities in the areas of wastewater, water and gas supply, roads, land and buildings. However, due to the handling of business processes with the help of EDP, companies are always in great dependence on the software products used. An error or failure of the software always means an unnecessary and additional effort, which is also usually associated with financial losses. Reliability in recording, managing and determining assets is a necessary prerequisite for error-free asset accounting.

The basis for this is provided by legal standards (e.g. the German Commercial Code, the German Fiscal Code) and the principles of proper accounting (GoB). For computer-aided accounting, these are the principles of proper computer-aided accounting systems (GoBS) as a variation of the GoB, which impose certain regularity requirements on accounting. If the software used does not meet these requirements, the annual financial statements of a company cannot be certified due to a lack of proper accounting. The cleanup and correction of the determined data means time-consuming work, and an asset-related audit can involve a considerable amount of time and effort, depending on the number of assets.

The asset data flows into the company’s balance sheet and thus has an impact on the company’s economic presentation to the outside world. Furthermore, many business decisions, such as strategic restructuring plans, are made on the basis of the data material. This also includes the imputed determination of charges on the basis of cost accounting. The quality requirements relate not only to the calculation of costs and depreciation, but also to the manual input, import and data transfer of new assets. Clear identification and allocation, in relation to existing master data, must be ensured.

In order to protect customers, authorities, municipalities and utilities from this double burden, BARTHAUER has decided to have the BaSYS module UniWERT tested and the quality determined. The tested software provides users with security with regard to annual audits and the proper management and asset valuation of infrastructure assets. Within the scope of the software testing, both a process-oriented and a product-oriented test were carried out. In addition, this testing supports quality assurance in the software creation and software maintenance process. Further advantages are the protection of data and software against unauthorized access, the erasure prohibition after a technical year-end closing as well as the logging and traceability of the accounting.

UniWERT can thus be managed as a sub-ledger for the organizational outsourcing of sub-areas of general ledger accounting. BaSYS thus provides the ideal software solution for keeping existing infrastructure facilities, such as wastewater, water supply and gas supply facilities, in a sub-ledger. Initial pilot customers have supported and successfully accompanied the certification project from the very beginning.