How to Track Employee Custody with an Asset Handover Form

An asset handover form is what an employee signs when they take a company laptop, phone or car. It identifies the item by code and serial number, records its condition, and carries the employee’s acknowledgement of receipt. Saudi companies call this custody (عهدة). The forms only help when they feed a custody register, one list that shows what every employee holds today. Below are the fields, sample wording and steps, plus what the Labor Law says when someone leaves.

What counts as custody

Custody is any company asset handed to an employee for their work, and the employee answers for it until it comes back. An accountant gets a laptop. A sales rep gets a car and a phone. A storekeeper holds the warehouse keys, while a technician signs for a toolbox and a drill.

Some custody is personal, like a laptop used by one person. Some belongs to a location: the lab equipment in a private school sits with the lab supervisor, and the espresso machine in a café branch sits with the branch manager. Cash custody, such as a petty cash advance, is a separate process that finance settles against receipts, so this guide sticks to physical assets.

A signed form in a personnel file proves the employee received something on a given day. It cannot tell you who has the old accounting laptop now, or what the person who resigned yesterday needs to bring back. A register answers both questions in a minute.

What to put on an asset handover form

Each line in the register is one movement: an asset going out to an employee, or coming back. These fields cover most companies and copy straight into Excel.

Some assets need one more field. Record the IMEI and SIM number for phones, and the plate number and odometer reading for vehicles. For keys, note which door each one opens, because “warehouse key” means little on a site with four of them.

Use the asset code to link the custody register to your asset register. With a label on every asset, a handover becomes a scan, and our guide to QR, barcode and RFID tags covers the label choice. For a published starting point, Monsha’at, the Saudi SME authority, offers a free Transfer and Receipt of Custody form to logged-in users (Monsha’at).

Sample acknowledgement wording

Put the asset table at the top, then a short statement for the employee to sign, with the name and signature of the person handing over. Adapt this wording:

I, the undersigned, confirm that I have received the assets listed above in the condition described. I will use them for work and take care of them. I will report any loss or fault to management straight away, and I will return the assets with their accessories when the company asks or when my employment ends.

If your team includes expats who do not read Arabic, language matters. Article 9 of the Labor Law requires Arabic in records, contracts and the employer’s instructions to workers, and where another language is used alongside it, the Arabic text prevails (HRSD). A bilingual form, Arabic with English beside it, covers both needs.

Avoid clauses like “I agree to the full value being deducted from my salary in all cases.” The law caps deductions, as you will see below, and Article 8 makes any condition that contravenes it null and void (HRSD). Have a legal adviser approve the wording once, then use it in every branch.

Handover, transfer and return, step by step

At handover

1. Check that the asset carries a label with its code.
2. Inspect it with the employee present and photograph it from at least two sides.
3. Fill in every field in the register, accessories included.
4. Have the employee read and sign the acknowledgement, and file a copy.
5. Update the custodian field on the asset’s own record.

When custody moves between employees

Say a supervisor moves from the Olaya branch to the Malqa branch, and their replacement takes over the laptop and the POS terminal. Close the first person’s custody with a documented return and open new custody for the second with a fresh acknowledgement, even if both happen in the same minute. Each asset then keeps an unbroken history.

At return

1. Collect the asset and accessories, and check them against the handover line.
2. Photograph the condition and compare it with the handover photos.
3. Record the return date, who received it and its condition.
4. Write any shortage or damage into a short report that both sides sign.
5. Send the asset back to the store, or issue it to the next employee as a new movement.

Clearance when an employee leaves

Custody tends to go missing in an employee’s last week, because the search starts on the last day. Start clearance on the day notice is given.

• Pull the employee’s custody statement from the register that day.
• Send it to the employee and their line manager.
• Set a return date at least two days before the last working day.
• Collect sign-off from IT for devices, the warehouse for tools and keys, finance for any cash custody and HR for the ID card.
• Switch off system access and collect work passwords.
• Record any shortfall in a signed report with photos.
• Close every open movement before you approve clearance.

What the Saudi Labor Law says

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) publishes the Labor Law in English. These articles matter most for custody:

• Care and return. Article 65 requires the worker to take due care of the employer’s machinery, tools, supplies and raw materials, and to return unused materials (HRSD).
• Deductions for loss or damage. Under Article 91, if the loss or damage comes from the worker’s fault or a breach of the employer’s instructions, and not from a third party or force majeure, the employer may deduct the amount needed for repair. The deduction may not exceed five days’ wages in any one month, and the worker can contest it before the Labor Court (HRSD).
• Consent and the overall cap. Article 92 bars deductions for private rights without the worker’s written consent, apart from the cases it lists. Article 93 limits total deductions to half of the worker’s due wage unless the Labor Court finds grounds to allow more (HRSD).
• Final settlement. Article 88 gives the employer one week after the contract ends to pay wages and settle entitlements, or two weeks if the worker ended it. It also lets the employer deduct a work-related debt from the amounts due (HRSD).

In practice, Article 91 turns on fault, so your evidence is the signed acknowledgement and the photos from handover and return. The five-day cap may not cover an expensive laptop in one go, and the settlement deadline leaves you days rather than weeks. Good records and an early start cost less than a deduction dispute.

This is a general reading of texts on the HRSD website, not legal advice. The law is amended from time to time, so check the current text and consult a legal adviser before any deduction from final dues.

Common mistakes

1. No serial number. “One laptop” does not prove which laptop.
2. Forgotten accessories. A charger or a SIM card is easy to lose and just as easy to leave off the form.
3. Hand-to-hand lending. An employee lends a colleague the phone “for a day”, and a month later nobody knows where it is.
4. Custody with no name on it. Spare warehouse keys and a branch’s second coffee machine belong to nobody until a person is named.
5. A register nobody checks. If you do not reconcile custody during your fixed asset count, the register drifts away from reality.

Paper, Excel or software?

Paper works for a handful of custody items. Excel works while one person owns the sheet and updates it after every movement. Once custody spreads across branches and departments, software saves time and cuts errors.

In Usool, the person handing over scans the asset’s label with a phone, picks the employee and records the acknowledgement. The return closes the movement with the asset’s condition, and every employee has a current custody statement you can pull on the day they resign. Custody is in every plan, and the features page shows how it connects to maintenance and counts. Comparing several tools? Our asset management software checklist lists what to ask.

FAQ

What is the difference between a custody register and an asset register?

The asset register lists everything you own and where it is. The custody register tracks who holds each asset and since when. Link the two with one asset code.

Is a signed paper form enough?

It proves the handover, as long as it is detailed and signed. Only a register updated with every movement shows where custody stands today.

Can an employer in Saudi Arabia deduct a lost laptop from salary?

Article 91 of the Labor Law allows it when the loss comes from the worker’s fault or a breach of instructions, up to five days’ wages per month, and the worker can contest it before the Labor Court (HRSD). Take legal advice first.

How often should we review custody?

At least once a year with the asset count, and every six months for laptops and phones. When someone resigns or changes branch, review their custody straight away.

If your custody records live in paper files and scattered spreadsheets, start with the field table above, even in Excel. When you want handovers, returns and custody statements in one place, you can try Usool free for 14 days without a card, and prices are in the pricing section.