大型基礎設施投資組合的所有者，有責任在多元化的環境之中構建事物復雜性的差異性(vany,2001),隨著組織的發展,業主認為他們的建筑和設施作為生產的因素,成功和未來經濟增長的基礎(弗羅洛夫et al .,2010;燕子和風笛,2007)。為了達到所需水平的成功和增長,這些因素,也稱為資產,必須進行有效地管理(弗羅洛夫et al .,2010)。

在這種背景下管理的過程稱為資產管理(Amadi-Echendu et al .,2007)。據米歇爾和丹妮拉,(2011)資產管理基礎設施開發和使用有很大的影響。如果流程在沒有充分認識到系統的復雜性、多樣性、社會和技術的發展下開展和執行,那么這個過程將幾乎必然會產生嚴重的經濟、環境、社會和文化資源的不良后果(米歇爾和丹妮拉,2011)。

弗羅洛夫et al .,(2010)和施耐德et al .,(2006)描述了資產管理…作為一個系統化、結構化的流程覆蓋整個實物資產。它包括幾個活動,維護、維修和更新決策,以及理解的長期經濟生活(生命周期成本計算)的資產(Amadi-Echendu et al .,2007;vany,2000)。

Owners of large infrastructure portfolios have a responsibility over diversified set of constructed facilities having different complexities and sophistication (Vanier, 2001) and as organizations grow, business owners consider their buildings and installations as factors for production, a foundation for success and future growth (Frolov et al., 2010; Swallow and Chanter, 2007). In order to achieve the required level of success and growth, these factors, otherwise known as assets, must be managed effectively (Frolov et al., 2010).

Within this context the process of management known as asset management (Amadi-Echendu et al., 2007). According to Michele and Daniela, (2011) asset management has a big influence on infrastructure development and use. If the process is undertaken and executed without fully recognizing the complexity, diversity, social and technological evolution of the system, the process will almost inevitably have severe economic, environmental, social, and cultural resources consequences (Michele and Daniela, 2011)

Frolov et al., (2010) and Schneider et al., (2006) have described asset management…as a systematic, structured process covering the whole life of physical assets. It involves several activities in maintenance, repair and renewal decisions, as well as understanding the long-term economic life (Life Cycle Costing) of an assets’ (Amadi-Echendu et al., 2007; Vanier, 2000).

Mohseni, (2003) proposed that asset management is…a matter of understanding the risks…,developing and applying the correct business strategy and the right asset model to solve the problem, all supported and delivered by the organization processes and technology.

Research in asset management as noted by The Institute of Asset Management (2011) is a term derived from the financial industry, where its concepts are applied to financial investment portfolios and risk management (R.E. Brown and Spare, 2004). This has been substantiated by internet search of the key words “Asset Management” using academic and general search engines i.e.
As a result of this disparity, The Institute of Asset Management (2011) has put forward a definition of asset management, with reference to infrastructure, as “a process that converts the fundamental aims of the organization into the practical implications for choosing, acquiring, utilizing and maintaining appropriate assets while seeking the best total value approach (the optimal combination of costs, risks, performance and sustainability)”.

In effect, asset management is the holistic practice of investing in an asset to the benefit of the organization taking into cognizance the cost, risk and performance of the investment. It plays a key role in the detection and evaluation of decisions leading to long-term economic success and best possible earnings (R.E. Brown and Spare, 2004; Schneider et al., 2006). Thus it is no longer sufficient to consider asset management as simply the maintenance of an asset but rather as a holistic approach to the management of assets, incorporating elements such as strategy, risk measurement, safety, environment and human factors (Amadi-Echendu et al., 2007; Frolov et al., 2010).

As asset management plays an important role in the overall strategy of an organization its practice possesses the potential to enhance the value base of organizations and institutions if implemented appropriately. This has been identified in the reports of organizations that has adopted a form of asset management strategy (Amadi-Echendu et al., 2007; Dixon, 2007; Holland et al., 2005; D. Leung and Q. Leung, 2011; Vanier, 2001). In a study carried out by Holland et al., (2005), the organization adopted an asset management methodology which enabled it connect its business processes with its suppliers to co-ordinate the maintenance, operation and repair of specialized exploration and production equipment. This methodology was termed ‘strategic asset management’ and utilized a ‘multi-enterprise asset management system’ methodology (Holland et al., 2005) where a shared enterprise system was used with suppliers to manage the full economic cycles across organizational boundaries.

(Vanier, 2001) highlighted several components embodied in the life cycle cost analysis method of asset management. These included: The current replacement value CRV, defined as the cost to replace an asset in present ‘local currency’;

As the number of built or acquired asset is set to increases in the United Kingdom in the future (Ravetz, 2008), it will be inevitable that organizations will have a large portfolio of assets to inspect or maintain. This phenomenon may cause the potential future deferred maintenance there by affecting the asset value (Ravetz, 2008; Vanier, 2000). Deferred maintenance as defined by (Vanier, 2000) is the cost of the maintenance…required to bring the asset to its original potential, typically constituting work that has been postponed or phased for future action. To avoid this sort of problem, proper asset management practice needs to be adopted.

In order to properly utilize and manage this large portfolio of asset effectively, tools supported with robust methodology must be developed to suit the purpose of the asset management (Amadi-Echendu et al., 2007; Frolov et al., 2010; IAM, 2011; Vanier, 2000).
The way asset management is performed will influence the availability of the service provided, the quality and cost (Tsang, 2002), but doing this present its self with some complexity (Frolov et al., 2010; Vanier, 2000) such as challenges of choice and decisions on what to manage, when to manage and how to manage, but it is non-the-less intractable (Vanier, 2000). This challenges can be attributed to constraints of adequate funding and appropriate support technologies (Michele and Daniela, 2011; Schraven et al., 2011; Vanier, 2000) as a result, certain components of infrastructure can be neglected and receive only remedial treatments.

Attempts to solve this problem would require an interdisciplinary approach, in which synergies should exist between traditional disciplines such as: accounting, engineering, finance, humanities, logistics, and information systems technologies for its success (Amadi-Echendu et al., 2007; Frolov et al., 2010) all driven by reliable data and information. Despite this interdisciplinary approach as highlighted by authors, a recurrent theme that presents itself as a challenge to effective asset management is lack of accurate data and information (Amadi-Echendu et al., 2007; Shien; Lin et al., 2007; Michele and Daniela, 2011; Too, 2008; Vanier, 2000) as many asset intensive organizations generate enormous amounts of data that can only be used in limited arenas (Shien; Lin et al., 2007; Vanier, 2000).

Information management technology can be considered as an enabler to manage this challenge. The implementation of an integrated information technology (IT) system could lead to better deployment of service and maintenance resources…thereby reducing costly maintenance tasks and increases the quality of service (Zhang et al., 2009). There are many existing tools and techniques that address part of these challenges, but there is no one solution that could readily be adopted or implemented holistically (Vanier, 2000).
Common technologies proposed include; Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems, Building Information Modeling (BIM) Systems, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Computer Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS) (Abudayyeh et al., 2005; Akcamete, 2011; R.E. Brown and Humphrey, 2005; Andy Koronios et al., 2007; Lewis et al., 2010; O’Donoghue and Prendergast, 2004; Shehab et al., 2004; Vanier, 2001; Zhang et al., 2009). Basically these technologies work by linking several enterprise wide applications to a centralized database where the information (in data form) is stored, organized, manipulated, and retrieved (Error: Reference source not found In asset management, this is termed “Enterprise Asset Management”, and is discussed in the next section below.

Having this information technology system cannot ensure or guarantee that asset management will be effectively carried out hence it is essential to develop a methodology towards a comprehensive asset management practice that will incorporate information technology principles. Several authors and associations have proposed specific methodologies to enhance asset management (Amaratunga et al., 2002; R.E. Brown and Spare, 2004; Ebinger and Madritsch, 2012; IAM, 2011). Most commonly adopted is the Publicly Available Standard 55 (PAS55) (Dixon, 2007; IAM, 2011; Andy Koronios et al., 2007; Woodhouse, 2007). Koronios et al., (2007) summarizes the Publicly Available Specification (PAS 55) as a 21-point requirements specification that aims to be aligned or integrated with other related business system standards.

An enterprise asset management system supports and enables the asset management strategy of an organization. Its historical development can be traced to the evolution of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system (Figure 1. Timeline depicting development of ERP Technology). ERP evolved from the material requirement planning (MRP) philosophy in the 1970s and was predominantly utilized in the manufacturing industry (I.J. Chen, 2001; Chung and Snyder, 2000; Shehab et al., 2004; Slack et al., 2007). According to Slack et al., (2007) the MRP helps operations make volume and timing calculations…using a set of calculations embedded in the system. In the 1980s, technology in computer development improved (i.e. produced more powerful and sophisticated equipments), and new versions of MRP were developed know as Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II) which had the capability of modelling ‘what-if’ scenarios, planning and scheduling internal resources (I.J. Chen, 2001; Chung and Snyder, 2000; Shehab et al., 2004; Slack et al., 2007). As organizations expanded and became multinationals, the philosophy of ‘just-in-time’ and lean production were adopted (Shehab et al., 2004; Slack et al., 2007). Thus the need to pool resources from different geographic locations became imperative. This culminated in the development of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The ERP system basic function was designed to integrate information from operation, finance and supply chain units (Chung and Snyder, 2000; Rao, 2000; Shehab et al., 2004) to satisfy the dynamic customer demand (I.J. Chen, 2001).

Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems work on the same principles of ERP systems, the major difference being in what is managed - ‘Assets’. According to Emerald Group Publishing Limited, (2002) EAM function refers to the acquisition, tracking, maintenance and disposal of the capital assets of an organisation. The system is designed to satisfy the function by handling effectively the physical assets typically owned by heavy industry organisations i.e. oil and gas, aerospace, utilities and manufacturing (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2002; Holland et al., 2005; Meng et al., 2008) and is mainly organised within the remit of maintenance, repair and operation (Holland et al., 2005).

Enterprise asset management systems have been identified as very important tools in the decision making process performed by asset managers in large asset intensive organizations (Holland et al., 2005; Shien Lin et al., 2006; Too, 2008; Vanier, 2001; Woodhouse, 2007). They are able to gather and hold vast amounts of data, perform complex business logic and present users with this information just as in the same way an ERP system would (Connolly and Begg, 2010).

Several enterprise asset management systems have been developed or proposed based on database technologies, RFID [1] , WebGIS [2] , WLAN [3] and LAN [4] methods (DAWSON et al., 2007; ITO, 2007; Meng et al., 2008; Nicastro et al., 2002; Spriggs et al., 2002). These conceptual systems are designed to automate the process of asset management by ensuring tracking, monitoring and information transfer are performed automatically with minimal errors (Meng et al., 2008)

The most commonly commercially available systems include IBM Maximo® (IBM Corporation, 2012), Oracle Enterprise Asset Management (Oracle Corporation, 2012) and SAP Enterprise Asset Management (SAP AG, 2012). These systems deliver a comprehensive view of all asset types, production and facilities etc across an enterprise and allows organizations to setup assets in a hierarchical structure with parent-child relationships (IBM Corporation, 2012; Oracle Corporation, 2012). This hierarchical structure makes it easier to find and group assets as well as roll up asset costs (Oracle Corporation, 2012).

EAM systems adopt an n-tier architecture to achieve optimum efficiency. An n-tier architecture in information technology system design consists of; the client user interface layer, the application layer constituting the business logic and data processing layer, and the database server layer which stores the required data in a structured and logical format (Error: Reference source not found) (Connolly and Begg, 2010).

This architecture is designed to allow enterprise scalability without the need to add more resources i.e. hardware (Connolly and Begg, 2010), hence as the organisation acquire or reduce asset data, the systems expands and contracts with it.

Earnings per share is refers to the common shareholders each hold a receive from the enterprise need to assume the enterprise net profit or net loss.Earnings per share is generally used to reflect the operating results of an enterprise, to measure common profit level and investment risk, investors and other information users which evaluate the enterprise profit ability, predict enterprise growth potential, thus make one of the important financial indicators of economic decision-making.In the case of enterprise profitable, the index reflects the after-tax profits, to create a share in general, the report users' understanding or information demanders is the higher the earnings per share, shows that the enterprise to create more profits.But if profits are mostly supported by accounts receivable, and the lack of realistic ability to pay cash, so enterprise's earnings per share index for evaluation of the level of corporate profits effect will be weakened, because earnings per share didn't bring enough cash inflows.High accounts receivable decreased the cash inflow of the enterprise, enterprise if cash flow is insufficient, could lead to capital chain rupture, if the financial crisis, due to the deterioration of financial position and reduce debt paying ability, make the enterprise credibility.

When we on the analysis of corporate profitability, should from the enterprise to grasp the main business, main business profit is the core of corporate profits.Companies leading products or main business income is considered to be concentrated enterprise profit object, the core competitiveness of enterprises even for decentralized management risk or extension of value chain, expand the scale of foreign investment, also must be built on a core competitiveness of product or business on the basis of.An enterprise only from main business profit is reliable.Under normal circumstances, is main profit source of enterprises, main business profit is main business of accounts receivable directly affect profit targets.Main business profit is recognized as the core of enterprise operating performance evaluation indicators.Big main business profit, the enterprise mainly is outstanding, good operating performance.But it is undeniable that a certain amount of accounts receivable make potentially main business profit loss risk, the risk comes from the market environment deteriorating effect on the debtor business activities.If the customer unable to repay the debt and bring bad debts, so enterprise carrying on again good performance also is but a flower in the mirror.At this moment, through the main business profit to the enterprise performance evaluation is the lack of convincing.

Enterprise accounts receivable is actually not to account profit, as a result of accounting policy operation, it has become the paper profits of the enterprise.From this point of view, accounts receivable bluffers undoubtedly the owner's equity of the firm.Enterprises in accordance with the provisions, the base paper profits to extract the surplus reserves, etc., after the distribution of the remaining number is the undistributed profits of the enterprise.Accounts receivable can make surplus reserve and undistributed profit in the owner's equity item data appear less believable, if simply from the analysis of the owner's equity on the balance sheet, can't intuitive its real situation.
The technique of enterprise financial fraud a lot, including accounts receivable can be profit manipulation tools.Companies, for example, in order to increase the profit of a fiscal year, can increase the accounts receivable through falsely making out invoice, this can be achieved through operating income of the inflated profits inflated, a loophole in the system or in the next year for sales return and then rushed back to the account receivable;Again, such as, the enterprise according to the length of the accounts receivable aging provision for bad debts preparation by the regulation, less provision for bad debts preparation can increase profits, many companies know some old accounts receivable has become bad debts, but to inflated profits will not be offset, or to conceal profits, and propose the provision for bad debts of financial fraud.The most obvious is that some listed companies play an important role in the annual report on the so-called "212" loss of the game: namely for two consecutive years of losses, and then through the "technical means" to manipulate profits, finally came to a "profit", and then again after two years of losses, and to a "profit", by adjusting profit escape delisting.

Any enterprise must establish credit risk awareness, strengthen credit risk management, guard against and dissolve the credit risk, highly know less and recovery of accounts receivable financing.Enterprises should do a good job in debt credit analysis and evaluation of enterprise provide information support for the enterprise to control the account receivable, arrears to do a good job of related necessary for the enterprise.Enterprises must make accurate on the existing receivables risk rating, and regularly to profits may affect the reasonable assessment, nip in the bud.First of all, the enterprise should pay attention to the accounts receivable recovery ratio index calculation and analysis work, the accounts receivable recovery ratio = selling goods, providing labor services received cash/average accounts receivable ", if the ratio is very low, suggests that the accounts receivable collecting speed is slow, accounts receivable management work need to be strengthen;Second, do a good job in accounts receivable collection on thought highly recognize the importance of drained, enterprises can adopt positive cash discount policy, can also use it everyday again, as soon as possible recover the default of payment by other enterprises;Once again, to do a good job of monitoring accounts receivable, accounts receivable monitoring should include the happening of the credit business, money back, overdue risk early warning and so on each link and the debtor's credit standing.

The income statement reflects the financial statements of the enterprise production and operation for a certain period of time.Profit the enterprise's operating income for a certain period of time with the same accounting period the proportion of operating costs, expenses, to calculate the enterprise a certain period of net profit after tax.Through the income statement reflect the indices such as revenues, costs and expenses, can know the enterprise production and operation income, cost, and cost, reflect the enterprise production and operation results.

The cash flow statement is to reflect the enterprise for a certain accounting period cash and cash equivalents inflow and outflow information of financial statements.The cash flow statement to analysis enterprise investment and financing activities on the influence of operating results and financial condition.

In the three statements, balance sheets can provide enterprise financial status of the certain date.It provides the financial information is static, does not reflect caused the changes in financial position, also can't show the assets, liabilities brings to the enterprise or to how much cash.Income statement reflects the operating results of an enterprise during it is certain, provide dynamic financial information, but it can only reflect the composition of the profit, but can't reflect the operating, investing and financing activities brings to the enterprise or how much cash payments, and the income statement can't reflect the investment and financing of all matters.The cash flow statement provides a certain period of cash inflows and outflows of dynamic financial information, shows that the enterprise in the reporting period by operating, investing and financing activities obtain the cash and the cash usage, to state the reason for the changes in the assets, liabilities, net worth.

The cash flow statement on the balance sheet and income statement have the effect of added, especially the cash flow statement can make up for the inadequacy of the income statement.Indicate the elements of corporate profits and the income statement is just as a result, in the presence of a large number of accounts receivable, profit is just a concept, it can not explain the real situation of profit and degree.Combining the income statement and cash flow statement analysis of corporate profits, not only can understand the composition of corporate profits and as a result, the amount of profit analysis, and can be controlled by cash flow for qualitative analysis of the profit。