Financial services
Device control you can evidence, not just assert
Banks, brokers and financial firms hold regulated data on equipment issued to staff. Track custody with signatures, produce verified counts, and show control rather than describing it.
Financial services firms need to demonstrate control over the equipment holding regulated data, not merely state that it exists. Stackroom records a signed chain of custody for every device, produces scoped counts that close with a sign-off, and retains findings against the assets.
The problem
Sound familiar?
- An auditor asks for evidence of device control and you have a spreadsheet.
- Nobody can say who held a specific device on a specific date.
- Equipment leaves with departing staff and the recovery is undocumented.
- Each desk has accumulated equipment nobody has counted in years.
How Stackroom helps
Everything you need, in one place
Signed chain of custody
Every holder in sequence with dates and signatures, retained rather than overwritten.
Counts that close with a sign-off
Scoped verification recording each item present or missing, signed and exportable as evidence.
Departmental separation
Each desk, division or entity manages its own equipment inside one organisation, with configurable roles.
Findings that persist
Audit discrepancies stay attached to the asset, so the next count can see whether they were resolved.
How it runs
What this looks like day to day
- 1Issue
Devices go out against a signature
Every device holding regulated data is issued to a named individual who signs for it, producing evidence of acceptance rather than an assertion of assignment.
- 2Verify
Count on a cycle, not annually
Scoped counts per division through the year, so discrepancies surface while they are still recent enough to explain.
- 3Evidence
Export what was asked for
The count produces a document with scope, date, counter and discrepancies — the artefact an auditor actually wants.
- 4Recover
Departures leave nothing open
Every item a leaver holds is listed, checked back in with condition, and closed with a signed clearance.
In detail
The questions that come up next
What 'demonstrating control' means in practice
Assessors and auditors ask three questions with striking consistency: can you identify the item, can you show who held it and when, and was there a process or did this simply go unrecorded. A register answers the first. Only a custody trail answers the second and third, and finding that out during an examination is considerably worse than finding it out now.
Why independence matters in a count
Wherever the firm is large enough to allow it, whoever counts should not be the custodian of what they are counting. This is not about suspicion — a custodian knows where everything is supposed to be, and knowing is precisely what verification is designed not to rely on. It is also the first thing a reviewer will question.
Separation between divisions
Front office, operations and technology rarely want a shared flat register, and forcing one produces parallel spreadsheets. Departments and configurable roles give each area its own view inside a single organisation, which is usually what makes a shared register acceptable at all.
Retention and the historical question
The awkward request is never 'what is the status now'. It is 'what was the status on this date eight months ago', and that needs history rather than current state. Custody, condition and audit findings are retained per event rather than overwritten, so the historical answer exists.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Is this a regulatory compliance system?
No, and we would rather say so plainly. Stackroom tracks equipment, custody, condition and counts, and produces evidence you can present. It does not interpret regulation or manage a compliance programme. Check your specific obligations against what it actually does before committing.
Can we prove who held a device on a past date?
Yes. The custody chain retains every holder in sequence with dates, so a historical question has an answer rather than requiring reconstruction from memory.
How do we handle equipment across legal entities?
Departments and hierarchical locations let each entity manage its own register inside one organisation. Where entities need genuine separation rather than segmentation, run them as separate organisations.
What evidence does an audit count produce?
Scope, date, the named counter, each item recorded verified or missing, a signature at close, and an export. That is the artefact assurance requires — a register export does not qualify, because nothing in it was physically checked.
Ready to know where every asset is?
Start free — tag your first 100 assets and run a real checkout in your first session. No credit card required.