Unclaimed Property Recovery Checklist

This checklist is designed to help your company determine if outsourcing the recovery of unclaimed property is the right strategic decision. By answering the following questions, you can assess your current situation, identify potential challenges, and understand the benefits that an outsourced recovery firm, like Boomerang, can offer.

Company Operations and History

• Do you operate in multiple U.S. states or territories?
  • Yes
  • No
• Does your company have a long operating history (e.g., 10+ years)?
  • Yes
  • No
• Has your company been involved in mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures?
  • Yes
  • No
• Do you have numerous subsidiaries or “doing business as” (DBA) names?
  • Yes
  • No

Internal Resources and Expertise

• Do you have a dedicated in-house team or personnel solely focused on unclaimed property recovery?
  • Yes
  • No
• Do your current internal teams (e.g., finance, tax, legal) have other primary responsibilities in addition to unclaimed property recovery?
  • Yes
  • No
• Do you have specialized knowledge and expertise in all 50 U.S. states’ unclaimed property laws, regulations and documentation requirements to claim?
  • Yes
  • No
• Do you possess advanced technology and proprietary databases for comprehensive unclaimed property searches across various jurisdictions (states, counties, cities, courts, agencies)?
  • Yes
  • No
• Is your company able to consistently provide all necessary historical documentation (e.g., merger certificates, name change documents, old addresses) required to substantiate claims?
  • Yes
  • No

Potential Unclaimed Property and Recovery Goals

• Do you suspect your company has a significant amount of unclaimed property held by states or other agencies (e.g., over $100,000)?
  • Yes
  • No
• Are you looking to improve your company’s cash flow by recovering escheated assets?
  • Yes
  • No
• Is your primary goal to maximize the amount of recovered assets, even if it involves complex historical searches?
  • Yes
  • No
• Are you seeking to minimize the cost of recovering unclaimed property?
  • Yes
  • No
• Is your company in compliance with unclaimed property regulations as a holder (i.e., you are reporting and remitting unclaimed property to states)?
  • Yes
  • No

Current Challenges and Risks

• Do you find it difficult to track and identify all potential unclaimed property due to varying state laws and fragmented data sources?
  • Yes
  • No
• Does the process of preparing and filing claims consume a significant amount of internal staff time?
  • Yes
  • No
• Are you experiencing long delays in the recovery of escheated funds when pursuing them internally?
  • Yes
  • No
• Are you concerned about the risk of lost assets or potential penalties due to non-recovery or incorrect documentation?
  • Yes
  • No
• Does your corporate policy allow for outsourcing asset recovery?
  • Yes
  • No

Industry Considerations

• Is your company in one of the following industries, which often benefit from outsourcing unclaimed property recovery?
  • Manufacturing
  • Insurance (without independent agents)
  • Utilities
  • Energy and Petroleum
  • Pharmaceutical
  • Hospitals and healthcare facilities
  • Non-Franchised restaurant chains
  • Retailers
  • Auto manufacturers
  • Chemical
  • Large banks
  • Securities and brokerage institutions
  • Grocery chains
  • Computer hardware manufacturers and software developers
  • Publishers
  • Telecommunication
  • Mining
  • Transportation and shipping
  • Food and beverage manufacturers
  • Aviation manufacturers
  • Airlines
  • Railroads
  • Construction
  • Equipment rental (not franchises)
  • Leasing
  • Companies with a large number of company-owned business locations or stores

Next Steps

If you answered “Yes” to a majority of the questions in the “Company Operations and History,” “Internal Resources and Expertise” (especially regarding challenges), and “Potential Unclaimed Property and Recovery Goals” sections, and if your industry is listed as generally benefiting from outsourcing, then engaging a specialized asset recovery firm, like Boomerang, is likely a beneficial strategic decision for your company.

Boomerang Asset Recovery

Since 2006, Boomerang has provided corporate clients with a managed recovery service for their unclaimed property. Boomerang’s clients have received more than $150M from their outsourced recovery work. Through Boomerang’s efforts, clients maximize the amount recovered, minimize the cost to recover and save time to focus on other priorities.

Learn more in our comprehensive “Guide to Outsourcing Corporate Asset Recovery”