← All docs

Fixed assets and depreciation

Fixed assets live in the Non-Current Assets tab of Schedules, one register per company.

Methods

• Straight-line.
• Declining balance at 200%, 150% or 100%.
• Declining balance at a fixed rate: opening net book value times the rate, once per fiscal year, spread evenly over the year's months, with the first year pro-rated.
• Held at cost (not depreciated), and an optional half-year convention.

The register

Each asset has its cost, salvage value, method, rate or useful life, in-service date, currency and accounts. Asset cost accounts are read from the company's first transaction, whatever sync range you chose, so older assets appear individually. Purchases below your capitalization threshold stay out of the queue.

History already booked

Lock an asset's history through a month, with the accumulated depreciation at that date. Up to then, depreciation stays as booked; only the remaining amount (cost less salvage less the locked accumulated depreciation) is depreciated from there. A whole account can be locked at once, with any difference to the books spread so the total matches.

Additions, credits and disposals

• An addition raises an asset's cost; only the increase depreciates from then on. Several ledger lines can be combined into one asset.
• Credits to a cost account are handled, not dropped: an exact reversal nets out, a refund or correction reduces cost, and a full-cost credit is offered as a disposal.
• Recording a disposal captures the date, proceeds, and the cost and accumulated depreciation disposed, and shows the gain or loss.

At close

The lead sheet shows cost continuity, accumulated depreciation and net book value. Depreciation for confirmed assets can be booked automatically at month end and sent to QuickBooks Online in one step.

More in the close

• Prepaid expenses and deferred revenue
• Loans and leases
• Cost allocations
• The Close Workbench and sign-off
• Write-back to QuickBooks Online
• Audit trail

All docs