Fixed assets

Where

Financials → Fixed Assets → Fixed Assets

Plan

Growth and above

Permission

Accounting → Fixed Asset

A fixed asset is something you bought to keep and use — a van, a chest freezer, a generator. Rather than counting the whole cost as an expense on the day you buy it, you spread it over the years you will use it. That spreading is depreciation.

How to record an asset

Set up a category first — it supplies the defaults.

1. Go to Financials → Fixed Assets → Asset Categories and click New category.
2. Type a Name and Code, pick the Depreciation method and the Useful life (years), then Save.

Then the asset itself:

3. Go to Financials → Fixed Assets → Fixed Assets and click New asset.
4. Type the Name. Leave Code blank to have one generated.
5. Pick the Asset category — the method and life fill in from it.
6. Enter the Purchase cost, the Salvage value — what it will be worth at the end — and the Useful life (years).
7. Set the Purchase date and In service from.
8. Add the Serial number and Physical location if useful, and attach the invoice.
9. Click Save.
10. Open the row menu and click Capitalize to record the purchase in your accounts.

How to write down value each month

Nothing does this on its own. You have to run it.

1. Go to Financials → Fixed Assets → Depreciation runs and click Run depreciation.
2. Check Depreciate through — it defaults to the last day of last month, which is usually what you want.
3. Leave Asset category blank to do everything, or pick one.
4. Leave Post to the ledger on.
5. Confirm. You get a summary: how many assets, how many charges, and the total.
6. If anything could not be depreciated, a list of problems opens. You can re-open it later with View issues on the row.

Depreciation never runs by itself

There is no scheduled job for it — I checked the whole job registry, and the only finance jobs are payment reminders, overdue notices and customer statements.

If nobody presses Run depreciation, depreciation is never charged. Your profit will be overstated and your assets will sit at full value indefinitely.

Put it in someone’s monthly routine, alongside the bank reconciliation.

Re-running is safe — an asset is never charged twice for the same period.

Assets depreciated by usage are skipped

An asset set to Units of production is always skipped by a batch run, with a note saying so. Charge those individually: open the asset, go to Depreciation, and click Record depreciation.

How to dispose of an asset

1. Open the asset’s row menu and click Dispose….
2. Set the Disposal date and the Proceeds — use 0 for a scrapping or write-off.
3. Leave Depreciate up to the disposal date ticked, or any unrecorded depreciation is booked as a gain instead.
4. Confirm.

This posts a disposal entry. It does not reverse anything that came before.

What to watch out for

Never delete an asset that has been capitalised

Deleting an asset hard-removes every depreciation record and reverses nothing in your accounts. The capitalisation and every depreciation entry stay in the ledger with no document behind them.

There is no cancel, no reverse and no undo anywhere in fixed assets. To retire something, use Dispose…. Keep Delete for records created by mistake and never posted.

• Capitalize and Dispose may refuse for the person who can see them. They appear for anyone who can edit assets, but the server also requires permission to post journal entries.
• Depreciation runs, Capitalize and Dispose all need a connection. Adding and editing assets works offline; these three do not.
• The Depreciation schedule on an asset is a projection of what is coming, not a record of what has been charged. It labels the two separately.

Related

• Setting up your books
• Financial reports