Fixed assets

Add something you bought to the register

1. Record the purchase as you always do — Money out, or a bill — with its line on a Fixed asset account, under Bought to keep.
2. Open its entry, or the bill, and press Add to the register.
3. Check What it is, the cost — what the purchase put on the account, tax it could not reclaim included — and the day it was Put in service.
4. Say its Useful life and How it is used up: straight line, or declining balance at a Yearly rate. Give its Salvage value if it will still be worth something at the end.
5. Choose where What is taken off it gathers in and where Each month's charge goes to.
6. Press Add to the register.

Then: Nothing posts now: its cost is in the book already. On the last day of each month its charge posts by itself — its depreciation account up, Accumulated depreciation up — until it is worth exactly its salvage value. The form shows each month's charge as you type.

Rather not? Press Add an asset on this page to add one whose cost came into the book another way: an opening balance, or an entry made by hand.

Who: Whoever records money at the unit. Adding Accumulated depreciation or Depreciation to the chart in one press is for whoever keeps the organization's chart: the top unit's finance keeper, an Owner or an Admin.

The Boston office buys a delivery van for $12,000 on a bill to 1500 Equipment. Grace opens the bill, presses Add to the register, and gives it 3 years, straight line, no salvage value. It is charged $333.33 a month, and $333.45 in its last month, ending at $0.00.

Sell an asset, or write it off

1. Open the asset and press Sell or write off.
2. Choose What happened, and the day it left under On.
3. If it was sold, give what it was Sold for and where The money came into.
4. Choose where The gain or loss goes to: an account under Other income or Other expenses.
5. Press Record the sale, or Write it off.

Then: Its months up to the one before it left are charged first, on the day it left; a charge made already for the month it left, or a later one, is taken back that day. Then one entry takes its cost and everything taken off it out of the book, puts the money in, and posts the gain or loss — the form shows which, and how much, as you type.

Rather not? Press Undo the sale or write-off to put it back on the register: its entry is reversed this month.

After 18 months the van is sold for $5,000. It had $5,999.94 taken off it, so it was still worth $6,000.06: a loss of $1,000.06, posted to Gain or loss on assets sold.

Put right an asset set up wrongly

1. Open the asset. While nothing has been charged, press Change it, correct it and press Save.
2. Once months are charged, press Take its depreciation back and say why.
3. Press Change it, correct its life, cost or method, and press Save.
4. Press Charge it again.

Then: Its charges are taken back in one entry this month — never into a month already closed — and it waits while you put it right. Charge it again posts its months afresh, by the corrected figures, in the open month.

Rather not? Press Take it off the register for one added by mistake, once none of its depreciation stands — take it back first. It stays on the record and its cost stays in the book where it is.

If an asset was not charged

1. Read why on the asset's page, or at the top of this page.
2. Put the cause right — reopen a month, bring an account back into use.
3. Wait for the next hour, or press Charge it again if it is paused.

Then: It is tried each hour. Three hours in a row failing the same way, it pauses and the book's keepers are told.

Bring in a register from your old system

1. Enter your opening balances first, with each asset account's cost and Accumulated depreciation.
2. Press Bring in a register here, or open Finance › Import and choose Fixed assets.
3. Fill in the template: each asset, its cost, the day in service, its life in months and what had been taken off it by the opening day.

Then: Nothing is posted: the opening balances hold those figures already, and the check sets the file beside them, account by account. Each asset's charges start the month after the opening day. The import can be undone for seven days, unless an asset was charged since.