Adding value or correcting an asset's cost
An asset's value can change after it is running: you extend a building, or the auditors find the cost was entered wrong. Use Add Value or Correct Cost on the asset, and Fiscal adjusts the cost and the depreciation for you.
Both buttons are on a Running or Fully Depreciated asset in the register. A draft asset doesn't need them: edit its cost directly. A sold or written-off asset can't be adjusted until you undo the disposal.
Add value to an asset
Use this when you spend money that becomes part of the asset, such as a new area added to a building or an upgrade to a machine.
- Open the asset and click Add Value.
- Enter the Date and the Amount to Add.
- Choose the Credit Account (bank, cash, vendor payable): where the money came from or who you owe.
- If the improvement also makes the asset last longer, turn on Extend the useful life and enter the Extra Months.
- Add a Reference (invoice or contract number) and a Note if you like, then click Preview.
- Check the result and click Post Addition.
Fiscal posts Dr Asset / Cr the account you chose. Months already posted stay as they are. From the month of the addition, the book value plus the addition (less the residual value) is spread equally over the months of life that are left, plus any extra months.
Example: a building cost 100,000 and 20,000 has been depreciated, so its book value is 80,000 with 8 months left. You add 10,000. From that month, 90,000 is spread over the 8 months: 11,250 a month.
If depreciation is already posted for the month of the addition, the new value applies from the next month; the preview tells you. A fully depreciated asset has no months left, so extend its life to depreciate the addition.
Correct the cost
Use this when the cost or residual value was entered wrong, for example after an audit.
- Open the asset and click Correct Cost.
- Enter the Date, the right cost in Correct Cost and, if it was also wrong, the Residual Value. The Cost Difference shows the change.
- Under Cost Difference Goes To, choose where the change is recorded (see below).
- Under Past Depreciation, choose Re-post past months or Catch up on this date (see below).
- Add a Reference (for example the audit reference), click Preview, check it, and click Post Correction.
Where the cost difference goes
| Asset | Choice | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Registered in the register, with its cost posted on activation | Modify the registered entry | The asset's purchase journal is changed to the corrected cost (Dr asset / Cr the account it was bought from), on its original date. |
| Created from a bill | Modify bill | Click Open Bill. The bill opens with its fixed asset lines unlocked: change the line's amount and save. VAT, the total, the vendor balance and the bill's journal are recalculated, and the asset's cost is corrected from the new amount with your past depreciation choice. Lines with active assets keep their item and quantity. If one line made several assets, the change is split evenly between them. |
| Any asset | Offset account | Choose the Offset Account (takes the cost difference), for example the vendor, a suspense account or retained earnings. The difference is posted between the asset account and that account, dated the date you entered. |
Modify the registered entry is not available for an asset registered without a credit account, because no purchase journal was posted for it.
Re-post or catch up?
| Choice | What happens | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Re-post past months | The whole schedule is recalculated as if the right cost had been entered from the start. Every posted month gets the corrected amount, and the journals of those depreciation runs are rebuilt. Fiscal asks you to confirm how many runs will change. | The months are still open and you want the past to show the right figures. |
| Catch up on this date | Past runs are not touched. The difference between what was posted and what should have been posted is posted once, on the date you entered (Depreciation Expense against Accumulated Depreciation). The months still to post use the corrected cost. | The past months are closed or already reported. |
Example: an asset was entered at 60,000 over 60 months (1,000 a month) and 3 months are posted. The right cost is 54,000 (900 a month). Re-post changes the 3 posted months to 900 each. Catch up posts 300 less depreciation once, and the next months are 900.
Re-posting changes past journals, so it is refused if any of those months is on or before the books closing date (see Closing the books). Use catch-up instead, or unlock the period first. Once an asset has a catch-up correction, undo it before you can re-post.
History and undo
Every addition and correction is listed under Additions & Corrections on the asset, with its date, amount, cost after, life, catch-up amount, account and reference. Only the latest one can be undone: click Undo on it. Its journal is removed (or the purchase journal is put back) and the cost, residual value and life go back to what they were. A correction made by editing a bill can't be undone from the asset: edit the bill again.
An addition or catch-up can be undone only while no depreciation has been posted with its new value. Undo those depreciation runs first. Undoing a re-posted correction re-posts the runs again with the old amounts.
In the reports
The asset reports show each asset's cost as it was on the report date. In Asset Movement, additions and cost corrections appear under additions in the period of their date, and a catch-up amount counts as depreciation for that period.