Accounting and fixed assets

Accounting is the formal financial layer. An item becomes a tracked asset, and from then on ELVOAQ maintains its acquisition cost, its accumulated depreciation, its book value and a dated transaction log.

The three tabs

Items

Your library, marked with whether each item is tracked as an asset. Filter to tracked or untracked only.

Register

The fixed-asset register: every tracked asset with its class, cost, depreciation and book value.

Transactions

Every financial event ever recorded, newest first.

Tracking an item as an asset

1. 1Go to the Items tab and find the item.
2. 2Press Track asset. The acquisition cost and date are filled in from the item where they exist — you only correct what is wrong.
3. 3Choose an asset class: real estate, buildings, vehicles, machinery, equipment, computers, software, furniture, art, jewellery, collectibles, investments, or other.
4. 4Enter the acquisition cost and acquisition date.
5. 5Enter the salvage value — what it will still be worth at the end of its life. Zero is common.
6. 6Choose a depreciation method (see below).
7. 7Enter the useful life in months. 60 months — five years — is the default.
8. 8Press Create.

Depreciation methods

Straight line

The same amount every period. The simplest and the most common.

Declining balance

A fixed percentage of the remaining book value, so more is written off early.

Double declining

Declining balance at twice the straight-line rate. The most front-loaded.

Sum of years' digits

Accelerated, but more gently than double declining.

Units of production

By usage rather than by time — hours run, kilometres driven, units made.

Running depreciation

Start depreciation begins the schedule for an asset. Depreciate posts a period's charge; it can be run across many assets at once. Each run appears in the transaction log with the amount and the resulting book value, and the register shows the remaining months.

Revaluation and impairment

Record revaluation

Restates an asset's value upwards or downwards — after a professional appraisal, for example. You can record the appraiser's name and the valuation method used.

Record impairment

Writes down an asset whose value has fallen below its book value — damage, obsolescence, a collapsed market.

Disposal

1. 1Find the asset in the register and press Dispose.
2. 2Choose the reason: sold, scrapped, donated, traded in, stolen or lost, written off, or another reason you type.
3. 3Enter the disposal amount, if there was one, and the effective date.
4. 4Add notes if the reason needs explaining, then confirm.

A disposed asset leaves the active register but stays in the transaction history, so last year's books still reconcile.

Reports

The depreciation report shows the charge per asset and per class over a period. Advanced analytics and custom reports are part of the Pro plan and above.