Overview

This article covers how to setup records for Equipment and Fixed Assets to be depreciated and how a user can run the Depreciation process to create a Journal Entry to post the depreciation.  

Setup

Depreciation records are setup by going to the Journal Entry Page in the Accounting Section and selecting the Depr Setup button at the top of the page.

When the user goes into the Depreciation Setup page they will see a list of all records that have been setup previously and they can look at the current information on all those records.  

The below list outline the options and fields in the Depreciation Setup Page

Magnifying Glass - If you need to search for the appropriate serial number you can click the magnifying glass to open a search window

Info button - This will open a new window that will display all values that have been recorded to the GL for the specific serial number you have entered

Group - You can have multiple groups if you would like.  Enter the group name you would like to add this Serial # to, i.e. Rental, Rolling Stock etc.  If the group name has been added previously, that name will already be available in the drop down list.

Method - Selected the appropriate method (straight line or manual) 

Manual Amount - If you selected Manual in the Method field, this field will then be active for you to enter the appropriate value

Starting Value - Enter the beginning value

Residual Value - If there is to be a residual value at the end enter it here.

Net Book Value - Enter the Net Book Value here

Inactive - Once a unit is fully depreciated you have the option of clicking this field to mark it as inactive and keep it from being included in future depreciation journals

Acquisition Date - This will display the Acquisition Date from the Equipment record.  

Hide Inactive - You will see a list of all units being depreciated in the list below.  Clicking this field will allow you to hide any that are flagged as Inactive so that all you see in your list are the active units.  

Total Months - Enter the total number of months

Remaining Months - Enter the current remaining months (i.e. if it is a 60 month depreciation and you have already depreciated for 15 months, the remaining months would be 45)

Credit Account # - Enter the GL account number that is to be used on the depreciation journal for credit entries. 

Debit Account # - Enter the GL account number that is to be used on the depreciation journal for debit entries. The depreciation window will display the Inventory account number of the unit just to the right of the Debit Account number field.

The buttons across the top of the depreciation setup window:  

Update - update a current setup if necessary, or to delete a setup

Add & Delete - These are used to add a new deprecation record or delete an existing one. 

Roll Back -  If you were to create a Depreciation Journal, and then create the journal entries for the Group of Depreciation items, but decide to remove those journal details items from the journal, you’ll need to go back into the Depreciation Setup window and use the Roll Back feature in order to get the Remaining Months and the Net Book Value back.  At the moment you create the Journal detail the system will automatically count off one of the depreciation periods, the roll back process is how you can get that period back if you added by mistake.  

    *Note:  If you posted the journal a simple reversal is not going to do the roll back.  

      (You would need to do the journal reversal as well as the roll back.)

Copy - Clicking this button will basically copy to the clipboard all the data in the list on the bottom so that you can go to another layout such as Excel and paste the data so you can sort and manipulate as you find necessary.  

Creating The Depreciation Journal

1. In the Journal Entry Page create a journal as you normally would for any other transaction.  
2. Once your journal is created you can click the double down arrows to reveal the depreciation criteria fields.  
3. Depr Group - Select the depreciation group that you would like to include on your journal
4. Click the Create button, this will populate your line items for your journal
5. If you want to enter multiple groups on one journal simply select the next group and click Create again to populate the line items for that group.  
6. When all line items for depreciation have been entered your journal should be in balance and ready to post.  

Depreciation Reports

The below links will take you to articles we have on Depreciation Reports in Softbase Evolution

Depreciation Report

Depreciation Table Active / Inactive Report