Operations

Registering an Asset

Add a fixed asset to the register — every field, the three ledger accounts it needs, and what registering does and does not post.

Registering an asset tells Trabalance what you own, what it cost, how long you expect it to last, and which three ledger accounts its depreciation runs through. It is the setup act — nothing posts to the ledger until depreciation is charged or the asset is disposed of.

New Asset Register: Basic Information, Depreciation Details, and the three ledger accounts.

Opening the form

Navigate to: Operations → Fixed Assets → Registers → New Register

The Fixed Assets screen has two tabs, Registers and Disposals. The form opens as a single page with four sections — Basic Information, Depreciation Details, Accounting Information (expanded by default), and Additional Notes (collapsed).

Basic Information

Basic Information — fields

Field	Required?	Details
Asset Name	Yes	Must be unique within the business — registering a second asset with an existing name is refused with "Asset name already exists". Name assets so two of the same model can be told apart: include a serial, a plate, or a location.
Description	No	Free text. Model, serial number, supplier, warranty terms — anything the next person needs.
Center / Location	No	The business unit the asset sits at. Optional, but worth filling in: the register shows a Center column and a center filter as soon as any asset has one. Drawn from the units you have access to.
Purchase Cost	Yes	What the asset cost. This is the figure the whole schedule is built from and the amount credited out of the asset account on disposal.
Date of Purchase	Yes	When you acquired it. Depreciation is projected from this date.
Scrap Value	No — defaults to 0	What you expect the asset to be worth at the end of its useful life. Depreciation never takes the book value below it.
Useful Life (years)	Yes	How many years you expect to use it, in years, not months. It sets when depreciation stops, and for two of the three methods it also sets the rate.

ℹ️Registering an asset posts nothing

Adding an asset to the register creates no journal entry. If you paid for the asset, that payment is recorded separately as a bill or an expense against the asset account. The register is the schedule of what you own; it does not book the purchase for you.

Depreciation Details

One field: Depreciation Method, chosen from three options.

Depreciation Method — the three options

Option	Monthly charge as posted	Note
Straight Line	(Cost − Scrap Value) ÷ (Useful Life × 12)	The same amount every month until the book value reaches the scrap value.
Reducing Balance	Opening book value × 20% ÷ 12	The 20% is fixed in the engine and is not entered per asset. Useful Life only decides when charging stops.
Units of Production	Opening book value × (2 ÷ Useful Life) ÷ 12	Despite the name this is a double-declining charge. No units of output are recorded anywhere, so an idle month is charged exactly like a busy one.

⚠️"Units of Production" does not measure production

The option is labelled Units of Production but the engine charges a double-declining rate on the opening book value. If you need depreciation that tracks actual output, this is not it — pick the method whose behaviour you want and ignore the name. Full detail in Depreciation methods.

Accounting Information — the three accounts

This section is expanded by default because it decides where every depreciation entry lands.

The three ledger accounts an asset carries

Account	Element	Used for
Asset Account	Asset	Where the asset sits on the balance sheet. Credited at cost when the asset is disposed of.
Accumulated Depreciation Account	Contra-asset	Credited by every depreciation charge, so it accumulates against the asset account. Debited out in full on disposal.
Depreciation Expense Account	Expense	Debited by every depreciation charge — the P&L side. Also, in the current build, the account that carries disposal proceeds and any gain or loss.

⚠️The Depreciation Expense account does double duty on disposal

When an asset is disposed of, the proceeds and the gain or loss are posted to this same Depreciation Expense account rather than to cash and a gain/loss account. Choose the account knowing that, and read Disposals before disposing of anything material.

Registering an asset, step by step

Name it so it can be told apart

The name must be unique. "Delivery Van" works once; the second one needs a plate or a number.

Enter cost, purchase date, scrap value and useful life

These four determine the entire schedule. Scrap value defaults to zero if you leave it blank.

Pick the depreciation method

Straight Line unless you have a reason. Read the method's real behaviour first, not its name.

Set the three accounts

Asset, Accumulated Depreciation, Depreciation Expense. All three are picked from your chart of accounts.

Add a location and notes if useful

Both optional. The location earns its keep as soon as you have assets in more than one place.

Save

The asset appears in the register with a Net Book Value equal to its cost, and Accumulated Depreciation of zero.

What the register shows afterwards

Column	Details
Name	The asset. Always shown.
Status	Active while Net Book Value is above zero; Fully Depreciated once it reaches zero. It is derived from the figures, not stored, so it is always current.
Useful life	In years.
Center	Only appears once at least one asset has a location.
Cost	The purchase cost as registered.
Accum. Depreciation	The total depreciation posted to date. Zero until the first charge posts.
Net Book Value	Cost less accumulated depreciation. Always shown.

The toolbar carries a filter (center, status, useful life, and cost / net book value ranges), Export to CSV or PDF, a column picker, Import, and Run catch-up — which posts every depreciation entry that is due but has not yet been charged, in a single run.

ℹ️Depreciation does not start on its own

Registering an asset does not begin charging it. Depreciation posts only once auto-charge has been configured for the asset — see Auto-charge.

Editing and deleting

Any field can be changed with Edit Asset, including the depreciation method. Changing the method after charges have posted affects only future charges — the entries already in the ledger stand, and restating them is your own accounting decision. Assets can be selected in the register and deleted in bulk.

Importing assets

Import on the register toolbar loads assets from a spreadsheet, staged and reversible like every other import in Trabalance.

Fixed assets — the module overview
Depreciation methods — the formulas, worked examples, and where projections diverge
Auto-charge — turning monthly posting on
Disposals — what happens at the end of an asset's life
Business units — the locations an asset can be tagged to

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