Balancivo · Money in and out

Add fixed assets and track depreciation

Spread the cost of computers, equipment and furniture over the years you use them, and record when an asset is sold or retired.

Who can do this: Owners.

Add fixed assets and track depreciation · 45 sec · shown with a sample organization.

Read the transcript

On the Fixed assets page, equipment you've bought shows up here, ready to set up. Click Set up depreciation next to the purchase. Give it a name, and pick the type. Balancivo suggests a typical useful life, and fills in the cost from the purchase. Enter the date you started using it, and how many years you expect to use it. Balancivo shows about how much that comes to each month and each year. Click Add to register. Now its cost is spread over those years. The table shows this year's depreciation, the total so far, and what it's worth on your books. When you sell it or stop using it, click Disposed of, enter the date, and click Record disposal.

Computers, equipment and furniture last more than a year. Instead of counting the whole price as an expense the day you buy it, Balancivo spreads it over the years you'll use it. That yearly share is depreciation.

Before you start

File equipment you buy with business money under Equipment in Review. It then appears on this page to set up.

Steps

Go to Fixed assets. It's in the menu under Setup.
Set up a purchase. Under Equipment purchases to set up, click Set up depreciation next to the purchase. For equipment you bought personally and now use for the business, click Add an asset instead.
Describe the asset. Fill in What is it and choose a Type (such as Computer or phone, Office equipment, Furniture or Vehicle). Choosing a type fills in a typical useful life.
Set the dates and amount. Enter when you Started using it (the date the business started using it, not the date you bought it). For a purchase, the Cost (from the purchase) is filled in. For equipment you brought in, enter Its value then: what it was worth on the day the business started using it.
Choose How to expense it. Pick Over its useful life and enter the Useful life (years) and what it's Worth at the end (usually 0), or pick All at once. Balancivo shows about how much that is a month and a year.
Click Add to register. The asset appears in the table with its Depreciation for this year, Accumulated depreciation and Book value.
When you sell it or stop using it, click Disposed of, enter the Date, and click Record disposal.

Good to know

Depreciation is straight-line from the month an asset goes into service. This year's figure includes the months still ahead.
Tax depreciation can differ (bonus depreciation, MACRS); your CPA will use this register to work that out.
Equipment you bought personally is recorded as something you put into the business (an owner contribution), and shows "brought in by owner."
In church books, Add an asset is for donated equipment: something a member gave the church, entered at its value on the day it was given. It shows "donated" and appears as donated equipment in net assets, never as an owner contribution. If the gift was worth $250 or more, list the item on the donor's statement so they have a written acknowledgment.
After a disposal, depreciation stops after that month, and whatever value is left is recorded as a loss on disposal. If you sold it, file the money you received under Other income in Review.
Click Edit to change an asset. Remove takes it out of the register and its depreciation out of every report; use Disposed of instead if you sold it or stopped using it.
Useful life must be between 1 and 40 years, and the value at the end must be less than the cost.
When an asset's value has been fully spread out, it shows Fully depreciated.
Only owners can add, change, dispose of or remove assets. Bookkeepers can view the register.

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