Fixed assets: register, depreciation, tax book and work in progress
Each car or machine can be a fixed asset in your books. It is depreciated month by month, by time or by the hours it was out on hire. The register also keeps your other assets, a tax book for income-tax depreciation by block, and capital work in progress.
PLANSScale only
The problem it solves
- The fleet's book value lives in the accountant's spreadsheet, updated once a year for the audit.
- A machine that is out on hire every day wears down faster than its straight-line depreciation says.
- Income-tax depreciation by block is worked out by hand beside the books.
- The costs of fitting out a new workshop sit in a suspense account long after it is in use.
How it works
- Your accountant sets up asset categories once under Invoicing > Configuration > Asset Categories, such as Cars, Coaches and Plant. Each has its accounts, method and useful life.
- On a car, press Make Asset (Rental > Vehicles > Items > Vehicles). A new asset opens with the car's name and Entity; the car and the asset then point at each other. Fill in the cost and the date in use, and press Confirm.
- Depreciation posts each month by itself. A machine depreciated by units of use in hours takes the hours it was out on hire each month.
- For income tax, give each category its tax block under Tax Blocks. Load Country Pack makes the starting blocks for India, the UK, Australia or the UAE. Read the year under Invoicing > Fixed Assets > Tax Depreciation.
- A car may be sold to a hirer through rent to own or a lease buy-out. Then its asset is disposed of as a sale by itself. A car sold through a quotation gives a to-do to dispose of it with Dispose.
Everything it does
Categories
- Useful life: 60 months to start with; salvage as a share of cost; a yearly rate for written-down value
- Make Assets from Bills (off to start with), One Asset per Unit (on), Post Depreciation Each Month (on)
- Write Off Below: cheaper items are written off in full and still kept in the register
- No categories come ready-made: your accountant adds the ones you use
Depreciation
- Methods: Straight Line, Written-Down Value, Declining to Straight Line, Units of Use, Manual Schedule, Not Depreciated
- Units of use in hours (Unit: hours): the hours the car or machine was out on hire in the month
- Units of use in km or miles: the distance from the vehicle's odometer log in Fleet Costs, for an asset with its Vehicle filled in. The readings taken at rental checks are not used
- Depreciation Schedule: every month's line, planned or posted, by category, year and Entity
Changes and disposal
- Add Value, Revalue, Impair, Change Remaining Life, Pause, Resume, and a new place or custodian, each kept on the Changes tab
- Dispose as Sold (with the buyer and the invoice) or Scrapped, with the gain or loss posted
- Revalue, Impair, Change Remaining Life, Sold and Scrapped wait on the Asset change chain, Asset Managers by default; the rest goes through at once
Tax book
- A second book that posts nothing: opening value, additions at full or half rate, disposals, depreciation and closing value per block and year
- Country packs for India, the UK, Australia and the UAE; have your accountant check the rates before the first tax year
Capital work in progress
- Gather the costs of a new depot building, a workshop fit-out or a coach body being built on its work-in-progress account
- Capitalise moves them into a new asset in one entry, in use from the day you press it
Who uses it
Accountant (Asset Manager)Sets up categories and tax blocks, confirms, changes and disposes of assets.
Fleet manager (Rent Manager)Makes the asset from the car and sees its book value.
OwnerReads depreciation in Profit per Car and the tax book at year end.
Where you use it
- Web: Make Asset on the car (Rental > Vehicles > Items > Vehicles)
- Web: Invoicing > Fixed Assets (Fixed Assets, Depreciation Schedule, Tax Depreciation, Work in Progress)
- Web: Invoicing > Configuration > Asset Categories (Asset Categories, Tax Blocks)
- The SmartMy Rental Staff app: Find an asset by its tag, for the Asset Incharge (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
What you control
Settings
- Per category: life 60 months, Make Assets from Bills off, One Asset per Unit on, Post Depreciation Each Month on
- Per asset: method and unit (hours, km or miles) for units of use
- Roles: Asset User (every staff login), Asset Incharge (nobody at the start), Asset Manager (the administrator at the start; give it to your accountant)
Approvals
- Asset change: revaluing, impairing, a new remaining life, selling or scrapping waits on the chain, Asset Managers by default
Questions
Can depreciation follow how much a machine is hired?
Yes. Depreciate it by units of use in hours: each month it takes the hours the machine was out on hire.Does km-based depreciation use our check readings?
No. It reads the odometer log of the fleet vehicle in Fleet Costs. So fill in the Vehicle on the asset and log the odometer there, or use hours or straight line.Does it work out income-tax depreciation?
Yes. The tax book keeps depreciation by block per year beside the books, with packs for India, the UK, Australia and the UAE.Which plan has it?
Scale, with asset care, giving out and taking back, physical verification and full accounting.Related features
FLEET VALUEProfit per car with a keep, sell or buy-more hintFor any period, see each car's rent invoiced, its costs, its profit and how much of the time it was out on hire. A hint says which cars to buy more of and which to think of selling.LONG HIRES AND PARTNERSUsed car sales through quotationsWhen a car leaves the fleet, Sell This Car opens a sales quotation with the car and its serial number. Confirming it stops new bookings; delivering it takes the car out of the fleet and reminds you to take its fixed asset off the books.LONG HIRES AND PARTNERSRent to ownLet a customer rent a car or a machine with the option to buy it. A share of what they pay counts toward an agreed price, and the order shows what is left to pay. Buy Now sells the car. The invoice is made, the car leaves the fleet and, with fixed assets, the asset is sold with its gain or loss.ASSETSAsset care, and assets issued and returnedKeep the warranty, maintenance contracts and insurance policies of your assets, with a reminder 30 days before each ends. Give an asset, such as a yard tablet or a pressure washer, to a person, a customer or a place. A staff member confirms it before it moves to them. Record its condition when it comes back.ASSETSPhysical verification of assetsCount your assets on the ground: the machines in each depot, the tools in the workshop, the computers in the office. Scan each QR asset tag and see what was found, what is missing and what turned up somewhere else, with who counted it and when.ACCOUNTINGFull accounting with GST returnsRent invoices, charges, deposits, pay-link payments, fines passed on, supplier bills for cars hired in and car sales all post into the same books. Scale adds the full accounting screens and reports, from ledgers with drill-down to cash flow, and GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B for Indian Entities.
See your fleet on it.
Tell us how many cars or machines you hire out, from how many depots, and how bookings reach you today. We will set up your fleet with you on SmartMy Rental.