An asset register is the single list of everything an organisation owns and uses, each item on its own line with a number, a description, a holder, a location and what it is worth on the books. The fixed asset register is the part of it that carries a cost, a life and a depreciation charge; the rest of the register carries the things below the threshold that are tracked for custody and count. For the owner, bookkeeper or office manager of a small organisation the register is the answer to the question that arrives from the insurer, the auditor, the accountant or the grant officer in the same week: what do we own, where is it, and what is it worth? This page sets out what the register holds, how it is organised and how it is kept true.
What every line of the asset register records
A number, issued in sequence and never reused, that the tag on the asset carries. A description and a class. The serial number where there is one. The acquisition date and the cost, including delivery and installation. The holder and the location. The status: on order, in service, transferred, disposed. And for lines above the threshold, the salvage value, the useful life and the depreciation to date, which the free fixed asset register worksheet on this site works for one line. Every later event is a row against the line with a date and a person, never an edit of these fields.
Classes, thresholds and the two halves of one register
The register is organised by class: computers, furniture, machinery, vehicles, instruments, software seats. Each class has a default useful life and a placement for its tag. The organisation's capitalisation threshold divides the register into the lines that are depreciated and the lines that are tracked for custody only; GFOA's guidance for governments suggests a threshold of no less than $5,000 for any individual item, and a small company usually sets a lower one with its accountant. Both halves live on one register, because the count does not care which half a projector is in.
How the register is kept true
Two habits. Every issue, return, transfer and disposal recorded as it happens. And a physical count on a cadence, a scan of every tag, with the lines not found listed and chased. For IT devices a discovery pass against the network adds a third check, which the discovery coverage worksheet here works from a scan's figures. Organisations holding federally funded equipment count at least once every two years under 2 CFR 200.313; everyone else counts once a year because a register that is never counted is a list of what was true when it was typed.
What the register prints, and what a spreadsheet cannot
Who has what, by holder. What is where, by location. What was not found at the count. The fixed asset schedule with the depreciation charge for the year, the additions and the disposals. The replacement value of the estate for the insurer. A spreadsheet holds the current line; it does not hold the history, the count results or the previous holders, and those are what every one of the questions above turns out to need.
Questions people ask about asset register
What is the difference between an asset register and a fixed asset register?
The fixed asset register is the depreciated half: lines above the capitalisation threshold with a cost, a life and a depreciation charge. The asset register is the whole list, including the items tracked for custody only.
Is an asset registry the same thing?
Yes. Registry and register are used interchangeably for the same list; some software calls it the asset registry, most accountants call it the register.
What is the minimum an asset register must hold?
A unique number, a description, the acquisition date and cost, the holder, the location and the status on every line, plus a life and a salvage value on the depreciated lines. Less than that and the register cannot print the schedule or the count.
Who should keep the asset register in a small organisation?
One named person, usually the bookkeeper or the office manager, with the IT manager recording the device movements. Two registers kept by two people are the most common reason the organisation does not know what it owns.