Fixed asset reporting is the register printed for a reader, and every reader wants a different print. The accountant wants the fixed asset schedule with the year's depreciation and the totals that tie to the accounts. The insurer wants replacement values by location. The grant officer wants the federally funded lines with their source and federal share. The auditor wants the additions and disposals with their documents and the count results. The owner wants what the organisation is worth and where it is. This page sets out the five fixed asset reports a small organisation's register has to be able to print, what each contains, and why they come from one register rather than five spreadsheets.
The fixed asset schedule: the accountant's report
Every capitalised line with its cost, dates, method, the depreciation for the year, the accumulated depreciation and the net book value, totalled by class and in full, for the year-end date. The totals reconcile the opening fixed assets figure through additions and disposals and the year's charge to the closing figure. The free fixed asset register worksheet on this site works one line of it; the register prints all of them for any date. Under the Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR 200.439 governs how equipment and capital expenditures are treated on federally funded work, and the schedule is where that treatment is shown.
Additions and disposals: the auditor's report
The lines that entered service in the year with their cost and their invoice, and the lines that closed with their disposal date, proceeds and gain or loss. The auditor samples both and asks for the documents; a register that holds the invoice reference on the addition and the disposal record on the closure answers from the line. A spreadsheet answers from a folder, if the folder was kept.
By fund and by location: the grant officer's and the insurer's reports
The grant officer wants every line bought with a particular fund, with the fields the fund's conditions require, and for a school or a nonprofit that is the report the audit turns on; GASB 34 governs how a school district reports its capital assets more broadly. The insurer wants replacement value by location, which is a different value on the same lines. Both are filters on one register, which is why the funding source and the replacement value belong on the line beside the book value.
The count report: what was found and what was not
The last physical count, by location, with the lines scanned, the lines not found and what was done about each. It is the report that shows the register is true rather than merely complete, and it is the one most small organisations cannot print because the count was a walk with a clipboard and the results were never entered. A register that records the count against each line prints it; the lines not found are its most useful page.
Questions people ask about fixed asset reporting
What is a fixed asset report?
The register printed for a reader and a date. The fixed asset schedule is the usual meaning: every capitalised line with depreciation and book value, totalled to tie to the accounts.
Which fixed asset reports does a small organisation need?
The schedule for the accountant, additions and disposals for the auditor, the by-fund report for a grant officer, the insurance schedule by location, and the count report. All five are prints of one register.
How often should fixed asset reporting be done?
The schedule at each year end and usually each quarter; the insurance schedule at renewal; the by-fund report when the grant asks; the count report after each count. A register prints any of them for any date.
Can I do fixed asset reporting from a spreadsheet?
The schedule, with care, once a year. The additions and disposals with documents, the count results and the history are what the spreadsheet does not hold, and they are the reports the auditor and the grant officer ask for.