Assets

Depreciation, cost centers and total cost

See what your assets are worth today, book their depreciation to your accounts every month, find out which team spends what on equipment, and know what each item has really cost you since you bought it.

Contents: Who can use it · Set up depreciation · How it is worked out · Monthly depreciation · Journal for your accounts · Cost centers and departments · Running costs · Total cost of ownership · Example · FAQ

Who can use it

Depreciation (schedules and monthly runs): people who can see disposals. Running a month by hand, and posting or exporting its journal, is for people who can approve disposals.
Running costs and Total cost: people who can see disposals see them; people who can edit assets record and delete costs.
Cost views: people who can see disposals.

Your administrator can change this under roles.

Set up depreciation

Depreciation needs three things on an asset: a Purchase cost, a Depreciation method and a Useful life months.

On the Product, set the Depreciation method (Straight Line or Declining Balance) and Useful life months. Optionally set:
- Salvage %: what share of the cost the item is still worth at the end of its life (for example 10).
- Declining rate % (declining balance only): the yearly rate. Leave it empty to use double the straight-line rate (a 5-year item: 40% a year).
Every asset of the product follows these. On an asset you can override them: Depreciation method, Useful life months, Salvage value (an amount) and Depreciation starts (a date; otherwise the Acquired at date).
Make sure the asset has its Purchase cost. Items received on a purchase order get it from the goods receipt.

Items without a cost, method or useful life are simply not depreciated.

How depreciation is worked out

Depreciation is charged once a month, starting with the month the asset was acquired (or Depreciation starts).

Straight Line: (cost − salvage value) ÷ useful life, the same amount every month. The last month takes any rounding, so the item ends exactly at its salvage value.
Declining Balance: each month, the yearly rate ÷ 12 of the current book value. The charge gets smaller every month. Once spreading what is left evenly over the remaining months would give more, it switches to that, so the item still reaches its salvage value at the end of its life.

Book value = cost − accumulated depreciation (everything charged so far).

If you change the method, life or salvage value later, months already charged stay as they are; what is left of the value is spread over the months that remain.

Monthly depreciation

9bx charges last month's depreciation automatically early on the 1st of every month. If a month was missed (for example an item was added later with an older acquired date), the next run catches up every month that is due. Running the same month again never charges twice.

Depreciation page:

A list of months with the number of assets charged and the total.
Open a month to see each asset's Opening value, Depreciation, Accumulated and Book value, and the total per cost center and department.
Run depreciation charges up to a month you choose (not a future month), for example to close a month before the 1st.

On an asset page, the Depreciation tab shows its method, life, salvage value, accumulated depreciation and book value, and its full schedule: months already charged and the months still to come.

A disposed asset is charged up to the month before its disposal. Lost, stolen, retired and returned-to-vendor items are not charged any more.

Journal for your accounts

Depreciation goes to your accounts through the same journal export as payroll.

Open a month on the Depreciation page and click Post journal. Optionally choose the journal date (default: the last day of the month).
The journal debits Depreciation expense and credits Accumulated depreciation. The expense lines are split by cost center and department.
Choose the Export format (CSV, QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, SAP or Tally) and click Export.

The accounts come from the payroll GL mapping (line Asset depreciation). Two accounts are added for you the first time: 6100 Depreciation expense and 1590 Accumulated depreciation. Rename the codes to match your books, or send one cost center or department to an account of its own, under Payroll → GL mapping.

If assets were added to a month after its journal was posted, the month shows Journal out of date: post it again. The new journal replaces the old one, which is kept for the record.

Assets bought in another currency are converted at your exchange rate for that month. If there is no rate, posting stops and tells you which currency needs one.

Cost centers and departments

Book an asset to a Cost center and a Department on the asset form, and a purchase order on the purchase order form. These are the same cost centers and departments as in HR.

Each month's depreciation row keeps the cost center and department the asset had that month, so moving an item to another team later does not rewrite past months.

The Cost views page shows, per cost center (or per department, with Group by), for the dates you pick:

Column	What it is
Assets	Items booked there now (disposed ones left out)
Asset cost	Their purchase cost
Book value	Their value today after depreciation
Acquired	Cost of items acquired in the dates
Purchase orders	Orders placed in the dates (drafts and cancelled left out)
Depreciation	Depreciation charged in the dates
Maintenance, Repairs, Other costs	Running costs in the dates
Spend	Purchase orders + running costs in the dates

Items without a cost center or department are in Not assigned.

Running costs

Record what an asset costs after you bought it on the asset page, Costs tab, Add cost:

Type: Maintenance, Repair, Upgrade or Other
Amount, Date, optionally the Vendor, the Maintenance schedule it belongs to, a Reference (bill number) and a note.
Cost center and Department default to the asset's.

Lease, insurance and contract instalments you mark paid are added here automatically with the type Lease, insurance or contract (see Licenses, contracts, bookings and kits). Undo them on the contract, not here.

Total cost of ownership

On the asset page, Total cost shows:

Total cost = purchase cost + maintenance + repairs + upgrades, lease / insurance / contract payments and other costs − what its disposal brought in (approved disposals only).

It also shows how many months you have owned it, the cost per month, accumulated depreciation and book value.

The Total cost page lists all assets with the highest total cost first. Filter by product, category, cost center or department, or search by asset tag or serial. Use it to spot items that cost more to keep than to replace.

Example scenario

SaltSync buys a core router for 120,000 on 15 January, life 12 months, salvage 10%, straight line, booked to cost center "CC-110 Network Ops" and department "IT".

Each month 9,000 is charged ((120,000 − 12,000) ÷ 12). After March: accumulated 27,000, book value 93,000.
On 1 March the February journal is posted and exported to the accounting software: debit Depreciation expense 9,000 (Network Ops, IT), credit Accumulated depreciation 9,000.
A fan is replaced for 3,000 and a service costs 5,000. The router is later sold for 20,000. Total cost: 120,000 + 8,000 − 20,000 = 108,000.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

An asset is not depreciated. It needs a purchase cost, a depreciation method and a useful life (on the asset or its product). On-order, lost, stolen, retired and returned items are skipped.
"Not mapped to an account" when posting. Open Payroll → GL mapping and choose both accounts for Asset depreciation.
"No exchange rate" when posting. Add the rate for that currency and month, then post again.
A month's total changed after I posted it. An asset with an older acquired date was added; the month shows Journal out of date. Post it again.
Can I undo a month? Not from the screen. Months already charged stay as the record; change the asset's terms and the remaining months adjust.

Assets and assignments · Products and setup · Procurement · Maintenance, audits and disposals · Payroll corrections and accounting

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