How do I set up Fixed Assets?
This article is for churches and charities that account on an accruals basis.
For charities that account on a receipts and payments basis (cash basis), asset purchases are simply treated as 'expenditure'.
When you need to start using Fixed Assets, you can visit the Fixed Asset register and the system will guide you through a simple setup wizard.
Important: In order to set up Fixed Assets, you need to have first fully set up your opening fund balances (setup step #3),
Prior to the introduction of the Fixed Assets register in ExpensePlus (introduced as a feature in July 2021), Fixed Assets sat on each fund balance as an aggregate total. The setup guide will identify this total (£37,500 in the example below, taken from your opening fund balances), and will ask you to match this to actual assets belonging to your organisation before proceeding.
NOTE: the opening asset value of each asset should be entered as its net book value in the year of your opening balances (e.g. if an asset that was purchased for £800 has a net book value of £200 at the start of your first financial year using ExpensePlus, then the opening value should be entered as £200.
TOP TIP: The purchase value and purchase date fields on this screen are just reference fields, so if you don't know these, you may wish to enter the purchase date as the start date of your first financial year using ExpensePlus and enter the purchase value as simply the net book value.
If you select Auto Generate under Asset Numbers, the system will allocate a consecutive ID number to each asset when created.
Once the opening asset balance matches the totals held on your Balance Sheet, you can continue. (You can save progress at any time).
The asset register is now set up and ready for use.
Note: if you believe your opening fund balances for Fixed Assets are wrong, these can be reviewed and changed on the Funds Setting Screen.
To help you better understand the Fixed Assets module as a whole, please visit the module overview page here.