Asset Register Applet

Purpose and Overview

The Asset Register Applet is your company’s single source of truth for all physical and intangible assets. It lets you register assets, track where they are, record what they cost, and automatically calculate how much value they lose over time (depreciation).

Whether you have 10 laptops or 10,000 pieces of equipment, this applet keeps everything organised and audit-ready.

Who Benefits from This Applet?

Finance & Accounting Teams:

• Stop maintaining asset schedules in spreadsheets
• Automatically calculate monthly depreciation for every asset
• Get accurate asset values for balance sheet reporting
• Track gains and losses when assets are sold or disposed

Operations & Facility Managers:

• Know exactly where every asset is — which branch, which room
• See who is responsible for each asset (the custodian)
• Use your phone camera to scan barcodes and serial numbers
• Keep photos, invoices, and warranty documents attached to each asset

IT Departments:

• Track all devices with serial numbers and warranty expiry dates
• Bulk import existing asset lists via Excel
• Assign assets to specific employees

Auditors & Compliance:

• Full history of every transaction on every asset
• Clear depreciation schedules with GL account mapping
• Export-ready reports filtered by company, branch, or category

What Problems Does This Solve?

Before this applet, most companies struggle with:

• Asset lists spread across multiple Excel files owned by different people
• No clear status — is this asset still in use? Has it been disposed?
• Manual depreciation calculations done once a year (if at all)
• No record of who has what asset, or where it was moved
• Missing audit trail when auditors ask “where did this asset go?”

With this applet, you get:

• One registry for all assets, with clear statuses (Draft → Registered → Disposed)
• Automated depreciation — run it in one click each month
• Asset history — every acquisition, adjustment, and disposal is logged
• Location & custody tracking — always know where an asset is and who owns it
• Bulk import — migrate your existing Excel data in minutes

Key Features Overview

Quick Start Guide

Operations Staff: Register a New Asset

Goal: Add a new asset to the registry.

1. Go to Asset Register → click "+"
2. Fill in the key details:
   • Asset Name (e.g., “Dell Laptop 2024”)
   • Asset Type — choose from Equipment, Investment, or Intangible
   • Category — e.g., “IT Equipment”
   • Branch and Location — where is it physically?
3. Optionally add: Serial Number (tap the barcode icon to scan), Warranty Expiry, Employee/PIC
4. Click CREATE — the system auto-generates an Asset Code
5. The asset is now in DRAFT status — update to REGISTERED once it’s commissioned

Pro Tip: Attach a photo of the asset and a copy of the purchase invoice right away — saves time during audits later.

Finance: Record an Asset Acquisition

Goal: Log the purchase cost of a newly registered asset.

1. Open the asset from the Asset Register listing
2. Go to the Transactions tab → click "+"
3. Select type: Acquisition
4. Enter:
   • Purchase Date — when it was bought
   • Purchase Price — the cost
   • GL Code — the offsetting account (e.g., Accounts Payable)
5. Save — the system creates a balanced journal entry automatically

Finance: Run Monthly Depreciation

Goal: Calculate and post depreciation for all assets in one batch.

1. Go to Depreciation Run → click "+"
2. Select:
   • Company (required)
   • Branch (optional — leave blank to process all branches)
   • Month/Year — the period you’re processing
3. Click CREATE — the system calculates depreciation for all registered assets and posts the journal entries

Admin: First-Time Setup

Goal: Prepare the system before other teams start adding assets.

1. Create Asset Categories — go to Asset Category and create groups like “IT Equipment”, “Office Furniture”, “Vehicles”
2. Set Defaults — go to Settings → Default Selection to pre-fill Branch and Location for all users
3. Set Permissions — go to Settings → Permission Set to control who can create, edit, or dispose assets
4. Control Visibility — go to Settings → Feature Visibility to show/hide features based on your needs

Features in Detail

Asset Register

This is the main workspace — a searchable list of every asset your company owns.

What you see per asset:

Inside each asset record, you have tabs:

Asset Category

Categories are how you group assets — like folders. Examples: IT Equipment, Vehicles, Office Furniture, Machinery.

Each category has a Code, Name, and Status (Active/Inactive). Inactive categories won’t appear in the asset creation form.

Why it matters: Categories drive reporting. You can filter asset reports, depreciation schedules, and valuations by category.

Depreciation Run

Depreciation is how the system accounts for the gradual loss in value of your assets over time. Instead of calculating this manually for each asset, you run it in one batch.

How it works:

1. Each asset has a depreciation configuration — the method, rate, and useful life
2. Every month, you create a Depreciation Run for a specific period
3. The system calculates the depreciation amount per asset and posts journal entries automatically

Supported depreciation methods:

Transactions

Every financial event on an asset is recorded as a transaction:

Each transaction automatically creates a journal entry, debiting and crediting the appropriate GL accounts.

File Import

Already have an asset list in Excel? Import it directly.

1. Go to File Import from the sidebar
2. Download the import template
3. Fill it in with your existing asset data
4. Upload the file — the system creates all the asset records at once

This is the fastest way to get started if you’re migrating from spreadsheets.

The Asset Lifecycle

Assets move through three statuses:

DRAFT  →  REGISTERED  →  DISPOSED

Configuration & Settings

Default Selection

Set default values for Branch and Location so users don’t have to fill them in every time. You can also reorder the detail tabs (drag and drop) to match your workflow.

Permission Set

Control who can do what — create, edit, view, or dispose assets. Permissions can be assigned by user, team, or role.

Feature Visibility

Show or hide specific features of the applet based on your organisation’s requirements.

Glossary

FAQ

1. What’s the difference between DRAFT and REGISTERED?

DRAFT means the asset record has been created but the asset isn’t officially in service yet. You might be waiting to receive it, or still filling in the details. REGISTERED means it’s active and in use — depreciation will be calculated for it.

2. Can I change the depreciation method after an asset is registered?

Yes, you can update the depreciation configuration on an asset. However, changes only affect future depreciation runs — past periods already processed won’t be recalculated.

3. What happens when I run depreciation for the same period twice?

The system will warn you. You should not process depreciation for the same company, branch, and period more than once. If you need to re-run, you would need to reverse or delete the previous run first.

4. How do I handle an asset that was sold?

Create a Disposal transaction on the asset. Enter the disposal date and sale amount (if any). The system will calculate any gain or loss, post the journal entries, and automatically move the asset to DISPOSED status.

5. My existing assets are in a spreadsheet. How do I get them into the system?

Use File Import. Download the import template from the sidebar, fill in your data following the column format, and upload. All assets will be created in one batch.

6. What is a “custodian” and do I need to assign one?

A custodian is the employee or person responsible for looking after the asset. It’s optional but recommended — it makes it easy to track who has what, especially for IT equipment and company vehicles.