Posted by Lise' Cummings
| While working on an issue with a GP client the other day, I learned a few things about Fixed Assets that I did not know and thought they may be helpful to some of you. The client was changing their Fiscal Period setup to coincide with the calendar year and since the current Fiscal Year ran from 11/01 to 10/31 they extended the 2013 year to 14 periods from 12 periods. Unbeknownst to them that Fixed Assets calculated depreciation on 12 periods. |  |
The first issue they encountered after changing the fiscal period setup was that they needed to rebuild the Fixed Assets calendar to be based on 14 periods, which they did when they got the error. What they did not know was that Fixed Assets was still going to calculate depreciation based on the current year depreciation amount found on the asset book window (which was calculated using 12 periods). When they ran their depreciation they found that most all of their assets had a credit amount for the 14th period of depreciation. The reason this happened was because when the Fixed Assets calendar was rebuilt based on 14 periods the assets should have been recalculated so that the current year depreciation amount would have been calculated based on 14 periods and because it was not the system was making the adjustment for the total amount of depreciation it had already calculated for period 1-13.
The client then wanted to know if they could back out that month’s depreciation. I knew that on GP 2010 and prior versions there was not a check box that would allow you to undo depreciation, but on GP 2013 that is a new feature. Unfortunately, they were on GP 2010 so I did some research just to see if I could find anything that would be helpful.
I found an article that said you could undo depreciation by using the following method: Under Fixed Assets Routines go to the Depreciate One Asset window and enter an asset id. Then enter the previous month’s depreciation target date into the Depreciation Target Date field. In this case, they wanted to back out December depreciation so they would enter November as the target date. Next highlight the book that needs the correction made and then click the Depreciate button. You will get the following message:
The Target Date you have entered is before the Depreciated to Date for this Asset. Should you continue, depreciation will be backed out. Do you want to continue?
When you select yes, depreciation will be backed out for December (in this case). When the GL interface is done a reversing entry is what is created to back out the original entry so that the General Ledger will be balanced to Fixed Assets again. At this point the assets can be recalculated so the depreciation rate will then reflect 14 periods and depreciation can be reran.
The client then wanted to know if they could back out that month’s depreciation. I knew that on GP 2010 and prior versions there was not a check box that would allow you to undo depreciation, but on GP 2013 that is a new feature. Unfortunately, they were on GP 2010 so I did some research just to see if I could find anything that would be helpful.
I found an article that said you could undo depreciation by using the following method: Under Fixed Assets Routines go to the Depreciate One Asset window and enter an asset id. Then enter the previous month’s depreciation target date into the Depreciation Target Date field. In this case, they wanted to back out December depreciation so they would enter November as the target date. Next highlight the book that needs the correction made and then click the Depreciate button. You will get the following message:
The Target Date you have entered is before the Depreciated to Date for this Asset. Should you continue, depreciation will be backed out. Do you want to continue?
When you select yes, depreciation will be backed out for December (in this case). When the GL interface is done a reversing entry is what is created to back out the original entry so that the General Ledger will be balanced to Fixed Assets again. At this point the assets can be recalculated so the depreciation rate will then reflect 14 periods and depreciation can be reran.
Pointers to remember:
- When you extend your Fiscal Periods to be more than what your current periods are make sure you rebuild the Fixed Assets Calendar to match and synchronize your quarters for the year.
- Under Fixed Assets Transactions go to the Mass Asset Change window and go to the Book tab and perform the Recalc Remaining so that the depreciation amount will be reflected correctly for remaining depreciation that needs to be ran.
- You can undo depreciation using the method above, but it is a one asset at a time procedure.
