Financial Transactions
This page explains how to view, add, and manage financial transactions on individual assets. Transactions are the building blocks of the financial asset register - every purchase, depreciation charge, disposal, and cost adjustment is recorded as a transaction. Understanding how transactions work is essential for maintaining accurate financial records.
Prerequisites
- You must be in the Fixed Asset Management profile (see Fixed Asset Management Profile).
- You need to have an asset record open in the editing screen (see Financial Asset Information for how to navigate to an asset).
Viewing Transactions
Open an asset and expand the Financials group in the left-hand navigation tree, then click Transactions. This lists all financial transactions recorded against the asset:
Use the filters above the grid to narrow the list:
| Filter | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Book | Show transactions for a specific book only (e.g. "Corporate", "MACRS", "Tax"). Select "All Books" to see everything. |
| Transaction Type | Show only transactions of a specific type (e.g. Purchase, Depreciation, Disposal). Select "All Transaction Types" to see everything. |
| Show Forecast | Include forward-projected transactions (such as future depreciation charges) alongside actual posted ones. |
| Source | Filter by how the transaction was created - Manual Entry, automatic depreciation/disposal processing, imported, etc. |
The grid itself shows, for each transaction: Type, Book, Actual/Budget, Apply Date, Qty, Currency, Amount, Home Amount, Source, and Desired Apply Date (scroll right to see the later columns). Below the grid, a dropdown lets you pick a calculated value (for example NetBookValue) and shows its result at the apply date and book of the currently selected transaction.
Transaction Types
xAssets ships a large catalog of transaction types covering acquisition, depreciation, disposal, transfers, and running costs. The most commonly used are:
| Type | Description | Created By |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase | Records the acquisition cost of the asset | Automatically when the asset is created, or manually |
| Depreciation | Periodic depreciation charges | Automatically by period-end processing |
| Disposal / Disposal Sale / Disposal Cost | Write-off of remaining book value, sale proceeds, and costs of disposal | Automatically by the disposal process, or manually |
| Write off, lost or stolen | Removes remaining book value when an asset is lost, stolen, or scrapped | Manually by the user |
| Revaluation Adjustment | Formal revaluation of the asset | Manually by the user |
| Transfer In / Transfer Out | Moves asset value between locations, departments, or books | Manually by the user |
| Impairment | Records a reduction in value due to impairment | Manually by the user |
| Repair Cost / Servicing Labour Cost / Servicing Materials Cost / Insurance Cost | Operating costs such as repairs, maintenance, and insurance | Manually, or imported via data transformation |
Other available types cover WIP capitalization, freight and shipping costs, indexation and basis adjustments, insurance claims, and check-out capital charges - select All Transaction Types in the Transactions tab filter to see the complete list your organization uses.
Viewing and Editing a Transaction
Click the blue Type link (for example, "Purchase") to view or edit an individual transaction:
Key fields on the transaction record:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Transaction Type | The transaction type (Purchase, Depreciation, Disposal, etc.) |
| Description | A free-text description of the transaction |
| Desired Apply Date | The date you want the transaction to take effect |
| Actual Apply Date | The date the transaction was actually applied (read-only) |
| Actual/Budget | Whether this is an actual posted value or a budgeted/forecast value |
| Quantity | The quantity involved (relevant for multi-unit assets) |
| Book | Which book this transaction belongs to |
| Source | How the transaction was created, e.g. Manual Entry |
| Transaction Amount / Home Amount | The value in the transaction's own currency, and converted to your home currency |
An Advanced Settings section (collapsed by default) can hold a snapshot of the asset's classification at the time of the transaction - Category, Custodian, Company, Status, Location, Department, and Cost Centre - where these have been captured. You can also view or add Attachments against the transaction.
Warning: Editing a transaction is not recommended, since it may already be posted into your accounting system. If you need to correct an error, create a new adjusting transaction rather than editing the original - this keeps xAssets in step with your general ledger.
Adding a Transaction Manually
To add a transaction:
- Navigate to the asset's Financials > Transactions tab.
- Click the Add button below the transaction list.
- Select the Transaction Type, then set the Book, Desired Apply Date, Actual/Budget, Quantity, and Transaction Amount. Expand Advanced Settings if you need to review or override the Category, Custodian, Company, Location, Department, or Cost Centre the transaction will be recorded against.
- Click OK, then Save on the asset to commit the transaction.
Tip: For a Purchase transaction, if you are posting an adjusting entry to amend the purchase price, enter a Quantity of 0. Alternatively, cancel the dialog and simply change the purchase price on the asset's Edit Asset screen - xAssets will post the adjusting transaction for you automatically.
Tip: The Set Purchase Date button sets the transaction's Desired Apply Date to match the purchase date recorded on the asset. Use this when adding a retrospective transaction that should be dated to the asset's acquisition.
When to Add Manual Transactions
Common scenarios for manual transactions include:
- Revaluations - Recording a formal revaluation of an asset (e.g. property revalued by a surveyor)
- Impairments and write-downs - Reducing the value of an impaired asset
- Transfers - Moving asset value between locations, departments, or books
- Running costs - Recording repairs, servicing, or insurance for total cost of ownership tracking
- Corrections - Posting adjusting entries to correct previous errors (rather than editing the original transaction)
Bulk Transactions
To add the same transaction to multiple assets at once:
- Select multiple assets in an asset list view (for example the Financial asset list).
- Choose Bulk Update Assets in a Single Edit from the Actions menu.
- Navigate to the Transactions tab in the bulk edit dialog and add the transaction - it is applied to all selected assets.
This is particularly useful for posting running costs (e.g. annual insurance premiums) across a group of assets.
Note: The list toolbar's own Transactions dropdown (Show Transactions for selected Asset / Create a new Transaction for the selected Asset) works against a single selected asset only - use Bulk Update for multiple assets at once.
Related Articles
- Financial Asset Information - Navigating to the transaction screen
- The Monthly Accounting Process - How depreciation transactions are created automatically
- Disposal - How disposal transactions are created
- Total Cost of Ownership - How running cost transactions contribute to TCO