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Assigning Depreciation Types to Many Assets

Fixed Asset Management Guide
Section 3 – Financial Setup

Assigning Depreciation Types to Many Assets

Use Bulk Update Assets in a Single Edit to change the depreciation setup for multiple assets in one operation, instead of opening and editing each asset individually. This is the efficient way to apply updated depreciation rules to existing assets - for example, when a depreciation policy changes and you need to update every asset in a category, or when you have corrected the category-level defaults and need to push the change to assets that were created before the correction.

Prerequisites

  • You must be in the Fixed Asset Management profile (see Fixed Asset Management Profile).
  • You should know which assets need updating and what the new depreciation settings should be.
  • Ensure you have appropriate user group permissions for bulk update operations.

When to Use Bulk Update for Depreciation

Common scenarios include:

Scenario Action
Category default changed after assets were created Bulk update existing assets to match the new default
Depreciation policy change Update all assets in a category or department to use a new formula
New book added Assign depreciation rules to existing assets for the new book
Recovery period correction Fix an incorrect recovery period across a group of assets

Step-by-Step: Bulk Updating Depreciation Settings

  1. Open Asset List (or any other asset grid, such as a category tree view or a saved query) so you can see the assets you want to update.
  2. Use the category tree on the left, or a search, to filter the grid down to a manageable list.
  3. Tick the checkbox in the leftmost column of each asset row you want to include, or click a row's checkbox and then Shift+Click another row's checkbox to select a contiguous range. The row count at the bottom of the grid ("Selected: n") confirms how many assets are currently selected.
  4. Click the Actions button above the grid, then choose Bulk Update Assets in a Single Edit:

Asset list with Actions menu open showing Bulk Update Assets in a Single Edit

The selected rows stay highlighted in blue behind the open menu.

  1. The Bulk Update of n Asset Records dialog opens, with the same left-hand navigation (Asset Data, IT Asset Management, Financials, etc.) as a normal asset edit form. Fields that hold the same value on every selected asset show that value; fields that differ across the selection show Multiple Values (or None / Multiple Values for editable text boxes). A banner explains that any field you set here will be applied to all of the selected assets, while fields you leave untouched are not changed.
  2. Expand Financials in the left navigation and click Depreciation Setup. This tab shows a combined Book Membership grid and Depreciation Profiles grid - one row per book per asset in the selection, so with 3 assets in 4 books you will see 12 rows in each grid:

Bulk update Depreciation Setup tab showing affected asset count

  1. The rule details shown for each book are taken from the most recently created asset in the selection (highest AssetID). Make your changes:

    • Click Edit... next to a rule to change its formula, recovery period, salvage value, or other parameters
    • Use Add Rule / Remove Rule if you need to add or remove a date-range rule
    • Use Add Asset(s) to Selected Book / Remove Asset(s) From Selected Book if the selected assets need to be added to, or removed from, a book as part of the update

  2. Click OK to apply the changes to all selected assets, or Cancel to discard them.

Important Behaviour

  • Changes apply to all selected assets. Every asset in the selection will receive the same depreciation rules you define on this screen. If you need different rules for different subsets, perform separate bulk updates for each group.

  • No change if you click OK without editing. If you open the Depreciation Setup tab in bulk update mode and click OK without making any changes, the existing depreciation rules for each asset remain unchanged. This is a safe way to review the current settings without accidentally modifying anything.

  • Existing rules are replaced. When you make changes, the new rules replace the existing rules on all selected assets. If some assets had custom overrides that should be preserved, exclude them from the selection.

Warning: Bulk updating depreciation rules on assets that have already been depreciated will affect future calculations but does not retroactively change past transactions. If past depreciation needs to be recalculated, use the Rewind function after making your changes. See The Monthly Accounting Process.

Tip: Before performing a large bulk update, consider running the Depreciation Setup Review query first to confirm which assets currently have incorrect settings. This helps you target the right assets and verify the results after updating.

Verifying the Results

After completing the bulk update:

  1. Run the Depreciation Setup Review query (see Reviewing Depreciation Setup) to confirm the changes were applied correctly.
  2. Spot-check a few individual assets by opening their Depreciation Setup screen (see Assigning Depreciation Types to Assets).
  3. If everything is correct and you are ready to calculate, proceed to The Monthly Accounting Process.