The Monthly Accounting Process

At each period end, you calculate depreciation for all assets and produce journals for export to your accounting system. This is the core recurring process in fixed asset management and typically runs once per month (or once per accounting period). This page walks through each step, explains what happens behind the scenes, and covers error recovery.

Prerequisites

• You must be in the Fixed Asset Management profile (see Fixed Asset Management Profile).
• Your financial setup must be complete: books, depreciation types, accounting periods, and nominal codes (see Financial Setup Introduction).
• Depreciation rules should be reviewed before calculating (see Reviewing Depreciation Setup).

The Monthly Workflow

The standard period-end workflow is:

1. Review setup — Check that depreciation rules are correct and any new assets have been properly configured.
2. Calculate depreciation — Run the calculation for the current period.
3. Review results — Check reports to verify the figures before committing.
4. Produce journals — Generate journal files for export to your general ledger.
5. Close the period — Optionally close the period to prevent further postings.

Accessing Period End Processing

Navigate to Financial > Asset Accounting > Period End Processing:

TODO Screenshot: ClickMenu "Financial" | ClickItem "Financial > Asset Accounting > Period End Processing" | PrintScreen "fam-period-end-menu"

TODO Screenshot: ClickMenu "Financial" | ClickItem "Financial > Asset Accounting > Period End Processing" | PrintScreen "fam-period-end-screen"

The screen shows each accounting period set with its current period and the available actions.

Step 1: Calculate Depreciation

Click the Calculate button to run depreciation for the current period:

What Happens During Calculation

The system processes every asset in every book:

1. For each asset, it identifies the depreciation rule in effect for the current period (based on the rule's date range).
2. It applies the depreciation formula using the asset's current values (original cost, accumulated depreciation, salvage value, recovery period, etc.).
3. It creates a depreciation transaction for each asset-book combination.
4. It updates the asset's accumulated depreciation and net book value.

Only assets that are eligible for depreciation are processed:

• Assets with a depreciation type of "No Depreciation" are skipped.
• Assets whose status does not match the depreciation type's basis (e.g. "In Service" vs. "In Existence") are skipped.
• Fully depreciated assets (NBV already at salvage value) are skipped.

Processing Time

Processing runs as a batch job. While it is running, the Calculate and Rewind buttons are unavailable:

Processing time depends on the number of assets and books. A register of a few thousand assets typically completes in under a minute. Larger registers may take several minutes.

Tip: Do not close the browser during calculation. Although the batch job runs on the server and will complete regardless, keeping the page open lets you see the completion status and proceed to review.

Step 2: Review Results

Once calculation is complete, review the results before producing journals. See Month End Results for the available reports and queries.

Key checks:

Warning: Always review depreciation reports before producing journals. Once journals are exported and posted to your accounting system, reversing them requires manual adjustments in both systems.

Rewinding Depreciation

If you find errors after calculating, click the Rewind button to reverse the depreciation for the current period:

What Rewind Does

• Deletes all depreciation transactions for the current period.
• Resets accumulated depreciation and net book values to their pre-calculation state.
• Returns the period to a "not yet calculated" state so you can make corrections and recalculate.

When to Rewind

• A depreciation type was assigned incorrectly and needs to be changed before journals are produced.
• A new asset was added with the wrong purchase amount.
• A disposal should have been processed before the calculation but was missed.

Rewind Limitations

• Rewind only affects the current period. You cannot rewind a period that has already been advanced past (i.e. a period for which journals have been produced and the system has moved to the next period).
• Rewind does not undo journals. If you have already produced and exported journals, rewinding the depreciation in xAssets does not reverse the entries in your general ledger. You would need to post manual reversals in the GL.

Tip: If you discover an error in a past period (one that has already been closed), the recommended approach is to make the correction and let it flow through as an adjustment in the current period. Do not attempt to reopen and rewind past periods unless your administrator supports it and your auditors approve.

Step 3: Produce Journals

Once the depreciation figures are confirmed, click the Journals button to generate journal files:

Journal transformations can be configured to match the file format required by your accounting system (CSV, XML, fixed-width, etc.). The transformation configuration is covered in the Configuration Guide under Data Transformations.

Accessing Journal Files

Journals are normally written to a journals directory published by your system administrator. They can also be accessed from the Journal Files list below the processing options:

TODO Screenshot: ClickMenu "Financial" | ClickItem "Financial > Asset Accounting > Period End Processing" | PrintScreen "fam-journal-files-list"

Alternatively, view all journals from Financial > Asset Accounting > List of Journals:

What Happens If You Skip a Month

If you miss a period-end calculation (for example, you do not calculate July's depreciation before August arrives):

• The system still tracks which period is "current." It does not automatically advance.
• When you next run the calculation, it processes the current period (July in this example).
• You then need to run the calculation again for the next period (August), and so on until you catch up.

Each period must be calculated in sequence — you cannot skip ahead to the latest period. This ensures the financial trail is complete and each period's opening balances match the previous period's closing balances.

Warning: If multiple periods are outstanding, you must calculate and produce journals for each one in order. Do not attempt to make a single large adjustment to "catch up" — this breaks the period-by-period audit trail.

Checklist: Period-End Processing

Use this checklist each month:

• Review depreciation setup for new or changed assets
• Ensure all disposals for the period have been processed
• Calculate depreciation
• Review total depreciation and check for outliers
• Verify new assets depreciated correctly
• Rewind and recalculate if corrections are needed
• Produce journals
• Export journals to the general ledger
• Close the period (optional but recommended)

Related Articles

• Month End Results — Reports for reviewing depreciation after calculation
• Reviewing Depreciation Setup — Pre-calculation review
• Disposal — Processing disposals before period-end
• Accounting Periods — Period structure and status
• Nominal Codes — How journals map to your general ledger