4 reasons why Sage 200 Fixed Assets wins over spreadsheets

Just so that we are all on the same page to start with. There are two main types of Asset within a business, Current Assets and Fixed Assets. Fixed Assets are the larger long-term assets that a company has purchased and include such items as Plants & Machinery, Fixtures & Fittings, Vehicles, Hardware and Land. These are almost always tangible assets, meaning that they are physical items.

These Assets need to be recorded and depreciated as a part of your accounting process and the larger the number of assets, the more complicated the depreciation process as this includes purchase of new assets, sales of older or used assets, servicing of vehicles as they age and disposal of assets that are no longer in use.

Sage 200 vs Spreadsheets

Fixed Assets are typically managed and kept in a Fixed Asset Register for tracking depreciation over time.

Many businesses are still using spreadsheets as their main tool for Asset Management. It’s not a surprise as tracking fixed assets this way is easy and accessibility and the most businesses already have the tools they need, so no additional costs. Why pay for Fixed Asset software when Excel can do the job for you?

And while spreadsheets are just fine when you have only a few assets to worry about, as your business grows, this may become a little more arduous and has some pitfalls. We have listed some of these below:

1. Tracking

 

If you're using a spreadsheet, you will typically list out all of the assets along with data such as Asset Reference, Depreciation Method (such as Period Straight Line, Annual Straight Line Period Reducing Balance or Annual Reducing Balance), Net Book Value, Residual Value, Asset Life Span, Asset Owner, Cost Centre, Department and so on. It will include some calculations to help work out the depreciation to leave you with the Net Present Value. This data then needs to be maintained and used to journal back into your Nominal Ledger.

 

2. Calculation Errors

We all know that spreadsheets are so easy to work with. We have found many customers over the years who had started their Fixed Asset Registers on spreadsheets only to discover a calculation error, which has been carried through to different periods.

Using spreadsheets can be unreliable and messy to clean up mistakes, particularly if the error impacts multiple periods.

Again, with a dedicated Fixed Asset Register like that in Sage 200, you don’t need to worry about calculations behind the scenes. Once it is set up properly at the start, you can just run your depreciation at the period end and all the hard work is done for you.

 

3. Transactions

 

 

Within Sage 200, you can assign access to the Fixed Asset module to appropriate users so that they can view all the relevant transactional data against an Asset including asset net book value, last depreciated date, total depreciation and so on.

And as Sage 200 has a full Audit Trail, each asset has its own depreciation history including a list of all the nominal codes that were updated with each months depreciation. Its not possible to overwrite items within Sage 200 as all values are set. And most importantly, you cannot over or under-depreciate within the Sage 200 Fixed Assets Register but as there are no such rules in Excel, it this can be done easily and you can also depreciate an item too often, creating incorrect values that will carry on through the life of the asset. 

 

4. Centralised Data 

When assisting companies with their digital transformation, we always ask how many spreadsheets are in use, who uses them, why they are used so they we can assess whether they could be replaced with integrated processes

 
For Sage 200 users, the Fixed Asset Register is simple, it’s already there and it works a treat. You can keep a full track on the value of an asset from purchase date through the depreciation process to disposal.

In addition, the Sage 200 Fixed Asset Register will gather the value of all of your assets and deliver them to you in one detailed report whereas within Excel, the gathering of data from multiple spreadsheets is a lot more manual and time-consuming. Totalling the figures into one report is a lot more complex and you may still require multiple report types, depending on your requirements. 

It will take one more spreadsheet out of the equation, centralising the data for viewing/updating and reporting on. One or more less spreadsheets is always a good thing. And if the thought of manually inputting hundreds or thousands of assets into Sage 200, don’t worry, assets can be easily imported directly from your spreadsheet. 

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Fixed Asset Register - How To Video:

If you’re a Sage 200 User and would like to get started with your Sage 200 Fixed Asset Register, we have created 3 short step-by-step videos showing you what to do.

We will walk you through:

• Creating a Fixed Asset
• Depreciating an Asset
• Disposing of and Deleting an Asset
• Asset Reporting & Enquiries

 all within the Sage 200 Fixed Assets module. 

To take a look, click below: 

 

 

 

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Sicon Fixed Assets Module

If you are using the Fixed Assets Register within Sage 200 but feel you are in need of something a little more comprehensive, there is the option of a more advanced, fully integrated Fixed Asset module from Sicon. This goes a step further and includes some more comprehensive features. This guide below will show you the differences between both options.

 

 

To discuss your Fixed Asset Requirements with a member of our team, why not get in touch by email: sales@envisagecloud.ie or phone +353 1 8223200

 

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