Reducing Value of Fully Depreciated Asset

SUGGESTED

Trying to reduce the value of a fully depreciated asset. When the change is saved, I get the notice "critical depreciation change" page with 4 options: 1) placed in service date, 2) beginning date, 3) period close date {this is grayed out}, 4) current through date. When I make a critical change such as this, I choose option 4, but in this case, the message "will cause a negative net value" and I am not able to proceed with the reduction. Since this asset was fully depreciated as of August 2022, cannot complete the reduction of this asset.

Any guidance is much appreciated.

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    SUGGESTED

    The only real choice you would have would be to reset the asset to the Beginning or Placed in service date and recalculate. Of course, the problem with that is the Prior Accum, YTD and total accum on that asset would be different.

    ~Delray

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    Another option is to override the system's calculated depreciation by entering the revised accumulated depreciation in the Beginning Fields, then change the Acquisition Value. For example: Say you have a $10,000 asset that is fully depreciated as of August 2022, and you want it to be a $7,000 fully depreciated asset then:

    1) enter a Beginning Date that is a period after it was fully depreciated, say 09/2022, and enter the Beginning Accum of $7,000. If you want your Current YTD Depreciation to be correct for the year, enter its value as the Beginning YTD amount. Select "OK" on any messages.

    2) enter the revised Acquisition Value, $7,000. Select the Beginning Date in the Critical Depreciation Change window. 

    The downside is you are telling the application that the asset 'begins' in the system as of the Beginning Date. If you recalculate depreciation for a prior period, say July 2022, the asset won't appear on date-sensitive reports, such as the Depreciation Expense report.

    With Delray's option, the asset appears on date-sensitive reports, but of course, the revised asset cost and depreciation amounts won't tie to prior reports. 

    Consider experimenting with a copy of the company (File > Company Utilities > Copy Company...) to see what solution works best for you before changing your production data. 

    Are you recording impairments on many assets? Would an 'impairment feature' help in the future? You can suggest new features in the Ideas area of Sage City.