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Fixed
Asset Accounting
Fixed
asset accounting can be a specialty by itself, or a part of another job
position, such as staff accountant or cost accountant.
This type of accounting will usually involve the following duties:
- Maintaining a list of the company assets.
- Identifying each asset with a unique asset
number.
- Tracking and recording new assets as they are
added by the company.
- Recording sales and disposals of assets in
fixed asset software.
- Calculating depreciation for each asset and
writing a journal entry each month to record it.
- Preparing and filing the annual personal
property tax statement that is used to determine the amount of property
tax due.
- Representing the company during any property
tax audits.
The amount of personal property tax can be considerable at some
businesses, especially in manufacturing. Great care should be
taken to keep the asset listing up-to-date and accurate.
Many asset lists become obsolete quickly when machinery is removed or
moved and this information is not communicated. This is
usually the largest issue in asset accounting. The accountant
has to take the initiative to keep the asset list current.
The best system I've seen was where a digital picture was taken of each
asset and combined with a description of the asset and other
information such as cost, date acquired, location, asset number, etc.
Every business with a large amount of assets has what is called a "bone
yard"; this is the place old assets wind up for possible later use or
for part salvaging. An asset that is not being used, or is
non-productive may have a different taxable rate than productive
assets.