Calculate and post fixed asset depreciation in SamBooks

Read an asset's depreciation plan, post depreciation charges one at a time or in bulk, and understand the reduced first-year rate.

What it's for

Every active asset has a depreciation plan calculated automatically from its DM 31/12/1988 category (or a custom rate). SamBooks projects charge, fund and residual value year by year, and leaves it to you to decide when to post the charge to the journal — one asset at a time, or all at once. This is statutory (civil-law) depreciation only.

Before you start

You need an asset already in the register — created from a purchase entry on a fixed-asset account, or imported from your previous accounting software. If you don't have one yet, create it first: Manage the fixed asset register.

Step by step

1. Open an asset's depreciation plan

From the "Assets" menu item (under Accounting) open the list, click the asset you need, and in its detail page open the "Depreciation" tab (one of five: Details, Depreciation, Movements, Origin, AI history). Inside you'll find two stacked sections: "Depreciation plan" and, below it, "Grant release", which stays visible even when no grant is linked: in that case, instead of the table, you get a note explaining how to link one (see further down).

2. Read the plan's columns

Three summary tiles at the top — Historical cost, Current fund, Residual value — then a table with columns Year, Rate, Charge, Fund, Residual, Status. The earliest rows are the record, the later ones the projection at the current rate. The real caption below the table reads: "Recorded years are already posted and not editable. Edit planned years to change the rate or suspend depreciation."

3. Recognise the statuses

Three possible values in the Status column: "Posted" (charge already in the journal, row not editable from here), "Planned" (future projection, still editable) and "Suspended" (no charge planned for that year). A manually edited year carries an "edited" tag next to it.

4. Post the depreciation of a single asset

In the asset's detail page, next to "Edit" you'll find the "Depreciation" button (shown only on active assets, not disposed ones — on a disposed asset you get "Post disposal" instead). It opens the "Annual depreciation" dialog — real description: "Post the asset's depreciation charge for the given year." One field, "Year" (pre-filled with the current year), and the "Post" button.

This dialog does not show the charge before you post it: the amount only shows up after you press "Post" (unlike the bulk generator described next, which has a preview step). If you want to know the amount beforehand, check the corresponding row in the "Depreciation" tab → "Depreciation plan": the projection already shows the charge and the rate.

The Year field accepts anything between 2000 and 2999 with no check against the current date: you can post a future financial year in two clicks with no warning, and the entry is still dated to the end of the financial year you chose (31 December, if your company uses calendar years). Check the year before pressing "Post".

A note on naming: the header button and the tab share the same label, "Depreciation", but do different things — the button posts, the tab shows the plan.

5. Post depreciation for every asset of a year, in bulk

From the "Assets" list, the "Generate depreciation" button at the top opens the same generator used for accruals and deferrals, in a dedicated mode: title "Generate depreciation", real description "Pick the financial year: the system computes and books the yearly depreciation quota for each asset (Debit depreciation cost / Credit accumulated fund). Assets already depreciated for the year are skipped." Pick the period (typically "Year-end") and the year, then press "Preview": here, unlike the single-asset dialog, you see the list of assets with their amounts BEFORE posting anything, plus a "Total depreciation" line. If there's nothing to generate you'll see "No new depreciation to generate for this financial year: every asset is already depreciated." Press "Confirm and generate" to actually post the entries.

The reduced first-year rate

In the year of acquisition (the year of the "Purchase date") the charge is halved compared to the full rate. It isn't a fixed 50% cut: the DM 31/12/1988 category can declare its own explicit reduced rate for the first year, and that rate is what applies — not necessarily half of the standard one. Some categories (mostly intangible assets) declare a first-year reduced rate equal to the standard rate: for these assets the first year is, in practice, not reduced at all.

If you've set a custom rate on the asset, be careful: it does not switch off the first-year halving — quite the opposite, the custom rate itself is what gets halved. The category's reduced rate only applies when the asset has no custom rate of its own. Example: a category at 12%, an asset customised to 10% → the first year depreciates at 5% (10% halved), not at 6% and not at the full 10%.

In the "Movements" tab, first-year charges carry the "First year (50%)" suffix on the Rate column even when the applied rate isn't exactly half of the standard one, but the category's own declared reduced rate.

The rate hierarchy

Three levels, from strongest to weakest:

1. Per-year exception — a rate set by hand on ONE year of the plan (see below). If it exists, it wins over everything else.
2. The asset's custom rate — set at creation or in "Edit" ("Custom rate (%)"), applies to every year unless a per-year exception overrides it.
3. The category's rate — the DM 31/12/1988 coefficient, used when the asset has no custom rate.

One thing to watch for: if the asset has a custom rate, you won't see it either on "Details" (the "Standard rate" row always shows the category's coefficient) or in the "Rate" column of the list — both stay unchanged. The rate that's actually applied only shows up by opening "Edit", or in the "Rate" column of the depreciation plan, which always reflects the value really used to compute the charge.

Suspending a year or giving it a different rate

In the plan, every year that isn't yet "Posted" has a pencil icon that opens the "Year {year}" dialog ("Customise the depreciation for this year."). Two alternative levers: the "Suspend the year" switch ("No charge this year; the residual is depreciated in later years.") or the "Rate (%)" field, to apply a different coefficient just for that year (placeholder "Default rate", hint "Leave empty to use the category default rate."). Save with "Save" ("Plan updated.") or cancel. If the year already has an active override, the dialog also shows "Reset to default", which removes the exception ("Year reset to default.").

Suspending a year doesn't erase the residual: it pushes it forward, and the plan simply runs one year longer.

The journal entry, and where to find it

Every depreciation post — from the single-asset dialog or from the bulk generator — creates a journal entry with the AMM entry type: Debit the asset's depreciation cost account, Credit the accumulated depreciation account, both for the amount of the charge. The two accounts are derived automatically from the asset's fixed-asset account: you don't choose them here. You'll find it in the asset's "Movements" tab, where every "Annual depreciation" row has an "Open entry" link; or directly in the journal, at the financial year-end date.

It won't duplicate: idempotency

If you re-run depreciation for a year already posted, SamBooks won't create a duplicate. From the single-asset dialog you'll see "Depreciation for the year already posted."; other edge cases show "Asset disposed: no depreciation to post.", "Asset fully depreciated." or "Asset not yet acquired in the given year." If the year you picked is suspended, nothing is posted, but the message you see is a technical code rather than a sentence: it does not mean your entry failed From the bulk generator, the preview warns you when the financial year already has depreciated assets — those get skipped. To redo a year that has already been posted, revert the operation from the asset's "AI history" tab: that rolls back the entry, the movement and the accumulated fund together.

The cap on residual value

The charge never exceeds the residual value: if the theoretical charge (historical cost × rate) is higher than what's left to depreciate, SamBooks posts only the residual and brings it to zero. This typically happens in the plan's last year. Take a 4,000 € asset at 50%, first year halved: 1,000 € in year one, 2,000 € in year two, and in year three the theoretical charge would still be 2,000 € but only 1,000 € is left — SamBooks posts those 1,000 € and closes the plan. From year four there is no row at all: no zero charge is written. As a result, the accumulated fund never exceeds the historical cost.

Depreciation inside the adjusting-entries generator

From the "Adjusting entries" page (Accounting → Adjusting entries), "Generate automatically" opens the same generator, where depreciation is one of three categories alongside accruals and deferrals (the "Asset depreciation" switch). That's the whole difference: accruals and deferrals also generate a reopening entry the next day, depreciation doesn't. Useful when you close a period all at once, instead of generating depreciation separately from the Assets list.

The capital grant release plan

If the asset has a linked capital grant (linked from a booking line on Deferred income, marked "accrual linked to asset"), the same "Depreciation" tab shows a second section below, "Grant release": four summary tiles — Grant, Ratio, Released so far, Remaining deferral — and a year-by-year table with Year, Depreciation, Release (A.5), Cumulative release, Remaining deferral. The grant is released to the income statement (line A.5) in step with the depreciation of the asset it's tied to. It's read-only: the actual release is written by the adjusting-entries generator, not this page. With no grant linked: "No capital grant linked to this asset. Link a grant from its booking line (on Deferred income) by marking it «accrual linked to asset»."

Ask Sam

You can ask Sam to post depreciation for an asset or a whole financial year, to read you the plan, or to suspend or change a year's rate: "post the 2026 depreciation for asset CESP-118", "how much is left to depreciate on the server bought in March?". Form and chat are equivalent: same calculation, same entry.

If something goes wrong

• The Year field accepts a future financial year with no warning. There's no intermediate confirmation: check the value before pressing "Post" — the entry is created immediately, dated to the end of the financial year you chose.
• You don't know the amount before it's posted. The single-asset dialog has no preview: check "Depreciation plan" first, or use the bulk generator, which does have a preview step.
• The rate on the detail page doesn't match the plan. That's normal with a custom rate: "Standard rate" and the list's "Rate" column always show the category's coefficient. The real value is in the plan's "Rate" column, or in "Edit".
• A "Posted" year has no edit icon. That's correct: once posted, a year can't be touched from the plan anymore. You need to correct the entry that generated it, not the plan row.
• The message says depreciation is already posted. That's not an error: that year, for that asset, has already been written, and SamBooks skips it to avoid a duplicate.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate asset depreciation? You don't calculate it by hand: the asset's "Depreciation" tab already projects the charge. You post it with the "Depreciation" button (one asset at a time) or with "Generate depreciation" from the list (all at once).

How do I post the year's depreciation charges? "Assets" list → "Generate depreciation" → pick the financial year → "Preview" → "Confirm and generate". Or, asset by asset, from the "Depreciation" button on each one.

Is the first year always depreciated at 50%? Usually, but it isn't fixed: some categories declare a first-year reduced rate different from half (for some intangible assets it matches the standard rate, so the first year isn't reduced at all). If the asset has a custom rate, that's the one that gets halved.

How do I change an asset's depreciation rate? Permanently, from "Edit" (custom rate). For a single year, use the pencil on the corresponding plan row, "Rate (%)" field.

Can I suspend depreciation for a year? Yes, from the pencil on the plan row, "Suspend the year" switch. The residual isn't lost: it's depreciated in later years.

How do I depreciate all assets together? "Generate depreciation" button on the Assets list, or "Generate automatically" from the Adjusting entries page with "Asset depreciation" switched on.

I already depreciated this year — will running it again duplicate it? No. It's idempotent per asset and year: running it again returns "Depreciation for the year already posted." and writes nothing new.

What journal entry does depreciation create? Debit the depreciation cost account, credit the accumulated depreciation account. You'll find it in the asset's "Movements" tab, "Open entry" link.

Where do I see the full depreciation plan? The asset's "Depreciation" tab, "Depreciation plan" section: the record and the future projection in a single table.

I can't edit a year that's already posted. Correct, that's intentional: a "Posted" year is already in the journal, and the plan won't touch it anymore. To redo it, revert the operation from the asset's "AI history" tab: a depreciation entry cannot be deleted from the posting journal, where only manual entries can be removed.

How does the capital grant release work? If the asset has a linked grant, "Grant release" (below the plan, same tab) shows how much is released to the income statement each year, in step with the depreciation charge.

The residual value has reached zero — what happens? The asset is fully depreciated: posting an additional year returns "Asset fully depreciated." and writes nothing, until you dispose of it.

Related guides

• Manage the fixed asset register — creating an asset, the form's fields, list filters, deletion and cancellation.
• Dispose of or sell a fixed asset — disposal, capital gain/loss, and the partial depreciation of the disposal year.
• Record a manual journal entry — how to read the AMM entry that depreciation generates.