Search the forum for topics having to do with the chart of accounts. You can do some fancy things. General reading of the Guides will help, also.
There is nothing compulsory about using the Fixed Assets tab. You can construct your Fixed Assets to look any way you want by using the Chart of Accounts, but it means you will need to do your own depreciation provision accounts as well.
I did get into the guides. But I don’t think you can create a dedicated contra account like Accum. Dep’n to exist right beneath it’s related fixed asset account. But hey I’m not complaining. This is by far the best single user freeware I’ve found.
Ok I am even more amazed. But no numbers in the example. A typical adjustment would be dr dep’n expense cr xxxProv for Depn. Then I’d need the xxxProv for Depn to show up on a balance sheet and be deducted from its main account (above say Furniture and Fittings) into a subtotal. You seem to take on every challenge…
By default, the contra accumulated depreciation account is created as an asset account. If you are referring to having individual contra accounts for individual assets, you can do that just as easily as you can have individual asset accounts. I’m pretty sure that’s what @Brucanna meant. To my thinking, that would all be a lot more work than it’s worth.
If you use the built-in fixed asset module, it all works perfectly. The balance sheet stays nice and simple. If you need the breakdown, export the Fixed Assets register or generate a Fixed Asset Summary under Reports. I’ve looked at a lot of balance sheets from all different sorts of companies in my day, and I don’t recall ever seeing individual assets at the balance sheet level. When I look at a company’s balance sheet, I don’t want to be bogged down in individual computers, drill presses, fork lifts, store fit-outs, and the like. Maybe a few major categories. Look at a few annual reports to see what I mean.
That said, if you want the detail on the balance sheet, Manager will do it for you.
Ya it’s not a corporate thing with me. It’s high school accounting class and trying to find software that is easy for students to download, install, and use given a set of instructions. It helps if they can see accounting formats similar to what they’ve been learning in class. Hence the requests on my part. I may create a simple assignment with only basic service based accounts, then a more complicated one using the tabs as you suggest. Thanks for the quick responses. Appreciated.
But will this assignment submission earn the gold star - probably not the sub-total format you were expecting, however that’s your only choice in Manager
I figured out the fixed assets display as shown above. But I can not figure out how to link up the accumulated depreciation and display as I see it in the example.
Any possibility for some more detail?
@rupelja, it is not clear what example you are referring to. But, if you want to know how to enter depreciation, read this Guide: Depreciate fixed assets | Manager. Creation of the account, Fixed assets - accumulated depreciation, is automatic.
The accumulated depreciation accounts as displayed in the example are manually created.
They aren’t part of the fixed asset tab’s depreciation.
The depreciation would be entered via Journal Entry
Okay, I understand you used a journal entry. But I am confused since Manager uses a specific input module to handle depreciation. If you like, I can send some screen shots of what I am trying to do.
My preference would be to use a journal entry for entering depreciation. All the questions I have pertain to an Accounting class project I teach.
Some context, I am an adjunct professor at a community college in California teaching Accounting and Bookkeeping courses. I am extremely appreciative that Manager Accounting is free via the desktop version. If appropriate, I would like the opportunity of discussing the possibility of setting up student accounts for the online version of Manager.
If you use a journal entry, then you don’t use the specific input module to handle depreciation.
This means that individual fixed assets don’t get depreciated, just the group of fixed assets.
If you want journal entry and individual fixed asset depreciation then you need to use a spreadsheet first. This may seem a duplication but that depends on how important your Balance Sheet layout is.
@rupelja, you need to understand that Manager is not set up to support instruction about classical accounting procedures, under which every form of transaction is a journal entry. Instead, it is designed to minimize the need for journal entries by making context-specific decisions concerning what is a debit and what is a credit. As an accounting instructor, you will be well aware that is what most novices struggle to understand. So Manager tries to remove all that from the process to the extent feasible. Of course, the results is the same. But the consequence is you cannot mix and match the built-in control accounts and hard-coded processes with manual entries in many cases. That’s just another way of saying you have to use the program the way it was designed. Once you understand it, it’s remarkably flexible. But there are definitely things you cannot do in the way you might be accustomed.
Hi Tut. Thanks for the input.
I fully understand what Manager is and what it does in terms of streamlining the Accounting/Bookkeeping process. As I mentioned to Brucanna, I appreciate that Manager has a free desktop version. I have a significant percentage of low income students that this will help in their learning of Accounting.
That being said, I am constrained by what accounting processes/principles I am required to teach. That includes a heavy dose of Journal entries and explaining the way Accounting was performed the way it was in the past. The benefit of this? If there is a big screw-up in the bookkeeping data entry, students need to know the foundational concepts to figure out their mistake.
I am asking questions about Manager as I set-up the the class project I am required to teach and employ for my Financial Accounting course. If Manager is not a good fit, so be it. No worries. I have no expectations of success. I just need to understand how Manager works and if I need to re-write portions of the project or keep what I have now.
Then you need to learn how to set up depreciation in Manger by both methods.
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Manual accounts and Journal entries to teach your course
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Manager specific depreciation tools so you can answer questions when student point out the easier way or students want to use Manager later for actual book keeping. Custom fields and Custom control accounts significantly increase the functionality of this approach. Extending custom control account functionality and adding Depreciation calculations has been suggested.
Thank you Patch. As of 20 minutes ago, I do know both ways now. You are correct though, I always have students that are very sharp and pick up different ways to perform a tasks.
Exactly.
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How true this is I teach Xero and MYOB and the first thing I do is teach them the accounting principles and basics