I have identified what appears to be a problem with fixed asset starting balances when using divisions.
A fixed asset is assigned to a specific division. All transactions entered after the opening date are correctly attributed to that division, including depreciation, sale proceeds and the automatic disposal entries. However, the fixed asset’s opening acquisition cost and opening accumulated depreciation are not included in the divisional Balance Sheet.
The consolidated Balance Sheet is correct. The problem appears only when the Balance Sheet is filtered by division.
Example
The fixed asset is a Mazda 6 assigned to the Personal division.
Its starting balances are:
- Acquisition cost: $46,000.00
- Accumulated depreciation: $12,586.17
The vehicle was subsequently sold for $32,933.96 and marked as disposed.
The consolidated acquisition-cost ledger is correct:
| Entry | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Starting acquisition cost | $46,000.00 | |
| Sale proceeds | $32,933.96 | |
| Disposal adjustment | $13,066.04 | |
| Closing balance | $0.00 |
The consolidated accumulated-depreciation ledger is also correct:
| Entry | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Starting accumulated depreciation | $12,586.17 | |
| Final depreciation before disposal | $1,153.00 | |
| Disposal reversal | $13,739.17 | |
| Closing balance | $0.00 | $0.00 |
However, when the Balance Sheet is filtered to the Personal division, the starting balances are omitted.
The divisional Balance Sheet includes only:
- the $32,933.96 sale credit
- the $13,066.04 disposal credit
- the $13,739.17 accumulated-depreciation disposal debit
- the $1,153.00 depreciation credit
This leaves incorrect divisional balances of:
- Vehicles at cost: $46,000.00 credit
- Accumulated depreciation: $12,586.17 debit
The exact amounts correspond to the missing fixed asset starting balances.
Expected behaviour
Because the fixed asset itself is assigned to the Personal division, its opening acquisition cost and opening accumulated depreciation should also be attributed to that division.
The divisional Balance Sheet should therefore show the same zero closing balance for the disposed asset as the consolidated Balance Sheet.
Actual behaviour
The fixed asset’s later transactions inherit the division correctly, but the fixed asset starting balances do not appear to inherit the asset’s division.
This results in:
- correct consolidated accounts
- incorrect divisional Balance Sheets
- disposal entries appearing without the corresponding opening asset balances
Steps to reproduce
- Create or enable a division.
- Create a fixed asset and assign it to that division.
- Enter a starting acquisition cost and starting accumulated depreciation.
- Enter depreciation for the asset.
- Sell the asset and mark it as disposed.
- Run a consolidated Balance Sheet.
- Run the same Balance Sheet filtered to the asset’s division.
The consolidated report shows the asset correctly cleared.
The divisional report excludes the starting acquisition cost and starting accumulated depreciation but includes the later depreciation and disposal transactions.
Troubleshooting already completed
I have confirmed that:
- the fixed asset is assigned to the correct division
- the sale receipt is allocated to the correct fixed asset
- the depreciation entries use the correct fixed asset and division
- the disposal date and disposal account are correct
- the consolidated General Ledger balances to zero
- deleting and recreating the fixed asset starting balance does not resolve the issue
- the issue remains after upgrading Manager Server
Environment
- Manager Server Edition
- Version: 26.7.23.3657
- Linux x64
- The problem existed before the update and remains in the current version
The same division issue also affected ordinary Balance Sheet starting balances, such as mortgages, because the starting-balance form has no Division field. Those could be worked around using an opening journal with a division selected.
Fixed assets are more difficult to work around because replacing their starting balances with ordinary journal entries would interfere with the fixed asset subledger, accumulated depreciation and disposal calculations.