Re: Proposal: Asset management module schema

["David A. Bandel" <..hidden..>]

On Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 08:33, Chris Travers<..hidden..> wrote:
> Attached is a rough draft of a fixed asset module's schema for
> LedgerSMB.  This is designed to support as many depreciation models as
> possible in the future though straight-line will be the only one which
> is immediately available.  My general approach is as follows:
>

Chris,

Looks pretty good for a start.  I would recommend as a minimum in the
asset_item table a purchase_date column (as a point of reference for
performing the depreciation).

I would think it would also would be advisable to consider the
double-declining-balance method of depreciation as (at least when I
had a company in the US) the most used depreciation scheme for tax
purposes in the states (can't talk to other countries' depreciation
methods).

You might also want to consider a warranty_class for items with
warranties/guarantees as I find this has few convenient places to be
stuck.  This warranty_class would probably have to xref to another
table as a one-to-many relationship as some items have multiple
warranties on them (computers, for example, have separate warranties
for hard disks, motherboards, power supplies, fans, etc., although
bought as one item).

Or perhaps warranties and the like need to be handled somewhere else,
but where, I'm not sure.

Also not sure how future purchases (additional memory/disks for
example) or maintenance/part replacement/additions (as in a car or a
building addition) would be handled.  Personally, I'd handle them as
separate asset_items, but need a way to xref to the item they were
added to (and access to the original item would need to show these
additions/repairs) assuming they were capitalized and not expensed.
Unfortunately, not everything can be expensed (or we could forget this
para), some things must be capitalized (I no longer remember the
rules, but that's what accountants are for).

Just some food for thought.

My $.02 and worth what you paid for them.

Ciao,

David A. Bandel
-- 
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