When a depreciation workbook arrives for conversion, the same eight errors appear: assets depreciated past zero, disposals deleted rather than recorded, the half-year convention applied without the 40% test, bonus taken in a state that adds it back, prior years overwritten after the return was filed, real property on the wrong convention, invoice dates used as in-service dates, and totals that miss rows. Six checks find them.
The workbook works until it does not.
Most registers under a thousand assets start in a spreadsheet, and the spreadsheet works while one person maintains it, nobody sorts it, and the auditor does not ask for a roll-forward. Since 1990 we have converted a great many of them, and the same errors appear in the same places. None of them is a formula mistake in the usual sense; they are decisions the workbook cannot make because it does not know what a convention, a book or a closed period is.
| The error | How it shows | What the register does instead | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Assets depreciated past zero | A formula keeps taking a year's expense after the cost is recovered; net book value goes negative | Depreciation stops at cost less salvage in every book |
| 2 | Disposals deleted, not recorded | The row is gone, the roll-forward does not tie, the gain or loss was never computed | A disposal is a dated event with proceeds and gain or loss by book |
| 3 | Half-year convention applied to every asset | No 40% test was run; in a year with a fourth-quarter purchase the whole year's depreciation is wrong | The mid-quarter test runs across the year's additions at the period run |
| 4 | Bonus taken in a state that adds it back | One tax column; the state return carries an off-sheet adjustment nobody documented | A state book with the conformity setting per state |
| 5 | Prior years overwritten | A formula change or a sort recomputed history after the return was filed; the schedule no longer matches what was filed | Closed periods lock; changes to closed periods are adjustments with a note |
| 6 | Real property on the wrong convention | Buildings on half-year instead of mid-month, or 39-year property at 27.5 | The class sets the method, life and convention |
| 7 | Invoice date used as the in-service date | Depreciation starts a quarter early, and the mid-quarter result is wrong too | In-service date is a required field, separate from the invoice date |
| 8 | Totals that miss rows | A SUM range that stops above the last row added in December | Totals are computed, and the schedule foots to the roll-forward and the ledger |
How to check yours before anyone else does.
- Sort by net book value ascending. Anything negative is error 1; anything at exactly zero with depreciation still running is the same error a year early.
- Compare the row count with last year's file. Fewer rows with no disposal list is error 2.
- Total the fourth-quarter additions for each of the last three years and divide by the year's additions. Over 40% in any year is error 3.
- Open the last filed return and set the schedule's prior-year column against the depreciation claimed. A difference is error 5.
- Filter buildings and improvements and read the convention column. Anything but mid-month is error 6.
- Add the column and compare with the SUM cell. A difference is error 8, and it means every total in the file is suspect.
| Source field | Fixed Asset Desk field | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Internal book | Book | Mapped |
| Tax book | Federal | Mapped |
| State book | State | Mapped |
| AMT book | AMT | Mapped |
| ACE book | User-defined book 1 | Mapped |
| Prior accumulated (all books) | Prior depreciation by book | Loaded as filed |
| Property type / est. life | Class / life | Table |
| Averaging convention | Convention | Table |
| G/L asset acct, expense acct | GL accounts | Mapped |
| Custom field 3 (Grant no.) | Custom: Grant number | Created |
| Validation: 1,284 loaded · 0 rejected · 3 warnings (unusual method and life combinations flagged for review) · Map saved as "the workbook standard" | ||
What conversion does with what it finds.
We load the workbook as it is, list what fails validation, and reconcile the result to the last filed return rather than to the workbook's current state. Where the workbook and the return differ, you decide which to keep, and the decision is documented. The switching from spreadsheets page describes what we need and what carries over; the conversion article describes the parallel run.
What to record on the asset.
- In-service date and acquisition date, as two fields, on every asset.
- Method, life and convention in each book, set by the class.
- Prior accumulated depreciation as filed, by book, at conversion.
- Disposals as dated events with proceeds.
- The period each figure belongs to, so that closed periods stay closed.
In Fixed Asset Desk: the workbook is loaded through the data import with a saved column map, validated before anything is written, and reconciled to the last filed schedule.
Sources: The company's conversion experience with spreadsheet registers since 1990; Publication 946 (2025) for the conventions and classes. Checked 20 September 2026.