The Fixed Asset Manager is your register of long-term assets: furniture, equipment, computers, vehicles, buildings, leasehold improvements. For each one it keeps what it cost, when you got it, how it wears out in your books and which CCA class it belongs to for tax. From the register you can:
- post each year's book depreciation to the books,
- dispose of an asset you sold, scrapped or wrote off, with the gain or loss worked out and posted, and
- see the CCA schedule, the capital cost allowance a Canadian corporation claims on Schedule 8 of the T2.
Depreciation and CCA are two different figures
This is the one idea to hold on to:
| Book depreciation | Capital cost allowance (CCA) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Your own estimate of how an asset wears out. | CRA's tax write-off, at CRA's rate for the asset's class. |
| How it is worked out | Straight line over a useful life, or declining balance. | Declining balance on each class's pool, with the half-year rule. |
| Where it goes | Posted to the books: an expense on the Profit & Loss and a reduction of the asset on the Balance Sheet. | Never posted. It is claimed on the T2 and appears nowhere in the books. |
They are almost never the same number. That is why they open separately: Book depreciation and CCA schedule.
Opening it
- Company ▸ Fixed Asset Manager
- Lists ▸ Fixed Asset Item List opens the same register. See Fixed Asset Item List.
Fixed assets are part of some SeroBooks plans only. If yours does not include them, the screen tells you which plan does instead of opening.
The register
The title reads Fixed Assets, followed by the number of assets, their total cost and their total book value. The note beneath reminds you that book depreciation and CCA open separately.
The buttons
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Include disposed | Also lists assets you have disposed of, dimmed and marked Disposed. Off by default. |
| Book depreciation | Opens the Book Depreciation page for this fiscal year. |
| CCA schedule | Opens the Capital Cost Allowance schedule. |
| New asset | Opens Record a fixed asset. |
The columns
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Asset | The asset's name. |
| Acquired | The date you acquired it. |
| Cost | What it cost. |
| Accumulated | The book depreciation recorded against it so far. |
| Book value | Cost less accumulated depreciation: what it is carried at in the register. |
| CCA class | Its CCA class, or a dash. |
| Method | Straight line or Declining. |
| Status | Active or Disposed. |
Assets are listed in the order you acquired them. Click an active asset to choose Correct this asset or Dispose of it. Clicking a disposed asset only tells you when it was disposed of and that it should be corrected with a reversal rather than by editing history. The export and email buttons save the Fixed asset register.
Record a fixed asset
- Click New asset.
- Fill in the form (below) and click Record.
- The message says Asset recorded. and the register refreshes.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| What is it? | The asset's name, for example Delivery van or Walk-in cooler. Required. |
| Cost | What it cost, before sales tax you can claim back. Must be more than zero. |
| Acquired on | The date you acquired it. Today unless you pick another date; it cannot be in the future. |
| CCA class (for the T2) | The CRA class. The choices are 8 — Furniture, fixtures, equipment (20%) (the default), 10 — Vehicles, computer hardware (30%), 50 — Computer hardware & software (55%), 12 — Tools, small software (100%), 1 — Buildings (4%), 13 — Leasehold improvements and 14.1 — Goodwill, intangibles (5%). The class's rate is stored with the asset. |
| Book depreciation method | Straight line (the default): the same charge every year. Declining balance: a percentage of what is left each year, using the CCA class's rate. |
| Useful life (years) | Straight line only: how many years the asset lasts in your books. Default 5. |
Record does nothing until the asset has a name and a cost above zero.
Correct an asset
Click the asset and choose Correct this asset (Name, class, method, life, salvage). The form is titled Correct asset name and has the same fields; click Record to save. The message says Asset updated.
Once any depreciation has been recorded for the asset, Cost and Acquired on are locked, because every charge already booked was worked out from them. The cost field then reads Fixed — depreciation has been booked from it. Reverse the depreciation to change it. The name, class, method and useful life can still change; the new settings apply to depreciation recorded from then on.
A disposed asset cannot be corrected.
Book depreciation
Click Book depreciation to open Book Depreciation for the fiscal year that contains today. The subtitle shows the dates, from the first day of your fiscal year to today.
| Part | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Depreciation for the year | The total charge for every asset. |
| Asset | Each asset with a charge this year. |
| Opening book value | Cost less depreciation recorded in earlier years. |
| Depreciation | This year's charge. |
| Closing book value | Opening book value less this year's charge. |
| Last column | Recorded when this year's charge is already in the register, Not yet when it is not. |
How the charge is worked out
- Straight line: (cost less any salvage value) ÷ useful life, the same every year.
- Declining balance: the class rate (20% when the asset has no class) × (cost less depreciation recorded in earlier years).
- Year of purchase: for an asset acquired this fiscal year, the charge is reduced to the months held, counting from the month acquired to the current month.
- The charge never takes the book value below the salvage value, and stops once the asset is fully depreciated.
- An asset disposed of before the year began gets no charge.
Post the year's depreciation
- Check the figures on the page.
- Click Record this year.
- Read the note at the top of the page, which says what happened.
For each asset, SeroBooks writes a journal entry dated today, numbered in the form DEP/2026/0012, with the memo Book depreciation — asset name:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| The Depreciation charged for the year account | Charge | |
| The Accumulated depreciation account | Charge |
Both accounts are set in Accounting Setup. The Recorded column updates the next time you open the page.
Recording is safe to repeat: a year that has been posted for an asset is never posted again. If the two depreciation accounts are not set, the register is updated but nothing reaches the books, and the note says NOTHING WAS POSTED TO THE LEDGER and names the two accounts to set; run Record this year again once they are set and the charges are posted then. If today falls in a closed period, nothing is recorded at all and the note explains the closing date. See Set Closing Date and Year-End.
Your role must be allowed to add journal entries to record depreciation.
Dispose of an asset
When you sell, scrap or write off an asset:
- Click the asset in the register and choose Dispose of it (Sold, scrapped or written off — books the gain or loss).
- The dialog Dispose of asset shows its cost, accumulated depreciation and book value.
- Enter Proceeds: what you received. Leave it at 0.00 if you received nothing.
- Set Disposed on.
- Read the line beneath: No gain or loss — it goes out at exactly its book value, A GAIN of $X will be booked to income, or A LOSS of $X will be booked as an expense.
- Click Dispose of it. The message names the proceeds, the book value and the gain or loss.
SeroBooks posts one journal entry, numbered in the form DISP/2026/0013, with the memo Disposal — asset name:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Accumulated depreciation | Depreciation recorded to date | |
| Cash in drawer (or Bank / card deposits if that is not set) | Proceeds, if any | |
| Fixed assets, at cost | The asset's full cost | |
| Gain or loss on disposal | A loss | A gain |
All four accounts are set in Accounting Setup. The asset is then marked Disposed and drops off the register unless Include disposed is on.
A disposal is refused, and nothing is changed, when:
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| The posting map needs "fixed_assets", "accumulated_depreciation" and "gain_loss_on_disposal" roles, and a cash or bank account when there are proceeds… | Set Fixed assets, at cost, Accumulated depreciation and Gain or loss on disposal in Accounting Setup. |
| … was received and neither "cash" nor "bank" is mapped, so the money has nowhere to land… | Set Cash in drawer or Bank / card deposits in Accounting Setup, or enter 0.00 proceeds. |
| An asset cannot be disposed of before it was acquired (…) | Correct the Disposed on date. |
| Proceeds cannot be negative. A cost of disposal is an expense, not a negative sale. | Enter the proceeds as zero or more, and enter any disposal cost as a bill or expense. |
| … is dated …, which falls in a period closed on … | The date is in a closed period. Use a later date or ask an administrator to move the closing date. |
| … was already disposed of on … | Nothing to do: it is already disposed of. |
The CCA schedule
Click CCA schedule to open Capital Cost Allowance for the current fiscal year: the subtitle shows the first and last day of the fiscal year and T2 Schedule 8. The note at the top explains the method; amber notes flag anything for your accountant.
Total CCA claimable this year is the total of the last-but-one column. The table has one row per class:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Class | The CCA class. |
| What it covers | CRA's description of the class. |
| Rate | The class's declining-balance rate. |
| Opening UCC | Undepreciated capital cost carried in: the cost of assets bought in earlier years, less the CCA on them in each earlier year. |
| Additions | The cost of assets acquired this fiscal year. |
| Disposals | For assets disposed of this year, the lesser of proceeds and original cost. |
| Half-year base | Opening UCC less disposals plus half of net additions: the amount the rate applies to. |
| CCA | Half-year base × rate. |
| Closing UCC | Opening UCC plus additions less disposals less CCA. |
What the schedule does and does not do:
- Half-year rule: assets bought this year earn CCA on half their net cost in their first year.
- Accelerated Investment Incentive: not applied. If you are entitled to it, your accountant adjusts the claim.
- Earlier years: opening UCC assumes the full CCA was claimed every year. If you claimed less in a year, your UCC is higher; use the figures from your filed returns.
- Recapture: when a class goes negative after disposals, the CCA is zero and a note flags the recapture for your accountant.
- Proceeds above cost: the excess is a capital gain, flagged in a note and not part of this schedule.
- Only assets with a CCA class appear. Nothing on this page is posted to the books.
Permissions
| To | Your role needs |
|---|---|
| See the register, book depreciation and the CCA schedule | Permission to view accounting reports. |
| Record, correct or dispose of an asset | Add Fixed Asset, and permission to manage accounts. |
| Record this year's depreciation | Permission to add journal entries. |
See Roles and permissions explained.
Tips
- Set Depreciation charged for the year, Accumulated depreciation, Fixed assets, at cost and Gain or loss on disposal in Accounting Setup before you record depreciation or dispose of anything.
- Leasehold improvements (class 13) have no single CRA rate, so use Straight line over the lease for their book depreciation: declining balance at a 0% rate would charge nothing.
- Give your accountant the CCA schedule with the year's Trial Balance and the GIFI schedule from Income Tax (T2 / GIFI).
Common problems
The register's book value and the Balance Sheet disagree. The Balance Sheet shows what was posted to the accounts. Check that the purchase was entered to the fixed asset account, and that the Book Depreciation note did not say NOTHING WAS POSTED TO THE LEDGER.
I cannot change an asset's cost. Depreciation has been recorded from it. Reverse the depreciation journal entries first.
Depreciation for a year I missed. The page only works on the current fiscal year. Enter the missed charge as a General Journal Entry debiting depreciation expense and crediting accumulated depreciation.
An asset is missing from the CCA schedule. It has no CCA class. Click it, choose Correct this asset and pick a class.
The CCA differs from last year's return. The schedule assumes the full CCA was claimed every year. Your accountant adjusts the opening UCC to the figure on the filed return.