Depreciating fixed assets



This guide walks you through the complete fixed asset lifecycle in Wafeq: from recording an asset's purchase to setting up depreciation, tracking book value, and reviewing its impact on your balance sheet.

Whether you’re registering a new laptop or importing legacy assets from another system, you’ll learn how to structure and fill asset data, automate depreciation entries, and keep your reports clean and audit-ready.

What you'll find in this guide:

1. How to record a fixed asset purchase?
2. Adding a fixed asset.
3. How to Run Depreciation for Fixed Assets?
4. How to display accumulated depreciation on the balance sheet?

How to record a fixed asset purchase?

When adding a fixed asset, neither the purchase cost nor the salvage value would generate accounting entries automatically. Instead, you need to record them through a purchase bill or sales invoice.

If you’re bringing in existing assets from a previous system, make sure to import the original bill or record its value manually to reflect it accurately.

To register the cost of a new fixed asset and ensure it’s reflected in your accounting, start by navigating to Purchases In the main menu, select Bills, then click the arrow next to Upload bill and choose Record bill manually.



Fill in the purchase details as usual. In the description field, write the asset name or select it from your items list if it’s already registered in Wafeq. Most importantly, ensure the Account field is set to a Fixed Asset category, so the entry is properly posted to your balance sheet.



After saving the bill, you can hover over the book icon to preview the journal entry created for the asset purchase. Click on it to open the full transaction details in the General Ledger.



Adding a fixed asset

To start tracking and depreciating a fixed asset in Wafeq, you’ll need to manually add its details by navigating to “Fixed Assets” in the main menu.



Enter the following fields' details:

• Status: Once you’ve entered the asset’s details, you’ll need to update its status from “Draft” to “Registered”. This step is important because only “Registered” assets can be depreciated. After that, the status will automatically update to reflect the asset’s lifecycle: it becomes “Depreciating” once depreciation starts, and then “Fully Depreciated” when the asset reaches its salvage value.
• Asset Number: A unique ID for the asset. Can be auto-generated or manually entered.
• Name: Use a descriptive name for the asset (e.g., "Office Printer").
• Purchase Date: Define the actual purchase date.
• Purchase Cost: Enter the asset total cost. Usually matches the bill value.
• Salvage Value: Define the estimated value at the end of the asset's life. Depreciation stops when the asset reaches this amount.
• Life in Months: Enter the expected number of months over which the asset will be depreciated.
• Depreciation Start Month: Choose the first month when depreciation should begin.
• Current Book Value: Automatically calculated by the system based on depreciation.
• Depreciated Until: The latest month for which depreciation has been recorded. To update this field, you need to run depreciation for the asset, using the process explained in the upcoming sections of this guide.
• Fixed Asset Account: The account where the asset value is initially recorded (e.g., "Furniture & Equipment").
• Depreciation Account: The account used to record monthly depreciation expense (e.g., "Depreciation Expense").
• Accumulated Depreciation: The balance sheet account that accumulates all depreciation (e.g., "Acc. Depreciation – Furniture").
• Notes: Any internal comments or additional information.
• Cost Center: Enter the relevant cost center. This helps with classification, filtering, and generating accurate reports.
• Project: Enter the relevant project. This helps with classification, filtering, and generating accurate reports.
• Branch: Enter the relevant branch for this record.
• Modified Date: Shows when this asset record was last edited.
• Created Date: Shows when this asset record was first added.



In the Fixed Assets list, you can interact with each row directly. Left-click on any asset to reveal a drop-down menu where you can duplicate, delete, or get a shareable link, among other quick actions.

At the top of the list, you’ll also find helpful tools for managing your assets, such as:

• Search: to quickly find an asset by name or number.
• Sort: to reorder rows based on some columns (e.g., purchase date or Asset number).
• Filter: to narrow down assets by criteria like status or ID.
• Import and Export for bulk updates or backups.



How to Run Depreciation for Fixed Assets

To run depreciation, select the fixed assets you want to depreciate by ticking the checkbox in the first column, then click on Run depreciation. To do this, the asset must be in Registered status.



Select the last month for depreciation, then click Run depreciation to apply it to the selected period. You’ll then see this date automatically reflected in the Depreciated Until field in the asset list.

The available date range you can choose in the Depreciate until field depends on the values you entered earlier for theDepreciation start monthand Life in months. The system automatically calculates the last available date based on these two fields.

To review the depreciation details of any asset, including its Net Book Value and monthly depreciation breakdown,

• Hover over the value in the Current book value cell on the Fixed Assets page.
• When you do, a chart icon will appear; click it to open a side panel displaying:

1. Every recorded monthly depreciation entry.
2. The exact date and amount of each depreciation.
3. The corresponding journal entry was created by Wafeq.
4. A timeline showing how the asset's value decreases month by month until it reaches the salvage value or completes its useful life.

This allows you to track the full depreciation history and its accounting impact.



How to display accumulated depreciation on the balance sheet?

To display accumulated depreciation on the balance sheet:

• Go to Reports from the main menu, then click on Balance Sheet.
• Scroll down to the Fixed Asset section, and you'll see that Wafeq automatically shows the Accumulated Depreciation as a separate line item just like in the screenshot.