Acquire and depreciate
Carbon tracks capitalized equipment, such as presses, CNC machines, and forklifts, as . Their value enters the books at acquisition and decreases through until sale or disposal.
A fixed asset is an accounting record, not a production resource. Its defines the general-ledger accounts for acquisition cost, accumulated depreciation, depreciation expense, and write-offs.
A fixed asset is not the same record as a work center.
The machine you schedule production on is a ; the machine you depreciate is a fixed asset. They stay separate records, so the same physical press is a work center on the floor and a fixed asset in the books. If you want the books to know which press that is, set the asset's "Work Center" field: the work center then shows a "Capital Cost" panel listing its assets, and scheduling is unaffected.
Onto the books
A machine you buy for the shop comes onto the books one of two ways, and both start at "Draft". The fixed assets reference covers the other two: building one on a job and capitalizing a unit from stock.
Register one you already have. Create the asset, then register it, supplying its acquisition cost, acquisition date, and the date depreciation should start. A machine that is already partway through its life also takes its "Accumulated Depreciation" to date. Registering moves it to "Active". No cash moves, but it posts a journal: the asset account takes the acquisition cost, the opening accumulated depreciation goes to its contra account, and the net book value offsets retained earnings, since you're recording something you already own.
Buy one through purchasing. Put a "Fixed Asset" line on a purchase order pointed at the asset, then receive it. The asset page's "Purchase" action drafts that purchase order for you.
When the receipt posts (or a purchase invoice for the line posts with no receipt), Carbon debits the asset account, credits goods-received-not-invoiced, adds the cost to the asset, stamps the dates, and flips it from "Draft" to "Active". Because the cost is added, an asset can accumulate value across several receipts.
The asset moves before accounting is set up; the ledger waits.
Before the company sets up accounting, receiving still adds the cost and activates the asset, but its journal is Provisional and counts in no balance. The setup's Fixed assets step opens each asset at its cost and its accumulated depreciation as of the day before the cutover. See setting up accounting.
Depreciate it
Depreciation applies to "Active" assets. It runs as a user-initiated monthly batch, not as a scheduled background job. Create a run for a period, review the calculated charges in "Draft", and then post it.
Carbon calculates the book charge using the asset's method: , , or units of production. Posting debits depreciation expense and credits accumulated depreciation for the period.
Depreciation is computed at run time, reviewed, then posted.
Carbon calculates amounts when it creates the run and holds them in draft for review. When posting reduces an asset's to its , Carbon marks it "Fully Depreciated" and stops further depreciation.
Two books at once
Each asset has independent book and tax depreciation schedules. They can use different methods; the tax schedule supports and IRS property-class tables.
When tax depreciation is enabled, posting a run can also recognize the deferred tax created by the difference between the two schedules.