How to set up a book depreciation schedule on a fixed asset so Ambrook posts your depreciation entries automatically.
Ambrook can track how a fixed asset — a truck, a barn, a combine — loses value over its useful life and post the entries for you. Each entry records a depreciation expense on your Profit & Loss and increases accumulated depreciation on your Balance Sheet, lowering the asset's net book value.
Ambrook tracks book depreciation, not tax depreciation.
Book depreciation reflects how an asset actually wears out, which is what gives you accurate profitability and a lender-ready balance sheet. Tax depreciation follows IRS rules — Section 179, bonus depreciation, MACRS — and Ambrook doesn't calculate those. Your accountant still prepares your tax schedule.
Before you start
The asset needs to exist as an Equipment, Vehicle, or Structure account, entered at its original purchase price (cost basis) — not its current depreciated value. See Recording Asset Purchases and Adding Balance Sheet Accounts.
Set up a schedule
Go to Accounts and open the asset. In the Book Depreciation section, click Add Schedule. From there, you can have Ambrook calculate the schedule for you or enter one manually.
Calculate For Me
1. Choose your depreciation method:
Method | Best for |
Straight Line | Assets that wear evenly — grain bins, roofs, trailers |
Double Declining Balance | Assets that lose value fastest early — pickups, appliances |
2. Under Depreciate Over, enter the useful life in years, or how long you believe the asset will be in use.
3. Under Down to, enter the salvage value, what you estimate asset will be worth at the end. Ambrook depreciates to this number and stops. Enter $0 to depreciate all the way down.
4. To change the First Put in Use date or how often entries post (Monthly or Yearly), click the pencil icon. Monthly is the default and spreads the expense evenly across the year.
5. If the date is before today, choose how to record Prior Depreciation: Post as a new entry has Ambrook calculate it and record it as one entry dated today, and Move from an existing account moves the balance from an Accumulated Depreciation account you already have.
6. Add any additional Enterprise, Location, or Funding tags
7. Review the projected entries and chart, then click Save
Enter Manually
If you have a manual book schedule you'd like to enter, you'll instead switch to Enter Manually. From there, add each depreciation expense with its post date and amount. Under Prior Depreciation, choose Enter an amount to record past depreciation as one entry dated today, Move from an existing account to move it from an Accumulated Depreciation account you already have, or None.
Where it shows up
Balance Sheet — the asset at net book value, with its cost and "Asset name – Accumulated Depreciation" nested beneath.
Profit & Loss — in the depreciation expense category you chose.
Ledger — as transactions on their post date. Upcoming entries appear about a week early and don't affect reports until they post.
The asset — progress, the next entry, and a value chart. View full schedule lists every entry.
Disposing of an asset
A disposal records that a fixed asset has left the business – sold, traded in, scrapped, or lost – removing its cost and accumulated depreciation from the books and recognizing any gain or loss on the way out. Disposals are still needed even if the asset is fully depreciated. To dispose of an asset:
Cancel the depreciation schedule
Go to Accounts
Select the asset to open the details drawer
Scroll down to Book Depreciation
Click the "..." and select Cancel schedule not Delete schedule
Record any final depreciation with a journal entry:
Dr. Depreciation Expense
Cr. Accumulated Depreciation
Remove the asset and record the sale:
If sale money came into your bank account, tag that deposit on the Ledger as an Asset Adjustment, with the asset account in the From field. Don't debit Cash in a journal entry, since the deposit is already on your books.
Post a journal entry: debit Accumulated Depreciation for its full balance, credit the asset account for the balance that's left, and credit a gain or debit a loss for the difference.
Example: an $8,000 asset with $6,000 of accumulated depreciation sells for $3,000. After tagging the $3,000 deposit, the asset has $5,000 left. Journal entry: debit Accumulated Depreciation $6,000, credit the asset $5,000, credit Gain on Sale $1,000.
4. Only then close or delete the asset account
Frequently asked questions
Can Ambrook handle Section 179 or bonus depreciation?
Ambrook doesn't handle Section 179 or bonus depreciation. Both are tax depreciation methods, and Ambrook generates book depreciation only.
Does this replace the schedule my accountant gives me?
It doesn't. Your accountant's schedule is for your tax return; the schedule in Ambrook keeps your own books accurate year-round. Most operations need both.
Why isn't my first entry a full period?
Ambrook uses a mid-month convention. An asset is treated as going into service in the middle of its first month, no matter which day you actually bought it, so that month earns a half amount. The same applies at the end. Those two halves add up to one full period, which is why a schedule runs one period past the useful life you entered. A 5-year monthly schedule posts 61 entries and finishes a month into year six; a 5-year yearly schedule posts 6 entries, with half amounts in the first and last. The total still equals your cost basis, and the asset still reaches its salvage value.
What if I had prior depreciation on the asset?
Set the First Put in Use date to when you started using the asset, then choose an option under Prior Depreciation during setup. If you've been tracking it in an existing Accumulated Depreciation account, choose Move from an existing account so it isn't counted twice.