What it is
Fixed assets tracks what the hotel bought to use for several years (the building, guest-room furniture, kitchen equipment, front-desk computers) and its monthly straight-line depreciation at an annual rate.
Each asset uses three accounts: the asset account, accumulated depreciation and depreciation expense. Monthly depreciation is cost times the annual rate divided by 12; it starts the month after acquisition and stops when the accumulated amount reaches cost, so book value never goes below zero. For example, a 120,000.00 MXN industrial washer bought on March 18, at a 10 % rate, depreciates 1,000.00 MXN a month starting in April.
When to use it
- When the hotel buys something that will last for years.
- Every month, before you close it, to post depreciation.
Before you start
The base chart of accounts has no fixed asset or depreciation accounts: your accountant adds them. Use asset grouping codes (starting with 1) for the asset and for accumulated depreciation; that way, on the balance sheet, depreciation offsets the asset inside assets.
Step by step
Register an asset
- Go to Containn → Activos fijos (fixed assets) and click Dar de alta (add).
- Enter Nombre (name), Descripción (description), Fecha de adquisición (acquisition date) and Costo (cost).
- Type the Tasa anual de depreciación (%) (annual depreciation rate). Containn does not suggest one: your accountant decides. For reference, Mexico's income tax law (Ley del ISR) sets maximums such as 5 % for buildings, 10 % for office furniture and equipment and 30 % for computers.
- Check the Depreciación mensual (monthly depreciation) the screen calculates, choose the three accounts and save.
Registering the asset does not record the purchase. The purchase enters the books with its invoice in Accounts payable, choosing the asset account as the purchase account, or with a manual póliza (journal entry).
Run the month's depreciation
- In Depreciación del mes (monthly depreciation), choose Año (year) and Mes (month) and click Ver cuánto sería (preview): the total and each asset's amount appear, without posting anything.
- If it looks right, click Postear (post). A póliza is created, dated the last day of the month: a debit to depreciation expense and a credit to each asset's accumulated depreciation.
- Running it twice for the same month duplicates nothing: assets that already have that month are skipped.
The Activos (assets) table shows each one's cost, rate, depreciation to date (and over how many months) and its Valor en libros (book value).
What can go wrong
- A month that was not run. The run posts only the month you choose; a skipped month does not catch up on its own. Run it by choosing that month, while it is still open.
- “El mes … ya está cerrado” (the month is already closed). Run depreciation before you close the month.
- Wrong cost or rate, or an asset that was sold. Today the screen does not let you edit an asset or retire it; ask support for the retirement. Once depreciation has been posted, cost and rate no longer change: the asset is retired and registered again. Retirement takes it out of future runs, but it creates no póliza: taking the asset off the books (cost, accumulated depreciation and, if sold, the gain or loss) goes in a manual póliza.
Straight line at an annual rate, with no salvage value: assets depreciate down to their full cost. There is no accelerated or units-of-production depreciation.