If fixed assets have been recorded in the company, the data should be compared between the balance sheet, profit and loss statement and assets report.

If the company has several types of fixed assets, their data will appear on different lines in the balance sheet, depending on the fixed asset account and the depreciation account.

Tip To sort the data in the fixed assets report by asset group and make it easier to compare with the balance sheet lines, you can add additional information to the “Location” field on the fixed asset card. For example, you can enter the asset group name such as “Other machinery and equipment”, “Vehicles” or “Computers and computer systems”. For more details, see the section “Completing the fixed asset card” in the guide “Recording of fixed assets“.

When exporting the report to Excel, you can add formulas to sum the amounts by fixed asset groups.

The ending balance of the balance sheet line “Tangible assets” must match the “End value” in the assets report.

If the company also has intangible assets, these should be included under fixed assets and their end value needs to be compared with the balance sheet line “Intangible assets”. If you have imported the assets report into Excel, separate the tangible and intangible fixed asset rows and create formulas so that the totals are calculated separately.

If you notice differences in the totals, you need to start checking the data. Begin by reviewing the opening balance for the period under review. If the opening balance is correct, the error must be within the period being checked.
From the balance sheet, you can open the account movements view. Check both the movements in the fixed asset accounts and the depreciation accounts. If you notice any transactions in the Account movements that do not seem correct, click “Open in a new tab” in the account movements view to access the main ledger view. From there, you can open the individual accounting entries to examine the situation in more detail.

If fixed assets were purchased during the period under review, you should check that the correct accounts are selected on the fixed asset card. The fixed asset account comes from the purchase invoice and, if it is incorrect, it must be corrected on the invoice. Depreciation accounts must also be consistent with the fixed asset account.

If a fixed asset has been sold but the sale is not reflected correctly in the accounting entries, check the fixed asset sales invoice. The invoice line must be linked to the sold fixed asset so that the system can make the transactions correctly.
For proper guidance on adding a fixed asset sales invoice, see the guide “Sale of fixed assets“.