QBO App First Look: Fixed Asset Connect

by

This is another app that has the needs of most businesses in mind, even if those businesses don’t know they need to be tracking fixed asset data. Fixed Asset Connect is a relatively new app within the Intuit QuickBooks App Center that tracks all your fixed assets and properly accounts for them over their entire life-cycle. 

Of course, the reason that Fixed Asset Connect appears in the App Center is that it integrates with QuickBooks Online. As with all apps that work with QBO, the regular connection routine via OAuth is no different. The exception is that you currently must sign up in Fixed Asset Connect before you can connect. There is (at the time of this article) no sign up from the Intuit App Center.

Using this App all of your company’s fixed assets will be tracked through every stage of their life-cycle, from acquisition to disposal.

Simply input your newly acquired (or existing, when first signing-up for this App) assets by assigning the appropriate financial and descriptive information to each. They even have a simple multi-step wizard to take you through the process.

If you start out connected to QuickBooks Online with this App then you can configure your financial settings using your QBO Accounts as shown in the following illustration.

Now select the depreciation appropriate for your situation. There are a variety of methods and conventions available along with your needed posting frequency.

You can use multiple configurations, one for your books and one for tax reporting purposes. Choose between Straight-line, Declining-balance, Sum of the Year’s Digits, and Units of Production.

Up until this point this App is doing for QBO what Fixed Asset Manager does for QuickBooks Enterprise, but now we get to a few areas that exceed the FAM functionality.

Almost all fixed assets need maintenance of some kind, you may not think of it that way, but they do. Vehicles need regular service including everything from oil changes to tire replacements to keep them up-to-par.  But what about that equipment you use in your construction business like a backhoe or a motor-grade?.  How about if you operate a small air transport company, each of your planes need very specific maintenance including engine overhauls after so many 'duty hours'.

Well, for all yours assets needing specific maintenance, you can assign single or repeated maintenance requirements to each individual asset, and track an asset’s entire maintenance history throughout its life-cycle. You can even issue 'maintenance work orders' to get the work performed whether by inside or outside resources.

You can track the when and where of all of your assets, using data captures like Asset-ID, Serial Number, Department, Geo-location, and any other information you want to assign to each of your assets. Transfers between departments and geo-locations are a snap with this App.

Revaluation and retirement of assets are as easy as they can be using Fixed Asset Connect. Everything gets posted properly when it impacts the financials tracked in QBO.

Fixed Asset Connect not only ingrates with QuickBooks Online (and soon to be Xero for those of you who prefer the blue logo to the green one) but it also synchronizes with your email and calendar tools. This means you can track important dates like asset insurance renewals, maintenance and many others.

You can even store, manage and track all the documents related to your assets including purchase, ownership, titles and registrations as well as things like instruction manuals and insurance certificates, storing each as electronic images tied directly to their specific asset.

You are probably wondering what pricing and plan options are available for this great fixed asset tracking App.  You can get started with a 'Free" plan that permits a single-user and up to 10 fixed assets, that is probably the best way to try-out how it is going to work for you and your QuickBooks Online set-up. 

If you decide to stick with this App then there is a commercial plan that allows for up to 5 users and has no 'count limit' on the number of fixed assets you can track.  There are file-size limitations on both plans. For more details on plans and pricing, see their webpage.

They are also offering a free e-book titled Fixed Assets Accounting Guide that you can download here.(Note: You must provide basic contact information to download this document.)

I really wish these people were offering a 'partner' program for ProAdvisors, Bookkeepers and Accountants. I think it would be great if they even offered 'certification status' in this App for partners because there are some complexities and specifics that need attention when setting it up to insure that you get all the accounting just right.

The only other thing I would like to see is the ability to use this App with QuickBooks desktop products because a lot of bigger companies could use some of the extra bells and whistles this product offers that Fixed Asset Manager does not.