How to process the month's depreciation

What is it for?

At each month-end, the depreciation (and the amortisation of intangibles) of the assets in use must go into the accounts. The Process Depreciation batch gathers the assets, first shows a simulation with the instalments and, once confirmed, posts one journal entry per asset and per month not yet processed.

When to use it?

• At each month-end, after registering the month's new assets with Processing Monthly (see How to register a fixed asset).
• When an asset was registered with an earlier start date and has months left to process, like the Computador da contabilidade (AF/00011) from the previous article: in use since 01/07/2026, registered on 29/10/2026.
• Before closing the fiscal year, to make sure all the year's instalments are posted, including those of assets with Processing Annual (instalment on 31/12).

Where to find it?

Accounting › Close › Monthly depreciation (in the Month accounting group). The list is called Process Depreciation.

Before you start

• Who does what. The Accountant profile creates the batch and simulates it; it sees the Simulated batch without the Confirm button. Confirming and cancelling a batch belongs to the Certified Accountant / Fiscal Manager profile.
• The new assets are In use, with the right Processing.
• Only months already ended up to the Up to date are included. In the example, on 29/10/2026, the last ended month is September.
• A month confirmed in one batch is not processed in another batch. Register all the month's assets before confirming (see “Common problems”).

How to use it

1. In the Process Depreciation list, click New. The batch opens in Draft, with Period Month, Asset State In use and Entries One entry per asset.
2. In Up to, type the last day of the month to process, for example 30/09/2026. To process only some categories or locations, choose them in Categories or Locations; empty means all.
3. Click Simulate. The batch becomes Simulated and shows one line per asset, with Accounting Quota, Maximum Tax Quota, Accepted Quota and Not Accepted Quota. Nothing has been posted.
4. Check each asset's instalments. The Accounting Quota is what the batch will post: in the example, the Computador da contabilidade has €99.99 (July, August and September, €33.33 each). Assets with Processing Annual have €0.00 in this column, because their instalment is posted once a year, on 31/12, and not in a monthly batch. In Maximum Tax Quota those same assets show an amount (in the example, Edifício da loja (Porto) €3,391.67): it is the tax limit for a whole year, not an instalment of this batch, and none of it is posted. Accepted Quota and Not Accepted Quota split the accounting quota against that limit (see “Important notes” before using them).
5. If you change an asset after simulating, click Simulate again. Totals by category and Export XLSX help you check.
6. Someone with the Certified Accountant / Fiscal Manager profile opens the Simulated batch and clicks Confirm.

Expected result

• The batch becomes Confirmed, with Confirmed by (who confirmed it) and Confirmed on filled in, and the Cancel batch button instead of Confirm.
• One journal entry was posted per month for each asset with an instalment: for the Computador da contabilidade, MISC/2026/00115 (31/07/2026), 00116 (31/08/2026) and 00117 (30/09/2026), each with €33.33 debited to 6425 Equipamento administrativo (depreciation expense) and credited to 4385 Equipamento administrativo (accumulated depreciation).
• In the asset's Depreciation plan, the July to September lines become Processed, with the journal entry next to them; October onwards stays Planned.

Demonstration video

In the video, the same profile creates, simulates and confirms the batch: the Certified Accountant / Fiscal Manager, the only one who sees Confirm.

No telemóvel, rode-o para a horizontal e veja o vídeo em ecrã inteiro: o texto do ecrã fica legível.

Process the month's depreciation · 26 s · sem som, com legendas · legendas (WebVTT)

Transcrição

Important notes

• For now, do not use the Maximum Tax Quota column to work out the non-accepted quota. In a monthly batch, the column shows a year's amount for the assets that have no instalment in the batch: in the example, Edifício da loja (Porto) €3,391.67 and Viatura ligeira de mercadorias €5,104.17, with an accounting quota of €0.00. For assets with a monthly instalment (in the example, €99.99 quota and €99.99 maximum), the figures are the month's. For the year's non-accepted quota, use the Book vs tax tab on each asset's form, with the certified accountant. Pending validation by a certified accountant: reading of the maximum tax quota and the non-accepted quota in a monthly batch.
• Cancelling a confirmed batch (Certified Accountant / Fiscal Manager profile). First type the reason in the batch's Cancellation Reason field, click Cancel batch and, in the Confirmation window (“The entries of this batch are reversed (nothing is deleted). Write the reason first. Continue?”), click Confirm. The batch becomes Cancelled, with Cancelled by and Cancelled on, and each journal entry of the batch is reversed (“Reversal: Depreciation …”).
• Currently, the reversals of a cancelled batch get the date of the day of cancellation, not the date of each instalment. In a separate test, the September batch of another asset (three instalments of €10.00, July to September) was cancelled on 29/10/2026: all three reversals were dated 29/10/2026. July, August and September keep the old instalments and October gets the reversals; if you redo the batch for those months, they have the instalment twice in the month's trial balance. Do not cancel a batch for months already closed without deciding with the certified accountant how to correct those months.

Common problems

“The period up to … was already confirmed for some of these assets”

• Symptom: when you click Confirm, the Invalid Operation window says “The period up to 30/09/2026 was already confirmed for some of these assets in the batch "Mês 2026-09-30": a confirmed period cannot be processed again. Cancel that batch first or change the filters.”
• Cause: there is already a confirmed batch for that month with some of the same assets. This happens when an asset is registered after the month has been processed.
• What to do: for a single overdue asset, open its form and click Process accounting periods: that asset's missing months are posted straight away, without a batch and without asking for confirmation (in the demonstration, a software asset in use since 01/09/2026 and registered on 29/10/2026 got its September instalment, €16.67, in MISC/2026/00121). Cancelling the month's batch to redo it has the effect described in “Important notes”.

Cancel batch is refused: “Write the reason for cancelling the batch”

• Symptom: Invalid Operation window with “Write the reason for cancelling the batch "Mês 2026-09-30" before cancelling it.”
• Cause: the batch's Cancellation Reason field is empty.
• What to do: close the window, type the reason on the batch and click Cancel batch again.

The asset does not appear in the simulation or has a €0.00 instalment

• Cause: the asset is not In use, has Processing Annual (the instalment is only posted on 31/12), or is already processed up to the Up to date.
• What to do: check the state and the Processing on the asset form and the Depreciation plan.

I do not have the Confirm button

• Cause: your profile is Accountant.
• What to do: leave the batch Simulated and ask someone with the Certified Accountant / Fiscal Manager profile to confirm it.