About books and book calendars

You create the fixed asset books in the Books (FA205000) window.
For each book, you specify the book title and the rules for determining the middle of the period to be used for averaging conventions (the averaging convention determines how fixed assets will be depreciated for periods within which assets were acquired or disposed). For more information, see: About averaging conventions

In the Books (FA205000) window, you also define a book, which will be used as the posting book or transactions recorded in this book will update the general ledger accounts. For this book, you select the Update general ledger check box.

The posting book uses the financial year structure configured in the Generate fixed asset calendars (FA501000) window.

In the Books (FA205000) window, you can also create any number of non-posting books (those that do not update the general ledger accounts).
For such books, you leave the Update GL check box cleared. Once you have created a non-posting book, you need to set up a structure of the calendar to be used for this book. Once the structure is defined, you can generate a book calendar in the Generate fixed asset calendars (FA501000) window.

For each book, you need to generate a book calendar in the Generate fixed asset calendars (FA501000) window.
Before generating a calendar for a non-posting book, you should define the structure of the calendar in the Book calendars (FA206000) window by specifying the start calendar date and the type of the periods to be used in this calendar. Then, in the Generate fixed asset calendars (FA501000) window, you generate a calendar for a selected book which will be based on the calendar structure that you have defined.

The posting book uses the general ledger calendar structure.
You do not need to configure a calendar structure for a posting book in the Book calendars (FA206000) window.
You just process the generation of the calendar in the Generate fixed asset calendars (FA501000) window, which will be based on the general ledger calendar structure.

A calendar is used to record depreciation expenses according to the calendar periods.

If you want to depreciate assets over a particular number of years, you must create book calendars accordingly.

The financial year may be set as a calendar year starting January 1, or may be different.
You select the Belongs to next year check box in the Book calendars (FA206000) window when the financial year starts late in the calendar year.
The system calculates the ending date of the financial year automatically as the ending date of the last period.

The book calendar year is divided into periods, which may have equal or different durations.
The total length of all periods may or may not be equal to the year.
You can set up the calendar periods for non-posting book by using the Book calendars (FA206000) window.

When setting up periods, you can select an option based on months or weeks, or you can define custom-length periods.

If you select one of the options based on months (Month, Two months, or Quarter), the periods will start and end on the same dates each year, and each successive financial year will start and end on the same date.

However, if you define periods by using an option based on weeks (Week, Two weeks, Four weeks, 4-4-5 weeks, 4-5-4 weeks, or 5-4-4 weeks), the start and end dates of same-name periods will vary with the year, and the number of periods per year may vary.

Periods based on weeks start on the same day of the week and end on the same day of the week.

However, a calendar year has 365 or 366 days, while the maximum length of the year with periods based on weeks is 364 days.

For a book calendar year based on the 4-4-5, 4-5-4, or 5-4-4 option, the system automatically adds an additional week to the last period if the gap between the end of the book calendar year and the end of the last period exceeds three days.

For a book calendar year with week-long periods, to process the difference between the length of a calendar year and the length of all week-long periods, the system uses the Last day of the financial year method.

That is, the system adds an additional (fifty-third) week-length period if the last period ends four or more days earlier than the financial year ends.

If the last period ends fewer than four days earlier, no additional period is added.

For more information about adding a calendar, see: Configure a book calendar or Configure a book calendar with week-based periods
For more information about generating periods for book calendars, see: Generate periods for a book calendar

Fixed assets may have a long useful life. For example: Buildings can be used for decades.
If your company owns an asset whose depreciation started before you started working with Visma.net ERP, you may want to configure a book calendar to start when the asset depreciation started.
You can shift the first year of the book calendar one year earlier and then generate periods for the added year.
For more information, see: Shift the first year one year earlier

In the Books (FA205000) window, you can delete the selected book by clicking Delete row on the table toolbar.
The book can be deleted only if there are no transactions posted in the selected book.
Once the book is deleted, the calendar generated for this book in the Book calendars (FA206000) window will be deleted as well.