Advancement · School Operations · Facilities and assets

Plan the bus
you will need
in ten years.

Type an asset’s cost, salvage value and life. The calculator lays out the depreciation schedule by the method you choose, and works out what to set aside each year to replace it at a future price.

Build the scheduleWhat you get

The depreciation calculator

The worked example is a made-up activity bus. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Advancement · School OperationsFree

What you finish with
A year-by-year schedule with depreciation, accumulated depreciation and book value, the first year’s charge, the replacement price and the yearly reserve. It prints for a budget packet and downloads as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
School business officials, facilities managers, district finance staff and board members, and accounting students.
Format
Browser tool for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Prints a schedule; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account and no sign-in. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The School Operations space in Caveat Advancement.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Type the cost placed in service and the expected salvage value.
  2. Type the useful life from your capital asset policy.
  3. Type the first fiscal year.
  4. Choose the method your policy uses.
  5. Set an inflation rate for the replacement reserve.

Build the schedule

How the schedule is built

Three common methods, one base.

The worked example: an activity bus over ten fiscal yearsBase$120,000$128,000 − $8,000 salvageEach year$12,000÷ 10 yearsReplacement$172,0213% a year for 10 yearsReserve$17,202a year to replace itThe worked example: an activity bus over ten fiscal yearsBase$120,000$128,000 − $8,000 salvageEach year$12,000÷ 10 yearsReplacement$172,0213% a year for 10 yearsReserve$17,202a year to replace it
Depreciation spreads a cost over the years an asset serves; the reserve plans for the next one.

The methods

Straight-line charges the same amount each year and is the usual choice in public-sector statements. Double-declining balance charges twice the straight-line rate on the remaining book value, front-loading the cost, and switches to straight-line once that gives the larger charge. Sum-of-the-years’ digits also front-loads, by a falling fraction.

Depreciation is not savings

Depreciation records that an asset is being used up; it does not put money aside. A replacement reserve does. Dividing the expected replacement price by the life gives a yearly amount to budget, so the next bus or roof does not arrive as a one-year shock.

Sources

  1. Governmental Accounting Standards Board. Statement No. 34: capital assets and depreciation in government-wide statements (gasb.org).
  2. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems, capital asset guidance (nces.ed.gov).
  3. Government Finance Officers Association. Best practices: capital asset management and establishing appropriate capitalization thresholds (gfoa.org).
  4. Internal Revenue Service. Publication 946, How to Depreciate Property, for definitions of depreciation methods (irs.gov).

The worked example is made up. Not accounting or tax advice; follow your auditor and policy. Your entries stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.