depreciation policies

JohnP

Does anyone know of helpful variants of depreciation policy? I’ve applied depreciation in the past in an office/business setting, but am now applying it in community group accounting. In business accounting it spreads costs, allocating them across years. The groups I’m helping are not interested in that. Typically, if they spend £5,000 on an item it has been paid for from a grant or donations. They don't expect the cost to be spread over ten years when it has been gifted to them.

To pay for a project they receive funds which must be fully recognised on receipt, but if I depreciate the fixed assets part, then I've got a large restricted balance slowly whittling down. And nobody understands why, so the accounts don’t communicate to them.

I'm only aware of standard wording. Is there something more sophisticated around, which would limit depreciation being applied unless a funding source required it or the asset can be deemed to have a potential transfer value - which would exclude boilers and fixture & fitting renovations?

davealucas

@JohnP Like any other organisation, Charities are able to choose their depreciation policies as long as they apply them consistently.
Charities should have due regard to the Charities SORP, which pretty much follows FRS102. It is available for £15 from CIPFA or downloadable from www.charitiessorp.org