--- title: "About depreciation of fixed assets" description: "Depreciation is used to spread the cost of an asset over its entire useful service life or the period over which the asset is used, until it is no longer usable." lang: en languages: en: https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/fixed-assets/manage-fixed-asset-depreciation/about-depreciation-of-fixed-assets/index.md lastmod: 2026-02-19 --- > Documentation index: https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/fixed-assets/manage-fixed-asset-depreciation/llms.txt # About depreciation of fixed assets Last modified February 19, 2026 > Depreciation is used to spread the cost of an asset over its entire useful service life or the period over which the asset is used, until it is no longer usable. You can calculate the depreciation and depreciate an asset only after you have released fixed asset transactions related to an asset acquisition in the [Fixed assets (FA303000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/fixed-assets/fixed-asset-windows/fixed-assets-fa303000/index.md) or the [Convert purchases to assets (FA504500)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/fixed-assets/fixed-asset-windows/convert-purchases-to-assets-fa504500/index.md) window. ## Processing depreciation You process the calculation of the depreciation expenses, specify selection criteria to get the list of fixed assets and the period to which the depreciation should be calculated by using the [Calculate depreciation (FA502000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/fixed-assets/fixed-asset-windows/calculate-depreciation-fa502000/index.md) window. You also need to specify either the system should only calculate the depreciation amounts for informative purposes, or to calculate the amounts, and generate corresponding depreciation transactions to depreciate the assets once these transactions are released. To define it, you should select one of the following options in the **Action** field: Calculate only : With this option, the system calculates depreciation expenses, and generates no transactions. You can view calculated amounts for each fixed asset in the **Calculated** column on the **Depreciation history** tab of the [Fixed assets (FA303000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/fixed-assets/fixed-asset-windows/fixed-assets-fa303000/index.md) window. You can use these amounts for the planning purposes. Depreciate : With this option, the system calculates depreciation expenses, and generates the **Calculated+** transactions. Once these transactions are released, their type automatically changes to **Depreciation+**. You can view the calculated and depreciated amounts for each fixed asset in the **Calculated** and **Depreciated** columns on the **Depreciation history** tab of the [Fixed assets (FA303000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/fixed-assets/fixed-asset-windows/fixed-assets-fa303000/index.md) window. You can also calculate depreciation for a particular fixed asset in the [Fixed assets (FA303000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/fixed-assets/fixed-asset-windows/fixed-assets-fa303000/index.md) window. In this window, you select a required asset in the **Asset ID** field, and click **Calculate depreciation** in the **Actions** menu on the window toolbar. No transactions are generated with this process. To depreciate the asset, you need to use the [Calculate depreciation (FA502000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/fixed-assets/fixed-asset-windows/calculate-depreciation-fa502000/index.md) window. ## Viewing the depreciation history You can view the depreciation history of an asset on the **Depreciation history** tab of the [Fixed assets (FA303000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/fixed-assets/fixed-asset-windows/fixed-assets-fa303000/index.md) window. You can view an asset's depreciation history in one of the following ways, depending on the **Depreciation history view** option selected in the [Fixed assets preferences (FA101000)](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/fixed-assets/fixed-asset-windows/fixed-assets-preferences-fa101000/index.md) window: + If the **By book** option is selected, you can filter depreciation history by book. In this case, you select a book to display its information in the window. The depreciation history is a table that has years as columns and periods per year as rows. + If the **Side by side** option is selected, all the books to which the asset is assigned are displayed simultaneously. In this case, depreciation history is represented as a table with depreciation periods as rows and books as columns.

Related pages

Concepts

Tasks

Windows

--- [View this page](https://docs.vismasoftware.no/visma-net-erp/help/fixed-assets/manage-fixed-asset-depreciation/about-depreciation-of-fixed-assets/)