This program is used to process vehicle depreciation and can produce three reports:
  1. A Test Depreciation Report showing what will happen if depreciation is actually done.
  2. A Real Depreciation Report where vehicles are depreciated as the report is produced and history records are generated.
  3. A Last Depreciation Report showing what happened the last time a Real Depreciation was run.

In the vehicle file, individual vehicles can be defined as being depreciated on either a monthly or daily calculation method. This program handles both types of depreciation logic.

Note: "Last Run" feature is not available for those users who chose "daily" depreciation.

Information shown on the report includes the vehicle number, year, license number, make, purchase date, purchase cost, number of times depreciated, the amount depreciated this time, the total amount depreciated to date, the current value, and the last depreciation date. There are grand totals for the number of vehicles reported, the number of vehicles depreciated, the number of vehicles in the fleet, the purchase cost, the amount depreciated on this report, the amount depreciated to date, and the current value.

The available options include:

  1. On vehicles depreciated on a monthly calculation basis, you can choose to include, exclude or prorate both the first month and last month each vehicle was in service.
  2. Showing detail, one line per vehicle or grand totals only.
  3. Reporting and/or depreciating all vehicles or just one group of vehicles in the fleet. Groups can be defined by rental location, leased or purchased vehicles, financing vendor, etc. (A depreciation code is entered on the vehicle record.)

Vehicles with purchase dates after the requested depreciation date are excluded from this report. Regardless of your selection parameters this report excludes all foreign vehicles in your fleet.

Note that a discussion of the vehicle depreciation logic is included: User Guide to Lease/Loan Payments and Depreciation.

To access the Vehicle Depreciation program, type DEPREC (RET) at any menu "OPTION:" field or the appropriate line number from the Fleet Menu. The screen will then display:

OPTION: __ VEHICLE DEPRECIATION

1 Report Type 1 (1=Test Run, 2=Real Run, 3=Last Run)
2 Depreciation Date 04-13-04
3 Depreciation Group ALL
4 1st, Last Month II (I=Include, E=Exclude, P=Prorate)
5 Owning Location STL
6 Sort by Post Code?
7 Detail/Summary D
8 Print/Display P Printer: /dev/tty



1BEGIN 2 3ERASE 4 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8

Enter data as follows:

1. REPORT TYPE

1 = Test Run

2 = Real Run

3 = Last Run

TEST RUN - Enter 1 to request a Test Report. It is a good habit to run a Test Report prior to running a Real Report so any possible problems can be found before depreciation is actually posted.

Unlike the "Real Run", the "Test Run" includes vehicle records which have the following data fields blank: depreciation amount, capital cost, current value. If any of these fields are blank, the vehicle will NOT be included in the Real Run and will not, therefore, be depreciated.

The default value for this field is 1.

REAL RUN - Enter 2 to request a Real Run. This does the following:

  • Posts the depreciation to Inventory file.
  • Creates a record in the Vehicle History File using Service Code X2. The amount of the depreciation is entered as the 'cost' for the history record.

In order for vehicles to be included in the Real Run, the vehicle record must have data entered in each of the following fields: depreciation amount, capital cost, and current value.

LAST REPORT - Enter 3 to request a Last Report. By entering a 3 the system will ignore Field 3. This is because the Last Report merely reports what actually happened on the Last (previous) Real run. The last Report can be used if the Real depreciation report is somehow lost, or extra copies are needed.

EXAMPLE: Type 1 (RET)

Note: "Last Run" feature is not available for those users who chose "daily" depreciation.

2. DEPRECIATION DATE

REAL AND TEST - Using the selected date format, enter the depreciation date for these vehicles. The depreciation date assists in determining what vehicles are eligible to be depreciated. Press RET to default to today's date.

LAST REPORT - Using the selected date format, enter the depreciation date from the last Real Report. If this date is not identical to the last depreciation date carried in the vehicle records, no vehicles will be reported.

The depreciation date from the last Real run can be discovered by either reading the heading on the report or by examining the vehicle record of one of the depreciated vehicles for its last depreciation date.

EXAMPLE: Type 013104 (RET)

User tip: If depreciation gets behind, be sure to run the oldest month first. Then run the next month - progressing month by month until it becomes current. If the most current month is run first, there is no way to go back and run an earlier month.

3. DEPRECIATION GROUP

Enter 1 alphanumeric character to select the Depreciation Group Code for the vehicles. Note: When running a Last Report, this field must also match that of the last Real Report. Press RET to default to all vehicles.

EXAMPLE: Type 3 (RET).

(This is the same field from page 2 of the Vehicle Inventory File referenced as "Depreciation Code".)

4. 1ST, LAST MONTH

This field is only valid for depreciating vehicles flagged for the monthly calculation method of depreciation.

This line is made up of two separate flags to indicate how new and sold vehicles are to be depreciated. The first flag controls how vehicles purchased within the period defined in Field 2 will be depreciated. The second flag controls how vehicles sold during that period will be handled. The possible responses for each flag are:

I = Include the entire month of purchase or sale.

As an example, a vehicle sold on the fifth of December will have a full month's depreciation calculated for the month of December.

E = Exclude the entire month of purchase or sale.

As an example, a vehicle purchased (in-serviced) on December 10th will have no depreciation calculated for the month of December.

P = Prorate the amount of depreciation by the amount of time the vehicle was in service during the month.

As an example, a vehicle sold on February 7th will have its depreciation calculated as follows:

7 days (in-service) out of 28 days (in Feb) equals 25% of a month

depreciation = one month depreciation X .25

As you can see, the proration percentage is based on the number of days in the month instead of a standard month size.

Note: If proration is selected for the month of purchase, depreciation begins with the vehicle's Depreciation Start Date not its Purchase Date.

EXAMPLES: Type: EI (RET)

Vehicles purchased during the month will be EXCLUDED but those sold during the month will have a FULL month's worth of depreciation calculated.

Type: IP (RET)

Vehicles purchased during the month will have a FULL month's worth of depreciation calculated but those sold that month will have their depreciation prorated by the number of days it was actually in service.

Type: PP (RET)

Vehicles both purchased and sold during the month will have a prorated depreciation calculated for them.

If a "Last Report" is selected in Field 1, this field is not used by the program and should therefore be left with the default value "II".

User tip: Your system can be configured with the defaults of your choice in this field for the First Month and Last Month methods of depreciation. For example, if you normally prorate the first and last months, the default can be changed to "PP" instead of the normal "II". Contact Thermeon's Customer Support Dept. and ask that GVT Record "DEPREC" be set up with your preferences..

5. OWNING LOCATION

Enter up to 6 alphanumeric characters to indicate Own­ing Location Code. Press RET to default to ALL locations.

EXAMPLE: Type TUS.

6. SORT BY POST CODE

Each vehicle in the Vehicle Inventory File has a "Post Code" assigned to it. It defines which set of General Ledger accounts (posting table) is used in processing revenue generated by the individual vehicles. With this in mind, enter:

Y = Yes, sort the information on the Depreciation Report by Posting Code.

N = No, don't sort by Posting Code. Instead, information will be listed in order by Vehicle Unit Number.

EXAMPLE: Type N (RET).

7. DETAIL/
SUMMARY

Enter 1 alpha character to select the report format. When running a Real Report, it is suggested that you always run a detailed report.

D = Detailed Report.
S = Summary Report.

EXAMPLE: Type D (RET)

8. PRINT/
DISPLAY

Enter:

P = Print a hard copy of this report on your terminal's assigned printer. See the Edit Terminal Records Chapter for instructions on how to assign printers.

D = Display this report on your terminal screen. See the General Data Entry Instructions Chapter on how to control the screen display.

EXAMPLE: Type P (RET)

The screen will then display:

OPTION: __ VEHICLE DEPRECIATION


1 Report Type 1 (1=Test Run, 2=Real Run, 3=Last Run)
2 Depreciation Date 01-31-04
3 Depreciation Group 3
4 1st, Last Month PP (I=Include, E=Exclude, P=Prorate)
5 Owning Location TUS
6 Sort by Post Code? N
7 Detail/Summary D
8 Print/Display P Printer: /dev/tty



1BEGIN 2 3ERASE 4 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8

PRESS "F1" AT "OPTION:" TO EXECUTE THE PROGRAM.

NOTES ON RUNNING THE PROGRAM AND READING THE REPORT

Certain vehicle records are skipped by the Depreciation Report. These are:

  1. Foreign Vehicles.
  2. Vehicles sold in the month prior to depreciation date.
  3. Vehicles purchased after the depreciation date.
  4. Vehicles whose Depreciation Start Date is after the depreciation date entered. (Depreciation Start Date takes precedence over the Purchase Date.)
  5. Vehicles whose capital cost is zero.

These records are counted in the Vehicles in Fleet total at the report's end.

Certain vehicles are shown on the report but are not depreciated. These include:

  1. Vehicles with a Current Value of zero prior to the depreciation calculation.
  2. Vehicles whose last depreciation date is not earlier than the requested depreciation date.
  3. Vehicles which have been excluded from depreciation due to Field 4 (include, exclude, prorate).
  4. Vehicles which have already been depreciated in the month for which depreciation is being run. (Vehicles already depreciated in October would not be depreciated again if October depreciation was requested another time.)

The depreciation amount column will always show zero for these vehicles, though the capital cost, depreciation to date, and the current value figures are shown and are included in the grand totals.

In no case will depreciation cause the current value to become less than zero. When the depreciation amount is greater than the current value, the depreciation amount will be reduced to that of the current value.

The current value column represents the value after depreciation is taken. Vehicles which have been entered into the Inventory File with a Capital Cost but without a Current Value, will appear on this report as fully depreciated.

Because it is possible that sold vehicles may be depreciated and included on this report, the Vehicle Depreciation Report SHOULD NOT BE USED TO DETERMINE THE CURRENT VALUE OF YOUR FLEET. Instead the Fleet Value Report should be used for that purpose.

WARNING: Vehicles that were purchased and sold in the same month may not report accurately and as a result may have to be depreciated manually.

For a "Last Report", if the last depreciation date in the vehicle records does not match the depreciation date entered, the vehicle will show as not depreciated. This means an incorrectly entered date will give an erroneous report of what actually happened on the last Real Report.

NOTES ON THE DAILY DEPRECIATION CALCULATION

  1. Vehicles flagged for daily depreciation will have the number of days depreciated appearing in parenthesis after the amount depreciated.
  2. The basic formula for the daily depreciation method is "days per month times the rate per day". The depreciation program knows how many days are in each month (this includes knowing that February has 29 days in leap years).
  3. The start and end dates for daily depreciation is each vehicle's Depreciation Start Date and Accepted Date respectively.

IF THE PROGRAM SHOULD TERMINATE BEFORE COMPLETION

If during a Real Depreciation run, the program should be terminated abnormally by a system crash or program stopped by user it may be impossible to produce a complete Real Depreciation Report. In this case do the following:

First, run second "Real Report" with the same depreciation date as before. This will complete the depreciation of vehicles missed on the previous report, but will not depreciate vehicles processed prior to termination of the previous report. The grand totals on this report will not reflect a complete depreciation run.

Second, run a "Last Report" using the same depreciation date again. This report should consolidate both the previous Real Reports.