Sage — FAS 100 Asset Accounting

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From the December 2009 Review of Fixed Asset Management Systems

Sage’s FAS Asset Accounting system is the most widely used asset management program on the market, offering automated asset depreciation management capabilities for businesses with any number of assets, providing full support for IRS, GAAP and IFRS accounting standards, and giving users advanced asset life cycle tools. The program can be used as a stand-alone or networked program, with sector-specific versions tailored to the needs of commercial entities, government and academic institutions, nonprofits and Canadian businesses.

The system offers support for all common depreciation treatments and includes the bonus and Sec. 179 changes enacted with the 2009 stimulus act. FAS is offered in three versions: FAS 50, for managing businesses with up to 1,000 assets each; FAS 100 for entities with up to 10,000; and FAS 500, which is offered as a SQL-based application for managing the asset bases of larger enterprises with more than 10,000 assets. Pricing for FAS 100 Asset Accounting starts at $2,345. Sage also offers integratable programs for asset inventory management with barcode support, asset construction management and advanced reporting functions.

NAVIGATION/EASE-OF-USE:
FAS 100 is the primary component of Sage’s asset management system, providing the central interface and key asset depreciation functions, along with asset reporting and management utilities. The system offers simple data import tools to aid in initial setup of client companies, with the ability to merge entities or copy them for use as a template when entering new similar businesses. The main interface provides easy navigation to FAS’ key features, with pull-down menus and an icon bar that provide shortcuts to the most commonly used areas, while the main workspace can be set to display the Asset Snapshot, a dashboard view that offers a quick summary of key business data and accompanying graphical charts.

The program’s master asset selection screen uses an intuitive spreadsheet view that offers tabs for accessing asset detail screens for general information, disposal activities, transfers, asset histories and notes, plus the ability to attach images or other documentation to asset records. Users can filter assets by groups (company divisions, cost centers, locations, etc.) or can filter by data columns, which include descriptions, locations, class, GL account number, acquisition date and other information. Standard asset groups are included for active, inactive, disposed and images, while users can also create custom groups.

When viewing asset detail screens, the Main tab gives users a side-by-side view of all books assigned to an asset along with descriptive data fields, all of which can be customized by the user. The system also offers a List Manager, which enables the construction of “smart lists” that make data-entry tasks faster and help ensure valid descriptions of field information and additional customization options. Additional options on asset detail screens provide quick access to group views, projection features and the IRS table for that asset. Calculations are made as data is entered or edited, allowing users to quickly see the result of changes to depreciation methods and other information.

MANAGEMENT FEATURES: