The problem
A revaluation changes the basis of assets that already carry years of depreciation. In Sage Fixed Assets the usual approach is to set the placed-in-service date to the revaluation date and enter the revalued amount, one asset at a time. A company that came out of bankruptcy with roughly 3,000 revalued assets across six companies recently asked Sage how to do this in bulk, and was told book information on existing assets can't be updated all at once.
How we handle a revaluation
We start with the policy decisions, because they drive every field: the effective date, whether accumulated depreciation is eliminated or restated proportionally, the remaining lives, and which books change. Then the Critical Field Updater applies the new basis across every company in scope in one controlled run, and the before-and-after report shows the old and new net book value by asset, company and book.
Revaluations we work on
- Fresh-start accounting on emergence from bankruptcy.
- Impairment write-downs on a group of assets or a whole location.
- Restatements after an audit finds systematic errors in cost, dates or lives.
- Internal-book revaluations for management reporting where tax books stay unchanged.
How the work is delivered
There are two ways to use the Critical Field Updater. Most clients start with a done-for-you project: you send the asset list and the new values, we agree on the effective-date rule for each group of assets, run a validation pass, make the changes, and hand back a before-and-after report by book that your team and your auditors can tie out. Clients who face these changes every quarter can run the same tool themselves through FAHA, our fixed asset platform, which connects to Sage Fixed Assets and keeps an audit trail of every change and who approved it.
Either way, every project starts with a full company backup in Sage Fixed Assets, and nothing is written until the validation report has been reviewed by a person on your side.
Frequently asked questions
Can we revalue assets across several Sage companies at once?
Yes. Multi-company scope is common and is handled in one project with one reconciliation.
What happens to the accumulated depreciation?
That is a policy choice we confirm with you first. Elimination against the new basis and proportional restatement are both supported, and the report shows the effect either way.
Do fully depreciated assets need different handling?
Often, yes. If they receive a new value they usually need a new life and effective date too. We flag them in the validation report so nothing restarts depreciation by accident.