File Maintenance

Using the File Listing  

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The File Listing is the screen that is used to select a file that you want to perform some maintenance on or print a report from.  The File Listing is accessed by selecting the Open option from the File Menu. 

The File Listing is a complete listing of all the files located in your default data folder.  Recall that your default data folder is set in the Configuration Wizard.  Generally, the default data folder will be C:\AKDATA, but it can be set to any folder, even a network folder, that you wish to set it to.

The File Listing makes it much easier to identify your data files because it displays the actual name of the company that you entered in the Client Information screen instead of just showing you the file name, which may be an abbreviated format of the company’s name or a client number.  In addition, other information about the data file is also displayed.

If you are maintaining data files for one or two companies, you probably won’t use the File Listing very much, because Asset Keeper will automatically select the last file you were using each time it starts.  Additionally, at the bottom of the File Menu, you will find a list of the eight most recently selected files that makes switching from one file to another just a click away.  However, if you need to maintain data files for many companies, the File Listing will prove invaluable.

The File Listing contains many features that make it easy to manage your data files, all from within the Asset Keeper program.  For example, you can change the sort order of the files selected from the default “Company Name” by using the drop-down combo box at the top left of the screen.  You can select a file by clicking it (to highlight it) and then clicking the Select button or by simply double-clicking any of the information displayed for that company.

You can add files from another folder (other than the default data folder) or remove files that you don’t want included in the File Listing.  You can print a listing of your files and you can also Save As, Copy, Delete, or Rename a file by using the More button or right-clicking the Company Name. 

Finally, the information in the File Listing is automatically updated each time it is opened so you can be sure that it is accurate and up-to-date. 

After you are finished reviewing the File Listing, select the file name ABC Computer Consultants, LLC that is shipped with Asset Keeper. 

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Creating a Data File  

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To create a data file, click on the New option in the File menu.  Alternatively, you can click the New button on the toolbar.

The New Client Wizard will be displayed.  Read the introductory information presented on the first screen, then click next.  Enter the information requested on each screen using any information that you wish and when you get to the final screen, click the Finish button and the file will be created.

Next, the Client Information Screen will be displayed.  The Client Information Screen allows you to enter various data to describe the client whose data will be stored in this file, as well as specify various configuration settings when this file is selected.  You can review the information that can be entered or changed in the Client Information Screen by clicking on one of the sections displayed on the left side of the screen (General, Methods, Defaults, Screen Prompts, Default Methods & Lives, and File Status).  You can also move from one section to the next by clicking the Next or Back buttons at the bottom of the screen.  At this time, we encourage you to review each section so you will be somewhat familiar with the data that can be entered or changed here.

When you are finished reviewing the Client Information Screen, click the Finish option on the left side of the screen or the Finish button on the bottom of the screen if you used the Next button to move to the last section.

NOTE:  Once a data file has been created and assets have been entered, you should NOT change the year end in the Client Information Screen.  The year end will be automatically incremented when you perform a Reset for New Year.  If you entered the wrong year end and need to correct it, you may need to fix the Depreciation Year for each asset that has already been entered.  The Depreciation Year is calculated during data entry and is based on the year end displayed in the Client Information Screen.

 After the Client Information Screen closes, you will be returned to the Main Menu. 

 The Client Information Screen can be accessed at any time by selecting the option from the File Menu or by clicking the toolbar button.

 We will next look at the File Listing screen.

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Backing Up Data Files    

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To Backup your Asset Keeper data files, click the Backup/Restore option in the File menu to start the Backup/Restore wizard.

To make a backup of the data file, ensure that the “Backup Files” option is selected and click “Next”. Since the same wizard is used for restoring data files, you could alternatively select the “Restore Files” option to restore a previously made backup. On the next screen, you are given the option to backup all files located in the folder where your current data file is stored or you can elect to just backup the company file currently selected. Once you click that option, you will see your file appear in the list below, indicating it is to be backed up. Note that you can add more data files to this backup file by clicking any of the ellipsis buttons below and using the dialog box that appears to locate any other data files. Since we are making a backup of our current data file only, we select the option to “Backup the Files Listed Below” and leave the file selection as is. Also, we do not want to backup any .ZIP files in this backup, so we leave that option checked. Click “Next” to proceed.

On this screen, you can select the folder in which to store the backup file. Once you select the correct folder to store the backup,  click “Next” to continue. This screen allows you to type in a unique name for your backup file. Note, Asset Keeper automatically assigns a unique name to the file, which you can keep or change in order for you to be able to identify it later should you need ot restore it. Once the correct name is entered for your backup file, click “Next” to proceed.

On this screen, Asset Keeper shows you a summary of all options you have selected including the name of the data file(s) to be backed up, the name of the backup file, and the location of the file. If everything is correct on the summary screen, we click “Finish” to complete the wizard. Asset Keeper then backs up the data file or folder and places it in the folder indicated. If you need to change any information shown on the Summary screen, click the "Back" button to go back to the corresponding screens and click "Next" until the Summary screen appears and then click "Finish" to complete the wizard.

Note that Asset Keeper utilizes a .ZIP format which can be accessed automatically in Windows XP or above. Double-clicking on this .zip file in Windows will allow you to extract the data files contained therein. It is not necessary to have Windows XP in order to extract your data files. However, if you are running a version of Windows prior to XP and you do not have the PKZIP program, you will have to use Asset Keeper’s “Backup / Restore” option in order to restore a backup file. We recommend that you use Asset Keeper’s “Backup / Restore” option when restoring your data files however, because it is easy to select the location for file restoration. Unless you know how to use Windows XP’s built-in .zip feature to restore data files, it is recommended that you use the “Backup / Restore” option in Asset Keeper.

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Restoring Data Files  

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Restoring your data files is sometimes necessary if you make changes to your file and realize that those changes are not needed or were done wrong.

To begin, select the Backup/Restore option located in the File menu to start the Backup/Restore wizard. To restore a data file, ensure that the “Restore Files” option is selected before clicking “Next” to proceed. In addition, when restoring a backup file, Asset Keeper can display the contents of any previously backed up file by clicking the “Display” button. This option displays a dialog box which allows you to navigate and select a backup file to display. By clicking “Open”, Asset Keeper reads the contents of your backup file and generates a report that you can view on the screen and then print by clicking the printer icon. Once you have located the correct backup file to restore, close the report preview screen and click “Next” to continue. Note, that since the same wizard is used for backing up data files, you could alternatively select the “Backup Files” option to make a backup of your current data file. If you need to learn how to backup your data files first, see the video entitled Backing Up Data Files also found in this tutorial.

The “Restore” wizard displays “Files to Restore” on the next screen. Click the ellipsis button to navigate to the location of your backup file. We can display the contents of our backup file on this screen as well by clicking on the “Display Contents” option. You also have the option of restoring just one company file on this screen or all of the companies files stored in our backup file. Normally, you will only be restoring a single company’s data files at one time, however there may be times when you might want to restore all of the company files contained in your backup. If there is only a single company’s data files contained in your backup, you may select the “Restore All Files” option to restore that company’s data files once you have selected the appropriate backup file. If your backup file contains more than one company’s data file, you will need to select the “Restore just this file” option and type in the filename to restore a single company's data file. Once you have selected the appropriate options and file, if necessary, click “Next” to continue.

The next step is selecting the folder where you want to restore your data file. If the folder displayed is the desired location for your restored data files, click “Next” to continue, otherwise, click the ellipsis button next to the folder displayed to change the location of the restored company files and then click “Next” to display a summary of the options we have selected previously. If everything is correct, click “Finish” to complete the wizard. Note, that if any files already exist in this location, you are shown several options before proceeding. Here you can say “Yes” to overwrite the existing file, “Yes to All” to overwrite any duplicate files found, “Rename” which will allow you to rename the file you are restoring in order to preserve the original files, “No” which does not overwrite your existing file, and “Cancel” which will cancels the entire restore process and takes you back to the restore wizard where you can click the “Back” button to correct the data location or cancel the process entirely. Once the restore process is completed, Asset Keeper displays a message indicating that the files you selected have been restored. After clicking “OK” to close the wizard, Asset Keeper will prompt you to refresh and add any files restored to the “File Listing” Normally, you will click “Yes” to refresh the File Listing, making them available when you click the “Open” button on the main toolbar, however, you do not have to add these files to the File Listing. Alternatively, you can use the “Select” button on the main toolbar which allows you to navigate and select any company file on you hard drive or network drive without having to add it to the File Listing. Clicking either “Yes” or “No” returns you to the main menu. To select the file you have just restored click either “Open” or “Select” at the main menu to open the restored data file in Asset Keeper.

Note that Asset Keeper utilizes the .ZIP file format supported by Windows XP and Windows Vista. Asset Keeper can restore any .ZIP file regardless of the program used to create it. In addition, you are not limited to backing up only Asset Keeper data files; you can create backups of any folder or files and later restore them using Asset Keeper.

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Asset Maintenance

The most important part of any software program is the place where you enter your data. We designed Asset Keeper to make it as easy as possible to enter your fixed asset data. Although we won’t go into great detail on the actual data entry process, we will provide you with some insight that will make data entry easier and faster.

Using the Asset Listing

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This video demonstrates how to Use the Asset Listing screen to quickly accomplish several tasks in Asset Keeper. The Asset Listing screen is useful for finding assets quickly, marking assets for deletion, disposing or trading assets, and grouping assets using the Group Code checkboxes. When you select the option Add/Edit from the toolbar or choose Add/Edit from the Assets Menu, the Asset Listing screen appears. This is new to version 21 of Asset Keeper and can be changed using the Configuration Wizard in the Housekeeping Menu. If you would like to display a single asset with its full detail when selecting the Add/Edit option, simply run the Configuration Wizard in the Housekeeping Menu and uncheck the checkbox to “Display the Asset Listing First” under Program Defaults (2). This causes the program to behave exactly as it had in prior versions when selecting the Add/Edit option. However, the Browse option has been permanently replaced by the Asset Listing screen and once you begin to use the Asset Listing, you’ll find it is much easier to navigate and search your asset file.

Click the Add/Edit button on the toolbar or select Add/Edit from the Assets Menu. The Asset Listing appears and as we see here, it is easy to navigate your way through the file. Using the up and down arrow keys, the page up and page down keys, or the scroll on your mouse it is very easy to locate an asset quickly. If you have a large file, you can use the navigational controls on the right side of the screen as well. To select an asset to edit or view, simply double-click on it (or click the Select button) and Asset Keeper takes you directly to the Add/Edit screen where you can view the asset detail and make changes if necessary. Additionally, we can compare the different methods for any asset by simply selecting the “Method Info” button. On this screen we can view the Method, Life, Cost, Section 179, Beginning and Current Depreciation amounts for the asset under each method contained in our asset file. We can also add assets to our file at any time by clicking the “Add” button at the bottom of the screen.

Return to the Asset Listing screen at any time by clicking the “Asset Listing” button located in the lower left of the Add/Edit screen. We will now take a closer look at the sorting and display features available in the Asset Listing screen. In our Sample File we would like to sort the assets by department. To do this, click the “Sort by” dropdown box and select “Department”. In addition, we want to see the Book cost of all assets next to the date acquired field. To do this, we change the method dropdown to the Book method and we then drag the cost field by clicking once on the “Cost” heading and dragging it to the left until it is next to the Date Acquired field. Notice you can also size the width of any field by moving your mouse over the left or right border of the heading and clicking and dragging the double-headed arrow to increase or decrease the width of the field. To save these sorting and filtering options make sure to check the box below the Asset Listing.

You can also perform a full-function search from the Asset Listing. To perform a search based on the field that we are sorting, in this case, “Department”, we simply leave the “Search By” dropdown box set to “Same as Sort By”. If we wanted to search a different field, we can choose any of the remaining fields in the “Search By” list. In the search criteria, we enter the value we would like to search for, in this case we want to search for Department 200, so we enter “200” in the “Search Criteria” field. If the criteria we enter is not found, there will be no assets displayed on our screen. However, if Asset Keeper finds match, we will see all assets displayed that meet our search criteria. Those assets are then displayed and we can select the one that we would like to edit by double-clicking on the asset or clicking the “Select” button at the bottom. In this case, we select the asset that has “Land” as part of it’s description field for editing. This takes us to our Add/Edit screen where we can click “Edit” to change the description field and add “(Building in Progress)” indicating that this asset has a building that is not yet completed. When finished, click “Save” to save the changes and then click “Asset Listing” to return to our Asset Listing screen.

We can also choose several assets to list or edit in Department 200 by saving our search as a filter for the asset file by clicking on the checkbox to save our settings and filter. Now, the file is sorted and filtered by the search criteria we entered earlier. This enables us to work only on assets that are currently in Department 200. Once we are finished, we can reset the file so that all assets are shown once again by clicking the “Reset” button.

At this point, you should have the ABC Computer Consultants, LLC file selected and be sitting at the Main Menu. Select Add / Edit Assets from the Assets Menu and the Asset Listing screen will be displayed.

To view a video for any of the following Asset Maintenance items, click the appropriate link below:

●  Add/Edit Screen Layout	High Res. (1024 x 768)	Low Res. (800 x 600)
●  Adding an Asset	High Res. (1024 x 768)	Low Res. (800 x 600)
●  Changing Acct # & Descriptions	High Res. (1024 x 768)	Low Res. (800 x 600)
●  Deleting Assets	High Res. (1024 x 768)	Low Res. (800 x 600)
●  Disposing an Asset	High Res. (1024 x 768)	Low Res. (800 x 600)
●  Editing an Asset	High Res. (1024 x 768)	Low Res. (800 x 600)
●  Navigating Data Files	High Res. (1024 x 768)	Low Res. (800 x 600)
●  Overriding Monthly Depr	High Res. (1024 x 768)	Low Res. (800 x 600)
●  Splitting an Asset	High Res. (1024 x 768)	Low Res. (800 x 600)
●  Trading an Asset	High Res. (1024 x 768)	Low Res. (800 x 600)

The Add / Edit screen contains the following parts:

• A tabbed page layout – If you create a file with 4 depreciation methods (like the ABC Computer Consultants, LLC), there is a General page and an additional page for each depreciation method. In the case of ABC Computer Consultants, LLC, there are 5 tabbed pages; a General page, a Federal, ALT MIN TAX, ACE, and Book.  If you would have created a file with 1 depreciation method, there would be 2 tabbed pages and if you created a file with 8 depreciation methods, there would be 9 tabbed pages.  The General page contains descriptions and general ledger account numbers that you assign to each asset, and the other pages contain data used to make the appropriate depreciation calculations.
   
• Toolbar – The toolbar at the top of the screen contains many of the same options as the buttons at the bottom of the page plus a few extra.  By moving your mouse pointer over each one, you can see a tool tip that provides a short description of the buttons function.

“Add” mode is used to describe the process of adding asset data.  Add mode is initiated by clicking the Add button.  When you are in “add” mode, you will navigate through each page beginning with the General page.  When the last page has been completed, the data will be saved, current depreciation will be calculated for all depreciation methods, and you will be repositioned to the first field in the General page ready to enter the next asset.

One of the shortcut keys that should be used when in “add” mode is the F2 key.  The F2 key should be pressed whenever you are finished entering data in one of the tabbed pages.  By pressing the F2 key, you will automatically be advanced to the first data entry field on the next page.  If you are on the last page and press the F2 key, the data you enter will be saved, depreciation calculated, and you be positioned to the first field on the General page.

“Edit” mode is used to describe the process of editing asset data.  Edit mode is initiated by clicking the Edit button.  When you are in “edit” mode, you will need to click on the tab at the top of the screen to change information on that page.  When you are finished editing your asset, you can press the F2 key to display a dialog screen that allows you to select calculation options.

Some other notable features on the Add / Edit screen are the following:

• Navigation buttons – There are four navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen that allow you to skip from asset to asset or skip to the next general ledger account number.
   
• Browse – The browse screen may provide a better and faster way to locate an asset you want to review or edit.  The Browse screen displays selected information about each asset and presents it in a columnar grid.  This allows you to see up to 20 different assets at the same time.
   
• Print – The print button will generate a one page report listing all the data for an individual asset, which is very handy if you have a question about an asset.
   
• Trade Button – This button is included in the toolbar at the top of the screen and will allow you to process a like-kind exchange according to current tax law.  You can also trade an asset by changing the Status Code to “T” (trade).
   
• Dispose Button – This button is included in the toolbar at the top of the screen and will allow you to dispose of the asset.  You can also dispose of an asset by changing the Status Code to “D” (dispose).
   
• Trade Code – This button is included in the toolbar at the top of the screen and is used to allocate monthly depreciation to more than one cost center or department during a fiscal year.  (See Help for more information.)
   
• Override Monthly – This button is included in the toolbar at the top of the screen and allows you to override the monthly depreciation calculations.  If you have not calculated monthly depreciation, this button will be inaccessible.
   
• Filter – This button is included in the toolbar at the top of the screen and allows you to see only assets that meet the filter criteria.  This is handy if you want to edit only selected assets.

 There is a lot more information about entering assets in the Help file, but before we leave the Add / Edit screen, some of the fields deserve a word or two.

• Description fields – There are two description fields.  Description #1 will print on all detail reports.  Detail reports contain individual assets details.  Description #2 is not printed on all reports, however, Description #1 is printed on all detail reports, therefore,  we recommend putting information that clearly identifies the asset in Description #1. 
   
• Lookup Fields – Some fields have an “up-arrow” button on the right side of them.  These are lookup fields and when this button is pressed, a list of previous entered values is displayed and can be selected to speed up data entry.
   
• Quick Change – Some fields have a small square button with ellipsis ( … ) on them.  These buttons allow you to change the descriptions assigned to values entered.  For example, if you entered “120” for Asset A/C# and entered a description of “Vehciles” (note misspelling) and want to change the description to “Vehicles” (correct spelling), you would click the button on the right side of this field and it would allow you to change the description from “Vehciles” to “Vehicles”.
   
• Sort Codes – These fields are used to enter sorting or grouping information that can be used when printing reports.  Generally, you’ll print reports based on Asset A/C#, which relates to the general ledger account number.  However, if you want to get a listing of assets by department or by the county they are located in, then you can enter this information in a sort code field and select the sort code as the sort field when you print your report.  Very flexible, but you may need to spend a little time thinking about how you want to print your reports before you enter your data in your sort code fields.

There is an option in the Asset Menu called Quick Entry.  This option is for those cases where you’ve already entered your asset data and you want to go back and enter data in one of the sort code fields.  It is much faster to use this option than the Add / Edit screen if you just want to enter data in a sort code field.

• Group Checkboxes – Sort Codes are a way to sort your data and Group Checkboxes are a way to filter out unwanted assets.  When printing reports there is an “Include” option that allows you to include just the asset you want.  There are a number of include options that you can select from, including one for each of the four Group Checkboxes fields.  An example of how you might use a Group Checkbox would be if you wanted to print a report and include just one specific asset in the report.   You could check the Group #1 checkbox for that asset and then select the Include option that will only include assets whose Group #1 box is checked.  Group Checkboxes add a great deal of flexibility to the Asset Keeper program, although their use may not be immediately evident.
   
• ? – There is a ? button next to the Depreciation Life field on the depreciation method pages.  By clicking this button, a list of depreciation lives will be displayed for various kinds of assets.  This is a handy reference when you can’t remember what depreciation life should be used for an asset.
   
• Calc – There is a “Calc” button next to the Beginning Accumulated Depreciation field.  During data entry, if you want to confirm that the beginning accumulated depreciation is correct or don’t know what that amount should be, click this button and Asset Keeper will calculate it for you.  It will only be entered in the field if you click the Save button.

There are many other features of the Add / Edit screen that we could describe, but in the interest of keeping this tutorial as brief as possible, we’ll let you check some of the other resources available (Help or FAQ’s) and we’ll move on to Calculating Annual Depreciation.

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Calculations

Annual Depreciation  

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When you enter new assets or edit assets in the Add / Edit screen, Asset Keeper will automatically calculate depreciation for each asset added or edited.  However, there are times when it becomes necessary to re-calculate annual depreciation for some or all assets, for example, when applying the mid-quarter convention to new acquisitions.  The Calculate Annual Depreciation option in the Calculate Menu allows you to check for, and apply, the mid-quarter convention, if applicable. 

You can also run this option at any time to recalculate annual depreciation for all assets in your file.  This is convenient, for example, if you used one of the global options to change the depreciation methods for a number of assets in your file.   Instead of editing each asset so the depreciation is recalculated, which can be very time-consuming, you can run this option and recalculate depreciation for all assets, which takes almost no time at all.

Since this option is a wizard, we won’t spend a lot of time describing how it works, except to say that it can be run as often as you like. 

One other thing to note is that if you only need to check to see if the mid-quarter convention applies, you can run the Client Summary option in the File Menu to see if the mid-quarter convention applies.  If it does, you can then select this option and apply the mid-quarter convention.

If you have the ABC Computer Consultants, LLC file selected, you may want to run the Calculate Annual Depreciation wizard at this time.

If you have a book depreciation method, like our ABC Computer Consultants, LLC, you will probably want to calculate monthly depreciation.  This is a common requirement if you are preparing monthly financial statements.

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Reports

Printing Reports  

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There are so many different reports included in the Asset Keeper program, deciding which one to print is more complicated than actually printing the report. Hopefully, we can help you sort through the variety of reports and select those that will be most useful for your specific needs.

First off, each report has a report specification screen that allows you to set various parameters for the report. For example, some allow you to change the default sort order, select a range of assets to include based on the sorting criteria, set the include option to filter out certain assets, or print the report with or without subtotals. Most of these are pretty self explanatory, so we won’t spend any time on these.

The first two reports listed in the reports menu, the Asset Depreciation Report and the Asset Depreciation Short Report, are two of the most popular reports at your disposal. The basic difference between the two reports is that the Asset Depreciation Report contains more asset details than the short report, but the short report tends to be the one that most users print to review their asset data.

The remaining reports are contained in the following groups:

• General Depreciation Report – These are reports that can be used for book or tax purposes and are generally detail reports.
   
• End of Year Reports – These are reports that are typically printed at the end of the year and do not contain asset details. Note that if you took the time to enter general ledger account numbers for your assets, there is an annual journal entry report that can be printed that can be used to record annual depreciation in your general ledger.
   
• Monthly and Periodic Reports – These reports are based on monthly depreciation calculations, so you will need to calculate monthly depreciation before you can print these reports.
   
• Tax Reports – These include IRS Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization, IRS Form 4797, Sales of Business Property, plus many others.
   
• Projected Reports – These reports are only accessible if you calculate projected depreciation first. You can then print detail or summary reports showing projected depreciation for as many years as you like.
   
• Miscellaneous Reports – These reports are more obscure and are those that do not fit under any of the other groupings. Also included is the ability to print Avery labels to attach to your assets for easy identification.
   
• Personal Property Reports – Asset Keeper can print personal property reports for 17 states or a generic format that accommodates many other states. This alleviates the need to manually complete personal property reports and enter your fixed asset data in another program.
   
• Batch Print Reports – This allows you to print a number of our most popular reports at one time without having to select them each individually.
   
• Report Writer – If you didn’t find the report you were looking for, you can use our convenient and easy-to-use report write and create your own. You can even save the format and print it using another data file. The only way to determine which reports are suitable for your needs is to print them, look them over, and decide for yourself. The variety of reports and options are extensive, but in a short time, you’ll know what reports you’ll want to print and what reports you don’t need to print.

This concludes our look at reports. The next and final section will describe how to prepare your data file for the next year.

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Housekeeping

Resetting for a New Year  

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After you are finished entering your new assets, calculating depreciation, and printing reports, you will need to prepare your file for the next year’s activity.  This is performed by the option Reset for New Year in the Housekeeping Menu. 

When this option is selected, you are asked if you want to perform a backup.  We always recommend that you backup your data file prior to performing a reset for a new year; even though Asset Keeper automatically creates an unreset file that allows you to roll your file back to the way it was prior to the reset.

This option is a wizard and there is introductory information in the first screen that explains what will happen when you run this option.  The next screen shows the year end that the file will be reset to and the calculation status of your depreciation methods.

The next screen has some settings that can be changed regarding what will be done during the reset.  We recommend that you do not change these until you become more familiar with the program and this option.  Note that a pre-reset and post-reset report will be printed.  These are summary reports that are designed to validate that the reset was performed properly.  It is always a good idea to store these reports with the other reports printed for the year. After clicking Finish, your file will be reset for the next year.

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Other Items

This concludes our brief review of the Asset Keeper program. There are many other features that we did not look at in the interest of keeping this tutorial as brief as possible. Some of the other features that may be of interest to you are the following. You can find more information about these features in the Help and/or the FAQ’s.

• Convert – This option is located in the File Menu in the Options submenu and will convert data from a number of other fixed asset programs. If you are using one of the programs listed in this option, Asset Keeper will convert the data from its native format to the one that Asset Keeper uses.
   
• Import / Export - This option is located in the File Menu in the Options submenu and allows you to export, or import, your data to a variety of file formats for use with other software programs, such as, Excel.
   
• Global Changes – There is nothing worse than editing data that was entered incorrectly. Very often, the options in the Global Changes submenu found in the Assets Menu can make short work of this type of editing.
   
• Merge / UnMerge Assets – These options, found in the Housekeeping Menu, allow you to add or remove assets from your file. The Merge option allows you to add assets to your file that are being maintained in a separate data file. An example of where this could be handy is if you are maintaining separate data files for multiple companies and need to print consolidated reports for income tax purposes. The UnMerge option allows you to move assets from your file to another data file.
   
• Fix – This option can be found in the Housekeeping Menu also and contains a number of options that can be very useful if your data was converted from another system and needs to be corrected. Sometimes it can save you a great deal of editing.
   
• Methods – This option is also located in the Housekeeping Menu and allows you to add, remove, or re-order depreciation methods. Perhaps you created your file with just a tax method and now need to calculate depreciation for financial statements. The Add option will allow you to add a new method to your file.

Summary

The number of features and flexibility of the Asset Keeper program will take some time to discover.  Perhaps one of our best features is that you do not need to be familiar with very many to take advantage of its power and convenience.  The basic features may be all you ever need, but you can take comfort in knowing that when the need arises, chances are you’ll find a feature that will make short work of the task.

We encourage you to provide us with your feedback.  There is an option in the Help menu that will allow you to fax or email your comments to our support staff.  Many of the new features we add are a direct result of feedback from our users.  Finally, since support is included with the cost of your software (and upgrades), help is never more than an email or phone call away.  We look forward to meeting your continuing needs.

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