Spreadsheet template
Fixed asset register template
Twenty-one columns that hold up six months later: identity, custody, value and the date somebody last physically saw the thing. Dropdowns where free text would rot the register, and a book-value formula so nobody has to maintain it by hand.
What is a fixed asset register template?
A fixed asset register template is a prepared spreadsheet for recording every asset an organisation owns: its identity, location, holder, value and status. This one carries 21 columns, dropdown lists for status and condition, a straight-line book-value formula, and five worked example rows to delete. Excel and CSV, free, no email required.
Free to use and adapt. No email, no sign-up, no watermark.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | IT-0001 | MacBook Pro 14" | Laptops | Apple | MK1E3 | C02XL0ABCDEF | Active | Good | London — 2nd floor | Engineering | Priya Nair | 2026-02-14 | 2026-01-30 | 1,899.00 | Apple Store | 2029-01-30 | SLM | 4 | = formula | 2026-09-01 | Charger swapped Aug 2026 |
| 3 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · |
| 4 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · |
Every column in the template. Status and condition are dropdowns; book value is a formula.
Every column
The 21 columns, and what goes in each
Identity
What the thing is, and how you tell it from the identical one beside it.
6- Asset tagcore
- IT-0001
- Your unique label. One per physical item — never reuse a retired tag.
- Item namecore
- MacBook Pro 14"
- What a colleague would call it, not what the invoice called it.
- Category
- Laptops
- Keep the list short enough that everyone picks the same one.
- Brand
- Apple
- Manufacturer.
- Model
- MK1E3
- Model or part number.
- Serial numbercore
- C02XL0ABCDEF
- What police and insurers ask for. Fill it in at handover or never.
Custody
Where it lives, and who is accountable for it right now.
4- Location
- London — 2nd floor
- Where it lives when nobody has it. 'Remote' is a valid answer.
- Department
- Engineering
- Who pays for it, where that differs from who uses it.
- Assigned tocore
- Priya Nair
- The person accountable right now. Blank means it is in the pool.
- Assigned date
- 2026-02-14
- When they took responsibility.
Money
What it cost, what it is worth, and when cover runs out.
7- Purchase date
- 2026-01-30
- Drives depreciation and warranty.
- Purchase price
- 1,899.00
- Excluding tax, in your reporting currency.
- Supplier
- Apple Store
- The first call when it fails.
- Warranty expiry
- 2029-01-30
- The date after which a fault starts costing money.
- Depreciation method
- SLM
- Straight line or written down value.
- Useful life (years)
- 4
- How long finance expects it to last.
- Current book value
- = formula
- Calculated for straight-line rows, so nobody has to remember to update it.
Verification
Condition, status, and when somebody last physically saw it.
4- Status
- Active
- Active, In repair, In storage, Retired, Lost, Stolen — from a dropdown, not free text.
- Condition
- Good
- New, Good, Fair, Poor or Unknown at last sighting.
- Last audit datecore
- 2026-09-01
- The column that decays fastest — and the one that tells you whether to trust the rest.
- Notes
- Charger swapped Aug 2026
- Anything the next person needs: damage, accessories, quirks.
How to use it
Five steps, in order
- 01
Delete the examples, keep the header
Five worked rows show the shape of a good record. Delete them once you have read one — the header row is the part that matters.
- 02
Tag the things that move first
Laptops, tools, AV, test equipment. Furniture can wait: it is not what goes missing. A register of forty items that is true beats a register of four hundred that is guessed.
- 03
Fill the serial at handover, or never
Serial numbers are almost impossible to collect retrospectively, because by then the item is in someone's bag. Capture it at the moment you issue it.
- 04
Use the dropdowns
Status and condition are lists for a reason. 'active', 'Active ' and 'ACTIVE' are three values to a filter, and that is how a register stops being searchable.
- 05
Set a counting rhythm
Walk one location a month with the sheet open and update Last audit date as you go. A register nobody verifies is a historical document.
The decisions it cannot make for you
Where judgement is required
- What counts as an asset?
- Set a threshold and write it down — commonly anything above a purchase price you would notice losing, plus anything portable regardless of price. The second half matters more: a £40 dock is below every capitalisation threshold and is exactly the sort of thing that vanishes.
- One row per item, always
- Never one row per model. Two identical laptops are two rows with two tags, or you cannot answer which one Priya has — which is the only question the register exists to answer.
- Book value is not resale value
- The formula here depreciates straight line for finance. What you would actually get for a three-year-old laptop is a different number, and insurers care about a third one — replacement cost. Keep purchase price and let each function derive its own.
- When the spreadsheet stops working
- Usually at two people or two sites: the moment two people edit it, or one person is holding equipment somewhere the spreadsheet is not. Neither is a reason to buy software today, but both are the signal to watch for.
If you ever outgrow the spreadsheet
What happens to these columns in a tool
Nothing here depends on Stackroom — these are standard register columns and the spreadsheet keeps working whether or not you ever use software. But the question comes up, so: this is exactly what carries across if you import it, and what does not.
13 columns map straight across
Recognised by name, so there is no mapping step to work through.
- Asset tagAsset tag (SKU)
- Item nameName
- CategoryFolder
- BrandBrand
- ModelModel
- Serial numberSerial number
- StatusStatus
- ConditionCondition
- LocationLocation
- DepartmentDepartment
- Purchase datePurchase date
- Purchase pricePurchase price
- NotesNotes
8 do not — and here is why
Mostly because they are not columns in a tool: custody is a checkout, a warranty is a record with a reminder on it, and book value is calculated rather than stored.
- Assigned toCustody is a checkout, not a column — assign after import so the handover is on the record.
- Assigned dateSet by the checkout itself.
- SupplierVendors exist in Stackroom but the importer does not map them yet.
- Warranty expiryWarranties are their own records, with reminders.
- Depreciation methodHeld per asset in Stackroom; not yet importable.
- Useful life (years)Same — set it on the asset after import.
- Current book valueCalculated, never imported.
- Last audit dateComes from running an audit rather than from a cell.
FAQ
Questions people ask about this template
What should a fixed asset register contain?
At minimum: a unique tag, a description, a serial number, the location, the person responsible, the purchase date and price, and the date it was last physically verified. Everything else — category, warranty, depreciation — is useful but secondary to those seven.
Is a fixed asset register a legal requirement?
Not usually as a standalone document, but most accounting frameworks require you to substantiate the fixed assets on your balance sheet, and auditors ask for a register to do it. Grant-funded and public-sector organisations often have an explicit obligation — check your funding terms.
How often should a fixed asset register be updated?
Movements as they happen; a physical verification of each location on a cycle — monthly or quarterly by site beats one annual sweep, because a discrepancy found within weeks is often still recoverable.
What is the difference between a fixed asset register and an inventory?
A register tracks individual items you own and keep, each with its own identity and holder. An inventory tracks quantities of interchangeable stock you consume or sell. A laptop belongs in a register; a box of cables belongs in an inventory.
Can I use Excel for a fixed asset register?
Yes, and for a single site with one person maintaining it, it is genuinely the right tool. It breaks when equipment changes hands often, because a spreadsheet cannot record that somebody accepted responsibility, and cannot be updated where the handover actually happens.
Do I need to include depreciation?
Only if the register feeds your accounts. If it exists to stop equipment going missing, purchase price and date are enough — and mixing the two purposes in one sheet is what makes registers unmaintainable.
Related
Next useful thing
- What is a fixed asset register?The longer read: fields, format and worked examples.
- Depreciation calculatorStraight line versus written down value, with the schedule.
- How to do an asset auditScope, count, reconcile, evidence.
- Why asset registers go out of dateThe failure modes, and what prevents each one.
When the spreadsheet stops being enough
Stackroom is the same register with the maintenance removed: scan a label to update it, and see who has what without asking. Free for unlimited users.