Historical Amortization Calculation Tool

The Historical Amortization Calculation Tool (Version 3.2, January 2006) was provided to school district staff to assist with amortization calculations for financial reporting, such as for the annual financial statements and Government Reporting Entity quarterly reports.  The Historical Amortization Calculation Tool is populated with data specific to a school district up to and including the 2002/03 fiscal year.

In August of 2017 the Ministry became aware of a formula error in the Historical Amortization Calculation Tool Version 3.2 and advised districts to forward their amortization tools to the Ministry for repair.  This error will only affect the carry over amounts for building-asset amortization starting with 2016 to 2017 for those districts with adjustments reported in prior years.  All districts should forward their Historical Amortization Calculation Tools to the Ministry for repair.  Repaired amortization tools were renamed Version 3.2.1 and returned to the districts.

If a district would like a copy of their original Historical Amortization Calculation Tool populated up to 2002/03 and corrected to Version 3.2.1, please e-mail your request to SDFR@gov.bc.ca and a copy will be provided.

Note: the Tool is not a network application; data is not saved on a server.  If your web browser opens the Tool immediately upon download, you must save the Tool to an appropriate location on your computer's hard disk and work from that location.

Using the Historical Amortization Calculation Tool

To enter additions, prior period adjustments, write-offs or disposals, select the database (capital assets or DCC) and database year, enter the new figures into the shaded editing areas, and select the option to save the new data.

Prior period adjustments, write-offs and disposals must be entered in the year of acquisition in order to calculate amortization in the current period correctly.  Amortization applicable to these transactions can be determined by taking the difference between the accumulated amortization before and after the transaction (see "Recording a disposal in year ended June 30, 200X").

To print a set of journal entries and supporting schedules, select the database, year and print option.  The Tool prints schedules and entries for the year after the year shown in the dropdown year selector. E.g., to print 2005 Journal Entries and supporting schedules, enter 2004 as the data year and then select Printing All Schedules and Journal Entries.

There are on-screen notes to help get you started--click on the Display Tips button on the screen.

System Requirements

Microsoft Excel 2000 or newer is required to run the Historical Amortization Calculation Tool and the

The Historical Amortization Calculation Tool is a Microsoft Excel workbook.  To run it, macros must be “enabled” in the Excel application.  If you receive an error message, select from the MS Excel menu Tools/Macro/Security..., and set security to “medium” or “low”.  Restart MS Excel.  Launch the tool.