Fixed asset roll-forward with AI: PP&E schedule, depreciation check and GL tie-out

When to use it

Use it when the fixed asset register lives in a spreadsheet or a subledger that nobody fully trusts, when the auditors ask for a PP&E roll-forward and you're building it by hand, or when a batch of capital spend, disposals or construction-in-progress (CIP) transfers lands at quarter-end. It works best inside Excel (Claude for Excel or Copilot), so the output is formulas you can inspect.

It does not replace your fixed asset subledger. It's a second, re-performable look at it, plus the roll-forward schedule people otherwise rebuild every quarter.

Input data

• The fixed asset register at period-end: asset ID, description, asset class, GL account, cost, in-service date, useful life, method, salvage value (if your policy uses one), accumulated depreciation, disposal date and proceeds.
• The prior period's roll-forward (ending balances by class become this period's beginning balances).
• Current-period additions with support: invoice or AP detail, PO, and the in-service date (or a CIP flag if the asset isn't in use yet).
• Disposals and retirements with proceeds, and any transfers out of CIP.
• GL balances by account for cost, accumulated depreciation and CIP at the beginning and end of the period, plus depreciation expense and gain/loss on disposal for the period.
• Policy: capitalization threshold, useful lives by class, depreciation method and convention (e.g. full month in the month placed in service), and how leasehold improvements are treated.

The prompt

Replace the [bracketed] items. Paste it with your files attached. It works in any capable assistant; tool-specific notes are in the steps.

Help me prepare the fixed asset (PP&E) roll-forward for [entity] for the period ending [MM/DD/YYYY]. I will review everything before anything is booked.

Attached: fixed asset register [sheet/file]; prior-period roll-forward [sheet]; additions with support [file]; disposals and CIP transfers [file]; GL balances and activity for the PP&E, accumulated depreciation, CIP, depreciation expense and gain/loss accounts [file].
Policy: capitalization threshold $[X]; useful lives by class: [paste]; method: [straight-line]; convention: [describe]; salvage value: [policy].

1. Profile the register first: row count, total cost and total accumulated depreciation by class. Compare to the GL beginning and ending balances. If the register doesn't tie to the GL at the beginning of the period, stop and show me the difference before doing anything else.

2. Build the roll-forward by asset class, with formulas (not hard-coded numbers):
   Cost: beginning + additions + transfers from CIP − disposals = ending
   Accumulated depreciation: beginning + depreciation expense − disposals = ending
   CIP: beginning + additions − transfers to fixed assets = ending
   Net book value: ending cost − ending accumulated depreciation
   Compare each ending balance and the depreciation expense to the GL. Show the difference. Don't plug it.

3. Re-perform depreciation for each asset for this period from cost, salvage, useful life, method, convention and in-service date. List every asset where the register's depreciation differs from your re-performance by more than $[Y], with both numbers.

4. Disposals: for each one, show cost removed, accumulated depreciation removed, net book value, proceeds and the calculated gain or loss. Compare to the GL gain/loss account.

5. Flag exceptions, one table each:
   - Additions under the capitalization threshold, or that look like repairs and maintenance from the description
   - Additions with no in-service date, or an in-service date that is just the invoice date
   - Assets still depreciating after their useful life ended, or with a negative net book value
   - CIP items with no activity for [6] months or more
   - Assets with zero or missing useful life, method or class
   - Leasehold improvements whose life is longer than the remaining lease term I provide: [lease end dates]

6. Draft the period's depreciation entry summary by GL account and label it "DRAFT – for review".

Use only the data in the files. Do not invent asset details, lives or dates. If a field is ambiguous, ask me.

Steps

1. Export the register and the GL balances for exactly the same cut-off. Confirm the beginning balances tie to last period's reviewed roll-forward before you start.
2. Run the prompt. Read step 1 first: if the register doesn't tie to the GL at the beginning of the period, fix that before rolling forward.
3. Inspect the formulas in a few rows of the roll-forward and the depreciation re-performance, especially assets placed in service mid-period and assets that hit the end of their life.
4. Work the exceptions list against source documents: invoices for additions, the project owner for CIP status, and the fixed asset subledger for depreciation differences.
5. Decide capitalization, in-service dates, impairment indicators and any corrections yourself, per policy. Record adjustments through your normal JE process with support attached.
6. Re-run the roll-forward after entries post. Every column should tie to the GL with no unexplained difference. File it with the close binder.

Control map

What the AI may do, step by step. How ratings work.

Audit trail

• Keep the register export (with row count and control totals), the GL export, the roll-forward workbook and the reviewer's sign-off together.
• For every addition, reference the invoice and the evidence of the in-service date on the register row.
• Note in the workbook that AI built the formulas, and evidence the reviewer's formula checks (no hard-codes in formula columns).
• PP&E roll-forwards are a standard audit request, so save the version that ties to the trial balance you reported.

Failure modes

• Invoice date used as the in-service date, which starts depreciation early (or late) and misstates expense.
• CIP depreciated before it's placed in service, or finished projects left in CIP so depreciation never starts.
• Fully depreciated assets keep depreciating because the formula doesn't stop at the end of the useful life. Check for negative net book values.
• Plugged roll-forwards. A model asked to "make it tie" will invent a reconciling line. The prompt forbids it, so check that it didn't.
• Internal-use software and leasehold improvements mixed into the register with the wrong guidance or life. Software is typically under ASC 350-40, not ASC 360; leasehold improvement lives are often limited by the lease term.
• Silent truncation of large registers. Compare the row count and totals in step 1 to the source.

Data handling

• Use a company-approved AI workspace whose terms say your inputs are not used for model training. Check your plan; don't assume it.
• Strip or mask what the task doesn't need: employee names, bank account numbers, customer PII, SSNs or TINs.
• If you are a public company, treat pre-release results as material non-public information and keep them inside approved systems.