The Complete Guide to Asset Management for Small Business (Australia)

The Complete Guide to Asset Management for Small Business (Australia)

You own a small business. Which means you own stuff — laptops, vehicles, tools, furniture, equipment, maybe a fit-out or two. Together, these assets might be worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The 5-step asset management lifecycle: Acquire, Track, Depreciate, Maintain, Dispose

But do you actually know what you have? Where it all is? What it's worth today? When the air conditioning unit is due for a service? What your balance sheet should say?

Asset management sounds corporate, but it's just the practice of keeping track of what your business owns. And for small businesses, getting it right saves money, reduces tax headaches, and prevents the slow bleed of lost, broken, or forgotten equipment.

Why Asset Management Matters for Small Businesses

Tax Deductions You're Missing

If you're not tracking depreciation, you're likely leaving deductions on the table. A business with $100,000 in depreciable assets could be missing $10,000-$25,000 in annual deductions. That's real money.

Insurance Accuracy

If your assets aren't documented, your insurance is probably wrong. Underinsured means you're exposed. Overinsured means you're paying too much premium.

Financial Reporting

Your balance sheet includes your assets. If the asset values are wrong, the balance sheet is wrong. If you're applying for finance, selling the business, or bringing on a partner, accurate financials matter.

Operational Efficiency

Knowing what you have, where it is, and what condition it's in prevents:

  • Buying duplicates of equipment you already own
  • Missing maintenance that leads to breakdowns
  • Wasting time looking for things

The Five Pillars of Small Business Asset Management

1. Tracking — Know What You Own

The foundation. You can't manage what you don't track.

What to record for each asset:

  • Description and category
  • Unique asset ID or tag number
  • Serial number (for electronics and equipment)
  • Purchase date and price
  • Current location
  • Assigned to (person or department)
  • Condition

Pro tip: Walk through your entire business and document everything. Check offices, vehicles, storage, workshops — everywhere. You'll find assets you forgot about and discover some are missing.

2. Depreciation — Track the Value

Every asset declines in value over time. Tracking this accurately is essential for:

  • Tax deductions (the ATO lets you claim the decline)
  • Balance sheet accuracy
  • Knowing when an asset has reached end of life
  • Planning for replacements

Key decisions:

  • Which depreciation method? (Diminishing value or prime cost)
  • What's the effective life? (ATO publishes guidelines)
  • Does it qualify for instant write-off?

For a detailed walkthrough, see our depreciation calculation guide.

3. Maintenance — Keep Things Running

Unplanned breakdowns cost more than scheduled maintenance. Always.

Set up for each asset:

  • Service intervals (every X months or every X hours of use)
  • Warranty expiry dates
  • Service history records
  • Preferred service providers

Common maintenance cycles:

Asset Type Typical Service Interval
Vehicles Every 10,000-15,000 km or 6 months
HVAC systems Every 6-12 months
Commercial kitchen equipment Quarterly
IT equipment Annual review
Power tools Based on hours of use

4. Disposal — Handle End of Life

Assets don't last forever. When they reach end of life, you need a process:

  1. Record the disposal — date, method (sold, scrapped, donated)
  2. Calculate the balancing adjustment — if sold for more than book value, it's assessable income; if less, it's a deduction
  3. Update your register — mark as disposed, don't delete
  4. Handle physically — arrange pickup, sale, recycling, or donation
  5. Update insurance — remove from coverage

5. Reporting — Make It Useful

Good reporting turns raw data into decisions:

  • Depreciation schedule — for your accountant at EOFY
  • Asset summary by location — for stocktakes and insurance
  • Maintenance due report — prevent breakdowns
  • Assets nearing end of life — plan capital expenditure
  • Cost analysis — total cost of ownership per asset category

How to Start (If You Have Nothing)

Week 1: The Audit

  1. Walk every location your business operates from
  2. Photograph and list every asset worth more than $300
  3. Record: what it is, where it is, approximate purchase date and price
  4. Note condition: good, fair, needs repair, should be replaced

Week 2: The Register

  1. Enter everything into a register — spreadsheet or software
  2. Assign a unique ID to each asset
  3. Look up purchase details from invoices, bank statements, or prior tax returns
  4. Set up depreciation (check with your accountant for the right method)

Week 3: The Process

  1. Establish the rule: every new purchase gets added to the register
  2. Set a calendar reminder for annual stocktake (before June 30)
  3. Set up maintenance schedules for critical equipment
  4. Share relevant access with your accountant and team

Ongoing: Keep It Current

The biggest mistake is setting up a beautiful register and then never updating it. Build asset management into your workflow:

  • When you buy something: Add it to the register the same day
  • When something breaks or gets serviced: Update the maintenance record
  • When something moves location: Update the register
  • When you sell or scrap something: Record the disposal
  • At EOFY: Run the depreciation calculations and send to your accountant

Industry-Specific Tips

Trades and Construction

  • Assets move between job sites constantly — location tracking is critical
  • Tool theft is common — serial numbers and photos help with insurance claims
  • Vehicle fit-outs are depreciable assets separate from the vehicle itself

Hospitality and Food Service

  • Commercial kitchen equipment has specific ATO effective lives
  • Health regulations may require maintenance records for some equipment
  • Fit-out costs are depreciable (typically over the lease term)

Professional Services

  • IT equipment is your biggest asset category — track warranties
  • Software licenses may be depreciable if capitalised
  • Office furniture has a 10-year effective life (longer than most people expect)

Retail

  • Shop fit-out is often the largest depreciable asset
  • Point-of-sale systems (4-year effective life)
  • Security systems and cameras (7-year effective life)

Tools for the Job

Approach Best For Cost
Spreadsheet <30 assets, single user Free
Accounting software add-on Already using Xero/MYOB Varies
Purpose-built asset tracking 30+ assets, multiple users, maintenance needs $30-100/mo
Enterprise systems Large businesses, 1000+ assets $500+/mo

Most small businesses land somewhere between spreadsheet and purpose-built software. If you're reading this guide, you've probably outgrown the first and don't need the last.

Asset Shark: Built for Australian Small Business

We built Asset Shark because the options for small businesses were either "use a spreadsheet" or "pay enterprise prices." Neither made sense.

Asset Shark gives you:

  • Simple asset tracking with all the fields that matter
  • Automatic ATO-compliant depreciation
  • Team access with role-based permissions
  • Maintenance scheduling
  • Reports your accountant actually wants
  • Import from your existing spreadsheet

No per-user pricing. No enterprise complexity. Just asset management that works.

Get early access →