This article describes how you can use Dynamics 365 products to support your organisation's business process to acquire assets

Organisations need to strategically manage their assets to streamline operations, enhance decision-making, and remain competitive, all while maintaining financial balance.

The functionality for acquiring assets plays a crucial role in supporting the acquisition, tracking, and management of assets throughout their lifecycle. Effectively managing this process ensures that businesses can optimize the use of their resources, prevent inefficiencies, and make well-informed decisions regarding their assets.

Typically, asset data is maintained in spreadsheets and is configured after the general ledger setup in Dynamics 365. Many organizations, however, tend to delay the data migration process related to fixed assets or asset management. It is not uncommon for them to encounter gaps when trying to integrate balance or transaction-type data into their business solution. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended that fixed asset migration be initiated early in the project. This allows organizations to thoroughly test the data and validate the processes that the business team follows, ensuring smoother transitions later on.

With the asset leasing functionality in Dynamics 365 Finance, organizations can acquire and use assets without the need for significant upfront capital. Instead of making large purchases, businesses can lease assets from leasing companies for a fixed term. The asset leasing module in Dynamics 365 Finance enables the creation of legal contracts between the lessee and lessor, providing a flexible and cost-effective alternative for managing assets.

Here are some common methods for acquiring assets in Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management:

I. Acquisition through Fixed Asset Journal Process

II. Acquisition through Procurement and Sourcing Process

III. Acquisition through Accounts Payable (Vendor) Invoice Process

IV. Acqusition through Inventory to Fixed Asset Process

V. Acquisition through Project Management and Accounting (Capital Asset) Process

I. Acquire through Fixed Journal Process

Acquisition is the initial phase of the asset life cycle. This phase offers the most options for ways to record the acquisition. You can manage acquisitions by using the Acquisition, Acquisition adjustment, and Transfer from reserve transaction types.

An asset acquisition can use the Acquisition transaction type, whether it's an external purchase or an internal posting of self-assembled assets.

You can use the Acquisition adjustment transaction type when the parameter setup prohibits multiple acquisitions or when you need to post part of an acquisition to a special ledger account.

Depending on how you set up the Allow multiple acquisitions parameter, you can activate one or an unlimited number of acquisitions for each asset for each book. You should have multiple acquisitions for each asset when you expect to post multiple transactions that affect the acquisition value of an asset.

For example, when a company purchases a truck and truck body from two vendors, it might record two separate transactions, but the completed truck with both components becomes the actual asset.

To change this parameter, select Fixed assets > Setup > Fixed assets parameters. For multiple acquisitions, select the Allow multiple acquisitions checkbox. If you want only one acquisition for each asset for each book, turn off the Allow multiple acquisitions option.

Record an acquisition:

Consider the following scenario:

Adventure Works Cycles orders computers for new employees when they sign the employment contract. The accountant at Adventure Works Cycles receives notification that a new staff member's employment has started.

The accountant is responsible for making sure that the fixed asset is created and recorded correctly, and they create the fixed asset for each computer. During processing, the acquisitions manager usually records asset acquisitions when the Purchasing department posts the computer invoice. At the end of each month, the accountant verifies that these acquisitions are correctly recorded by comparing the Accounts payable records to an Acquisition proposal.

The following steps show how to record acquisitions.

After the creation of Fixed Asset under Fixed assets > Fixed assets > Fixed assets, navigate to Fixed Assets > Journal Entries > Fixed Assets Journal,

Create a new record on the header and click on lines,

On lines, select Fixed Asset and enter details as shown below and click on post,

Voucher entries for acquisition are shown below.

Once the fixed asset acquisition journal is posted, the Fixed asset master status should show 'Open' with updates to acquisition date, acquisition price, and placed in service date

II. Acuisition through Procurement and Sourcing Process

III. Acquisition through Accounts Payable (Vendor) Invoice Process

IV. Acquisition through Inventory to Fixed Asset Process

V. Acquisition through Project Management and Accounting (Capital Asset) Process