They Said

Pearce Ross Limited were extremely helpful during the whole project. Not only was deep systems knowledge clearly evident but sector experience as well as a desire to understand our own processes were obvious throughout. It was a real pleasure to work with them.

Background

A large housing association was using the SunSystems Fixed Asset Register© (FAR) module to manage and calculate asset depreciation across a substantial portfolio of componentised property assets and other fixed assets. While the standard SunSystems© functionality provided the necessary accounting controls, the depreciation process had become increasingly inefficient as the volume and complexity of assets grew. Furthermore, because the system did not recognise ‘negative’ depreciation, the processing of the amortisation on property grants was a manual exercise. The monthly depreciation cycle involved running the FAR depreciation routine, reviewing outputs and journals, performing additional validation activities, and reconciling the results.

The process was heavily dependent on manual intervention and required significant effort from the Finance Services team each month. Because of the processing times (Approximately 65 (sixty five) hours per month) and the impact on other financial processes, depreciation calculations and the associated posting of journals had to be scheduled out-of-hours in order to meet the month-end timetable.

Our Approach

Following a detailed review of the client’s existing processes, we identified an opportunity to fundamentally rethink how depreciation was calculated and processed. We conceived the idea of developing a completely alternative depreciation solution replacing the generic SunSystems© process while maintaining full integration with SunSystems© financials.

Working closely with key finance stakeholders, we designed and developed a bespoke depreciation engine tailored to the client’s specific accounting requirements. The solution extracted asset information directly from the underlying asset records in SunSystems©, applied all required depreciation rules, and automatically generated the necessary accounting entries.

A key design objective was to ensure that the solution not only replicated the accounting outcomes of the FAR module but also provided greater flexibility, scope, transparency, and operational efficiency. Comprehensive validation controls were built into the process, enabling exceptions to be identified and resolved before journals were posted. Detailed audit reporting ensured complete traceability from asset-level calculations through to ledger postings. Furthermore, unlike the generic FAR depreciation process, this solution also coped with negative assets and specifically property grants.

The solution was integrated with SunSystems© financials to automatically create and post the depreciation journals.

Results

The final solution completely replaced the generic FAR depreciation process. Monthly depreciation calculations, journal generation, validation, and ledger posting were automated within a single streamlined workflow.

As a result, the client achieved savings of approximately 60 (sixty) man-hours per month, freeing resources to focus on higher-value activities. The automation significantly reduced operational risk by removing manual handling and introducing consistent controls throughout the process. Depreciation journals were generated and posted into the SunSystems© financials within ‘normal hours’ ensuring less pressure on achieving month-end reporting deadlines.

The project delivered measurable efficiency gains, improved financial control, and a scalable long-term solution that supported the organisation’s evolving reporting requirements.