Furniture & Fixtures and Its Depreciation: Codes 0040 & 0041

Desks, chairs, shelving and fitted units are Fixed Assets in the same way machinery or vehicles are — bought once and used for years. Sage keeps the original cost and the depreciation written off it in two separate codes, so the balance sheet shows both.

The two codes, and what each one holds

Code 0040 — Furniture and Fixtures records the cost of desks, chairs, shelving and fitted units bought for long-term use. As a Fixed Assets code it normally carries a debit balance, increased by new purchases and reduced only on disposal.

Code 0041 — Furniture/Fixture Depreciation is the accumulated depreciation contra-account sitting alongside 0040, normally carrying a credit balance. Each year's charge (posted as an expense to code 8002) increases this credit balance, writing the furniture down in value without changing the cost recorded in 0040.

Real-world examples across industries

Hospitality

A restaurant refits its dining room with new tables, chairs and bar fixtures, invoiced at £21,600 (£18,000 net). The purchase is a debit of £18,000 to 0040 (Furniture and Fixtures), a debit of £3,600 to 2201, and a credit of £21,600 to 2100. Given how hard customer-facing furniture is used, it's depreciated over just 4 years — £4,500 a year, debited to the depreciation charge code (8002) and credited to 0041 (Furniture/Fixture Depreciation). After two years the credit balance in 0041 reaches £9,000, halving the net book value already, well ahead of a typical office fit-out on the same original cost.

Retail

A shop fits out a new store with shelving, display units and a till counter at opening, invoiced at £14,400 (£12,000 net) — a debit of £12,000 to 0040, a debit of £2,400 to 2201, and a credit of £14,400 to 2100. Retail fixtures sit somewhere between hospitality and office furniture for wear, so a 6-year life is typical: £2,000 a year debited to 8002 and credited to 0041. Because the spend is usually one large batch concentrated around a store opening rather than a steady trickle, 0040 tends to jump in a single month rather than creeping up gradually.

Professional services

A consultancy buys desks and chairs for two new starters, invoiced at £1,320 (£1,100 net) — a debit of £1,100 to 0040, a debit of £220 to 2201, and a credit of £1,320 to 2100. Office furniture under normal use lasts much longer, so a 10-year life is common: just £110 a year debited to 8002 and credited to 0041. Bought in small, infrequent batches as headcount grows rather than as one big project, this code moves in modest steps here rather than the large jumps seen in retail or hospitality.

Why this matters day to day

Furniture rarely gets tracked as carefully as machinery or vehicles, so it's common for old desks and chairs to sit fully depreciated on the register for years after they've actually been thrown out. Reviewing 0040 and 0041 together periodically — rather than just accepting whatever depreciation software auto-calculates — helps catch assets that should have been written off entirely.