Financial Compliance

Colby Community College has a significant investment in its fixed assets, which are comprised of land, buildings, construction in progress, and fixed/movable equipment. These fixed assets are used to carry on the College’s primary missions of instruction and public service.

An item is considered a fixed, or capital, asset if it is owned or considered owned by the College, is held for operations for more than one year, and its acquisition value is $5,000 or more, individually or as an operating unit, for equipment. This includes all items gifted to the College as well as purchases made with donated funds. All fixed assets are owned or deemed accountable by the College and not a specific individual, department, or other operating unit.

Fixed assets are recorded at cost at the date of acquisition for purchased items. Donated items are recorded at fair market value on the date received. Depreciation is calculated on the straight-line basis over the estimated useful life of each class of depreciable asset. Estimated lives range from 3 to 50 years. Since land does not have an estimated useful life, it is not depreciated.

Guidelines have been established to help College departments and personnel ensure that the College’s fixed assets are acquired, safeguarded, controlled, disposed of, and accounted for in accordance with state and federal regulations, audit requirements, and generally accepted accounting principles.

Responsibilities of the Controller

The Controller is responsible for handling a variety of day-to-day accounting responsibilities, such as account analysis and reconciliation, as well as reporting and analysis, which include fixed asset accounting, debt service, bond proceeds analysis, and accounting for capital and operating leases.

Capital Assets

Assets are depreciated using the straight-line method. The range of estimated useful lives by asset category is summarized below.

Estimated useful lives of capital assets by asset category

Asset Category	Years
Buildings	45 to 50
Building Improvements	5 to 20
Furniture and Equipment	5 to 15
Vehicles	3 to 8
I.T. Equipment Hardware/Software	3 to 10

The costs of normal maintenance and repairs that do not increase the value of the asset or materially extend asset lives are not capitalized and depreciated.

What to Do When Capital Assets Are Delivered

Business Affairs Office staff are responsible for accounting and tracking fixed assets. The general fixed asset information that is tracked includes the location, purchase information such as date of purchase, manufacturer, model, serial number, and department name. The fixed asset information will be entered into the College’s Enterprise Resource Planning system.

In the event a fixed asset is purchased with federal funds that require a fixed asset tag, the Controller coordinates this with the awarding agency.

Selling, Trading In, Donating, or Disposing of a Capital Asset

The Business Affairs Office staff must be notified of all disposals of capital equipment. When selling, donating, trading in, or disposing of capital equipment, the department responsible for the capital equipment must complete the equipment and furniture disposal form in order to properly account for removing the asset from the College’s Enterprise Resource Planning system.

The Policy for Disposal of College Assets can be viewed online.

Additionally, the Business Affairs Office staff must be notified by email or telephone before all transfers of capital equipment to another department or location within the College.

[Updated May 2026]
[Added February 2020]