Finance
Capitalisation policy
Formal definition
Capitalisation policy is a charity finance term for valuing and tracking physical or digital assets over their useful life while accounting for value reduction and ownership.
What this actually means for you
Finance leads and budget owners should treat Capitalisation policy as an operating standard: record new purchases on the asset register, apply depreciation rates consistently, and check for value loss annually, then review it at month-end and before trustee reporting cycles.
Example: During a planned change window, teams apply Capitalisation policy as follows: the facilities manager updates the asset register after a laptop rollout and finance calculates the monthly depreciation charge. They then update policy packs, approval logs, and team guidance for the next cycle.
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