IPSAS 17 vs IPSAS 45: Public-Sector Asset Registers

IPSAS 17 vs IPSAS 45 in one paragraph

IPSAS 45 Property, Plant, and Equipment, published by the IPSASB on 26 May 2023, supersedes IPSAS 17 (issued in 2006) for annual financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025. It adds current operational value to the current value model and new guidance on heritage and infrastructure assets. It matters because the asset register must now support these measurement and recognition choices.

IPSAS 46 Measurement was published on the same day and gives the measurement guidance IPSAS 45 points to. Earlier application of IPSAS 45 was permitted only for entities that also applied IPSAS 43, 44 and 46. This guide explains what changed, why componentisation is where most registers fail, how Canadian and German public bodies face the same problem under their own rules, and what a register needs to hold. Standards are stated as of October 2026.

Why the asset register is a maintenance document too

Finance teams see the fixed-asset register as the source of the balance-sheet figure for property, plant and equipment. Estates and maintenance teams see a list of things to inspect and repair. In most public bodies these are two different lists, and that is the root of most register problems: assets that exist on site but not in the register, register lines for plant scrapped years ago, and no way to tell which component a repair replaced.

The two views need each other. Depreciation depends on useful lives, and the best evidence for a useful life is the asset's condition and repair history. Derecognising a replaced component needs its carrying amount, which needs the component to exist as a register line. Impairment reviews need condition data from inspections. ISO/TS 55010, updated in July 2024, is the asset management document dedicated to aligning financial and non-financial functions for exactly this reason.

If you are deciding whether a particular repair is capital or revenue spending, see our guide on maintenance and the balance sheet, which covers the capitalise-versus-expense test in detail. This guide covers the public-sector standards and the structure of the register itself.

What IPSAS 45 changed compared with IPSAS 17

According to the IPSASB, IPSAS 45 replaces IPSAS 17 by adding current operational value as a measurement basis in the updated current value model, identifying the characteristics of heritage and infrastructure assets, and adding guidance on how these should be recognised and measured. The main points for a register are:

• Effective date: annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025; IPSAS 45 paragraph 89 states that it supersedes IPSAS 17 issued in 2006
• Measurement models: an entity chooses the historical cost model or the current value model for each entire class of property, plant and equipment (paragraph 24)
• Current operational value: under the current value model, assets held mainly for their operational capacity are measured at current operational value, and those held for financial capacity at fair value (paragraph 27)
• IPSAS 46 link: measurement after recognition applies IPSAS 46, which brings generic fair value guidance into the IPSAS suite for the first time and introduces current operational value as a public-sector-specific current value basis
• Heritage assets: identified by characteristics such as restrictions on use or disposal, irreplaceability and long, sometimes indefinite, useful lives (AG2-AG3)
• Infrastructure assets: networks or systems that serve the community at large, with long useful lives because their parts are continually maintained, replaced and refurbished (AG4-AG5)
• Scope: weapons systems and service-concession assets after initial recognition are included (AG1)
• Componentisation: each significant part is depreciated separately (paragraph 41), the requirement with the most impact on registers

Componentisation: the paragraph that tests every register

IPSAS 45 paragraph 41 states: 'Each part of an item of property, plant, and equipment with a cost or value that is significant in relation to the total cost or value of the item shall be depreciated separately.' In a register this means one parent asset with child component lines, each with its own cost, useful life and depreciation.

Worked example (straight-line depreciation, nil residual values, figures in EUR). A municipality builds a swimming pool for €6,000,000 and splits it into four components: structure €4,200,000 over 60 years, €70,000 a year; roof €600,000 over 25 years, €24,000 a year; pool plant and ventilation €900,000 over 15 years, €60,000 a year; electrical installation €300,000 over 20 years, €15,000 a year. The components total €6,000,000 and the annual depreciation is €169,000.

Recorded as a single asset over 60 years, the same building would be depreciated at €100,000 a year, understating the annual expense by €69,000. The bigger problem arrives in year 12, when the pool plant is replaced. With components, the old plant's carrying amount is €900,000 less 12 × €60,000 = €180,000, which is derecognised, and the new plant at, say, €1,050,000 is capitalised and depreciated over 15 years at €70,000 a year. Without components there is no carrying amount to remove, so the replaced plant stays in the register alongside its replacement.

This is why maintenance data matters: the work order that replaced the plant is the trigger for the derecognition, and it must point to the component line, not just to the building.

A cautionary tale: England's infrastructure asset override

England offers a cautionary example. Regulation 30M of the Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (England) Regulations 2003, inserted by SI 2022/1232 in December 2022, lets a local authority that replaces a component of an infrastructure asset determine the carrying amount to derecognise as nil (or in line with the accounting code), and removes the need for prior-period adjustments.

The override was first available for financial years beginning on or before 1 April 2024; the current text extends it to years beginning on or before 1 April 2028. An infrastructure asset here means an asset owned by a local authority with no prospect of sale or other use that forms part of the infrastructure of its area.

Whatever the policy reasons, the practical lesson is plain: a register that records a road, a bridge or a building only as one line cannot say what a replaced part was worth. Component-level registers, linked to the work orders that replace parts, avoid that position.

Heritage and infrastructure assets in the register

IPSAS 45 describes heritage assets as assets held for their rarity or significance, whether archaeological, architectural, cultural or historical, with examples such as historic buildings, monuments, museum collections and works of art. Where a heritage item is an asset but cannot be measured reliably, paragraph 7 directs that it is disclosed (under paragraph 77) rather than recognised. Your register still needs a line for it, flagged as heritage and as not recognised, so that inspection and conservation work can be planned and costed.

Infrastructure assets make up networks or systems that serve the community at large, and the IPSAS 45 guidance gives electricity transmission networks as an example. Their long lives exist because the parts are continually maintained, replaced and refurbished, which is the strongest argument for recording networks as parent assets with replaceable components such as road surfaces, pumps or cables.

A practical rule: flag heritage and infrastructure status on the register line, record the measurement model of the class, and keep the condition grade from the last inspection next to the financial data.

Canada and Germany: the same problem under other rules

Canadian governments report under the CPA Canada Public Sector Accounting Handbook, where section PS 3150 Tangible Capital Assets is the relevant standard; check your register policies against the current Handbook text. Asset management planning adds a second requirement in Ontario: O. Reg. 588/17 required plans for core infrastructure by 1 July 2022 and for all other municipal infrastructure assets by 1 July 2024, and from 1 July 2025 every plan must include proposed levels of service, lifecycle activities and a financial strategy, approved by council resolution and updated at least every five years.

Capacity is uneven. In the Canadian Infrastructure Report Card 2019 survey, only 29 per cent of small municipalities (under 5,000 people) reported a documented asset management plan, against 56 per cent of medium and 70 per cent of large municipalities. A register that already carries condition, criticality and maintenance cost per asset is most of the data such a plan needs.

In Germany, many states have moved municipalities from cash-based Kameralistik to double-entry Doppik, for example under NKF in North Rhine-Westphalia, which requires an opening balance sheet and the recording and depreciation of municipal fixed assets. The rules differ by state, so check your own state's municipal budget law for valuation and componentisation.

Linking work orders to register lines

The link between maintenance and the register should run through the asset ID. Every work order should name the asset, and where the asset has components, the component. That single discipline produces three things finance needs: a replacement trigger for derecognition, repair cost history for useful-life and impairment reviews, and evidence that capital spending actually created or replaced an asset.

Worked example. A council's depot has a vehicle wash with a register cost of €240,000 and a 20-year life, depreciated at €12,000 a year. Over three years the CMMS shows corrective work costing €18,000, €26,000 and €41,000, a total of €85,000, with downtime rising each year. The rising trend is a signal to review the remaining useful life and test for impairment, and the work-order history is the documented evidence the auditor will ask for.

Keep maintenance cost reporting separate from capitalisation decisions. Routine repairs are expensed; replacement of a significant component is capitalised and the old component derecognised. The CMMS records the work and its cost, and the register records the accounting consequence.

What a public-sector asset register should hold

A register that serves both finance and maintenance needs these field groups for every line, parent or component:

• Identity: asset number, description, class, parent asset (for components), serial number, manufacturer and model, barcode or QR label
• Location: site, building, floor, room and responsible department
• Acquisition: date, cost or deemed cost, supplier, funding source and capital project reference
• Measurement: class measurement model (historical cost or current value), last valuation date, basis and valuer
• Depreciation: method, useful life, residual value, accumulated depreciation and carrying amount
• Status flags: heritage, infrastructure, recognised or disclosed only, held for operational or financial capacity
• Condition and risk: condition grade, criticality score and date of last inspection
• Maintenance links: warranty end date, maintenance contract, PPM schedule and lifetime maintenance cost

Year-end checklist for the asset register

Run this checklist before the year-end close, with estates and finance in the same meeting:

• Reconcile the register total by class to the general ledger and explain every difference
• Match register lines to the maintenance asset list; investigate items on one list only
• Review completed replacement work orders and confirm each replaced component was derecognised
• Review useful lives where repair cost or downtime has risen, using the work-order history
• Confirm the measurement model for each class and the date of the last current value measurement
• Check heritage and infrastructure flags and the disclosures for items not recognised
• Verify a sample of assets physically, by label, and record movements and disposals
• File the evidence: valuation reports, condition surveys and the work orders behind each adjustment

How Skyline Nexus ERP supports a public-sector asset register

Skyline Nexus ERP keeps the asset register and the CMMS in one system. Asset Management holds each asset with serial number, manufacturer, model, barcode, QR code, RFID tag, department, floor and room, and Components lets you record parent and child assets, so a building or network can hold its significant parts as child assets. The Lifecycle screens cover Depreciation (Straight Line, Declining Balance, Sum of Years Digits, Units of Production), Revaluation, Impairment, Disposal and CIP, and Import Assets loads an existing register.

Reports include Fixed Asset Register, Depreciation Schedule, Asset Valuation, Movement History and Disposal Report, and the Asset Financial Centre shows Depreciation Liabilities, Maintenance Costs and Budget Control. Depreciation journals post to the general ledger when Auto-post Depreciation Entries is switched on. On the maintenance side, work orders capture labour, parts and external cost against the asset, reported by asset, department and cost centre, which gives you the repair history for useful-life reviews. Your IPSAS 45 policy choices, such as the measurement model for each class, remain your own decisions; the register holds the cost, depreciation, revaluation and impairment entries that result.

Try the free month with a sample of your register, or book a demo and we will show a building split into components, a replacement work order and the register entries side by side.