Compared with
Steda Registers compared with QuickBooks Desktop Fixed Asset Manager
Fixed Asset Manager ships inside QuickBooks Desktop Premier Accountant and Enterprise at no extra cost, and it calculates depreciation on six bases. If it is working for you, keep it. This page is for the shops where it is not, and it says which ones those are.
What Fixed Asset Manager does today
Fixed Asset Manager is a separate application installed beside the company file. It reads the fixed asset item list, calculates depreciation on a straight-line, declining-balance or income-tax method, and posts a journal entry back into QuickBooks on whichever basis you pick.
What it does not do is close a month. There is no locked period, no append-only record of who changed a life or a cost and when, and no copy of the register anywhere but the machine the software is installed on. Those are the three things an auditor asks about, and they are the three things Steda was built to add.
Row by row
The comparison
| Steda Registers | Fixed Asset Manager | Verdict | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Published. $199 a month for the first entity. | Included with Premier Accountant, Enterprise and Enterprise Accountant. | They lead |
| Tax bases | Book and tax on one register, with separate methods and lives per book. | Six bases: Federal, Book, AMT, ACE, State and Other. | They lead |
| Depreciation for book | Straight line, declining balance at 150 and 200 percent, sum of the years digits, and units of production. | Straight line, declining balance and an income tax method. | Steda |
| Depreciation for tax | Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System with the mid-quarter convention, Section 179 and bonus depreciation. | Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System, with a tax form worksheet. | Comparable |
| Where the register lives | In the cloud. Two people can be in it at once, from anywhere. | On the machine the software is installed on, beside the company file. | Steda |
| Period close | Months close in order and lock. Reopening one is an administrator action with a reason on it. | No period close of its own. A closing date password protects the QuickBooks file, not the register. | Steda |
| Audit trail | Append-only, on every change, with the user and the time. | None in the register itself. | Steda |
| Posting the entry | One Web Connector run posts it into the company file, checked against the file it is pinned to. | Posts the journal entry into QuickBooks directly, on the basis you choose. | Comparable |
| If you move to QuickBooks Online | The register stays in Steda. Disconnect Desktop, connect Online, keep closing months. | Does not run against QuickBooks Online. The register does not come with you. | Steda |
| Prepaid and deferred expenses | A register of its own, closing on the same month end. | Not covered. | Steda |
| Leases and loans | One effective-interest engine, with the schedules and the rollforward. | Not covered. | Steda |
| Texas property tax renditions | Built from the register, with the Comptroller percent-good tables for the year. | Not covered. | Steda |
| Tax return handoff | Excel and CSV exports of the tax register. | Exports to ProSeries and Lacerte, and prints a Form 4562 worksheet. | They lead |
Read from the other product’s own documentation in September 2026. The sources are listed at the foot of this page. Tell us if something here has changed and we will correct it.
The other side of it
Where Fixed Asset Manager is the better answer
- It costs nothing extra. If you already pay for Enterprise or Premier Accountant, it is sitting there.
- Six bases against Steda two. If you carry AMT and ACE bases, Fixed Asset Manager carries them and Steda does not.
- It hands off to ProSeries and Lacerte, and prints the Form 4562 worksheet. If your tax preparer works in either, that path is shorter than an export.
- It is one application on one machine, with nothing to connect and no second subscription to explain.
Do not buy this if
When Steda Registers is the wrong purchase
- You carry AMT or ACE bases. Steda does not have them.
- Your register is small and stable, your auditor has never asked about it, and one person is comfortably on top of it.
- You want depreciation and nothing else. Steda prices four registers together, and paying for four to use one is poor value.
If one of those is you, say so on the call and we will tell you so. A customer who did not need this is worse for us than a customer we never had.
Questions
Can Steda import from Fixed Asset Manager?
Yes. Export the register to CSV or Excel and upload it. Cost, in-service dates, methods, lives and accumulated depreciation come across as they are, staged and previewed row by row before anything is saved. Send it to us before the walkthrough and your own register is on screen when we talk.
Does Steda replace Fixed Asset Manager or sit beside it?
It replaces it. Running both means two registers drifting apart, which is the problem rather than the fix. The one thing worth keeping Fixed Asset Manager for is a basis Steda does not carry, and in that case tell us before you buy.
Do we still need QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise?
Yes. Steda is not a general ledger and does not replace one. It keeps the registers and posts the journal entries into the company file you already run.
What happens when QuickBooks Desktop stops being sold?
The register is in Steda, not in the company file, so it survives a move to QuickBooks Online. Disconnect the Desktop connection, connect Online, and carry on closing months. Both connectors are included at every price.
Sources
- Use Fixed Asset Manager in QuickBooks Desktop (Intuit)
- Understand terminology for the Fixed Asset Manager (Intuit)
Steda is not affiliated with Intuit. QuickBooks is Intuit’s trademark and is used here to say what Steda works with and what it is being compared against.
Other comparisons
Steda Registers and QuickBooks Online Advanced →
QuickBooks Online Advanced carries a fixed asset feature that creates a schedule and posts book depreciation every month on its own. It is genuinely useful and it is already in a plan some companies pay for. The gap is the tax book.
Steda Receivables and QuickBooks reminders →
QuickBooks sends reminders already, and for a small ledger that is enough. The question is what happens when the list is long enough that the same three emails go to the customer who always pays and the customer who never does.
The Steda portal and QuickBooks Payments →
Both let a customer pay an invoice online. The differences worth knowing are whose account the money lands in, whose branding the payer sees, and what a large bank payment costs.