Assets

Assets represent valuable items owned by entities in your structure. Track properties, shares, businesses, cash, and other wealth with full ownership allocation and value management.

---

Assets and Liabilities

This page works with two kinds of record: assets — things of value that are owned — and liabilities — debts that someone is responsible for. Assets add to net worth; liabilities count against it.

Liabilities have their own guide; see Liabilities. The rest of this page covers assets, including the lightweight Asset funding fields recorded directly on an asset and separate liabilities connected through Associated liabilities.

---

What Are Assets?

Assets are anything of value that can be owned:

• Real estate (residential, commercial, industrial, farming properties, land)
• Businesses
• Listed and private shares
• Investment trusts
• Cash holdings
• Gold and precious metals
• Superannuation interests
• Life insurance policies
• Cryptocurrency
• Personal effects
• Other valuable items

---

Required Fields

Every asset must have:

• Asset name: Display name for the asset (up to 200 characters)
• Asset type: Category from 16 supported types (see Asset Types below)
• Gross value: Total value before debt; use zero when no value is currently recorded
• Ownership method: Sole, Joint Tenants, or Tenants in Common

---

Record fields

Asset details

• Gross value: Total value of the asset before debt.
• Ownership method: Sole, Joint Tenants, or Tenants in Common.
• Description: Additional information about the asset.
• Purpose: Why the asset is held or the role it serves.

Asset funding

• Amount owing: An optional asset-level balance. Enter the current balance as a positive amount.
• Creditor: Optional plain-text name of the creditor. This does not create an entity relationship.
• Account / reference: Optional account number or other reference.
• Net asset value: Automatically calculated as Gross value minus Amount owing.

Note: Net asset value can be negative if the amount owing exceeds gross value.

Asset funding or a separate liability? Use Asset funding for a quick asset-level valuation adjustment. When responsibility, terms, documents, or a separate debt lifecycle matter, create a Liability and connect it through Associated liabilities.

Ownership information

• Ownership method: Sole, Joint Tenants, or Tenants in Common
• Number of owners: Used for Sole and Joint Tenants

Important: These ownership fields are set on the asset itself, not on each ownership relationship. See Asset Ownership Methods for the detailed rules.

---

Asset Types

StructureGram supports 16 asset categories:

Each type has its own icon shown on the record and in diagrams.

Property Assets

Business & Investments

Financial Assets

Other

---

Value and Asset Funding

Gross value

• Must be ≥ $0 (cannot be negative)
• Represents total market value before debts
• Optional (can be left blank)

Asset funding

The Asset funding section records a lightweight balance directly on the asset:

• Amount owing is entered as a positive current balance.
• Creditor is optional plain text, such as the name of a bank or supplier.
• Account / reference is an optional descriptive reference.
• These fields do not create a creditor entity, loan relationship, or separate liability record.

Use this section when the main purpose is to calculate the asset's net value. For a debt with its own responsibility, terms, files, or lifecycle, create a Liability. For a formal lender-to-borrower arrangement, use Loans and Debts.

Net asset value

Formula: Net asset value = Gross value − Amount owing

Examples:

Property:
Gross value: $1,000,000
Amount owing: $600,000
Net asset value: $400,000

Mortgaged property with negative equity:
Gross value: $500,000
Amount owing: $650,000
Net asset value: -$150,000

Debt-free asset:
Gross value: $250,000
Amount owing: $0 (or blank)
Net asset value: $250,000

Display in Diagrams

Assets show their values below the icon:

• Net asset value: Bold text
• Gross value and Amount owing: In parentheses
• Negative values: Shown in red with warning indicator

Example: $400,000 net asset value from a $1,000,000 gross value and $600,000 Amount owing.

---

Ownership Methods

You can specify how ownership is structured. The ownership method is stored on the asset, and ownership relationships must fit that method.

Sole Ownership

• One owner only
• Number of owners: 1
• Owner has 100% beneficial interest
• Adding another owner is blocked until you change the asset ownership method

Joint Tenants

• Two or more owners (2-15)
• Equal shares automatically calculated
• Number of owners is stored on the asset
• The asset can record more joint owners than currently exist as ownership relationships
• Adding or removing an ownership relationship does not change the asset's number of owners
• Right of survivorship (on death, interest passes to surviving joint tenants)
• Example: 2 owners = 50% each, 4 owners = 25% each

Tenants in Common

• Two or more owners with specified percentages
• Can have unequal shares
• Total ownership percentages cannot exceed 100%
• No right of survivorship (interest passes via will/estate)
• Each owner's percentage set on ownership relationship

Key Difference:

• Joint Tenants: Equal automatic split, ownership method on asset
• Tenants in Common: Custom percentages, set on each relationship

Setting Ownership Method

1. On the asset: Set "Ownership Method" field
2. For Joint Tenants/Sole: Set "Number of Owners" on the asset
3. For Tenants in Common: Leave number blank, set percentages on each ownership relationship

For the full rules, including how to change ownership method later, see Asset Ownership Methods.

---

Ownership Relationships

Who Can Own Assets?

Assets can be owned by:

• ✅ Individuals
• ✅ Companies
• ✅ Trusts
• ✅ SMSFs
• ✅ Partnerships
• ❌ NOT by other assets

One-Way Relationship: Ownership is always Entity → Asset, never Asset → Entity.

Ownership Percentage

Each ownership relationship includes:

• Ownership Percentage: 0-100%
• Ownership Method: Displayed from the asset

100% Validation

• Sole ownership is always 100%.
• Joint tenants use equal shares based on the asset's configured number of owners.
• Tenants in common can use different percentages, but the total cannot exceed 100%.

---

Associated liabilities

An asset can be associated with a standalone Liability that funded it or otherwise relates to it.

• Use Associated liabilities to connect a separate liability that funded the asset or otherwise relates to it.
• On the liability, the corresponding section is Associated assets.
• Add an optional Nature of relationship, such as "Funded purchase", to explain why the records are connected.
• On a diagram the link is created as an Associated connection (relationship type associated_with), drawn between the asset and the liability.
• The association is informational. It does not transfer a value, create security, or change either record's balance.
• Associations and their descriptions save immediately, independently of the asset's own Save action.

Avoid counting the same debt twice. Amount owing already reduces the asset's net asset value, while a separate liability contributes its own balance to the financial position. If an associated liability represents the same debt, clear the asset's Amount owing.

Association is not security

An Associated connection only explains that an asset and liability are related. If an asset is formally securing a loan, record it through the loan's Securities workflow instead.

---

Assets as Loan Security

Assets can also be linked to loans as formal security records.

Important behavior:

• the security relationship runs from the lender to the asset,
• a loan can have one or more secured assets,
• security details can include type, value, PPSR-SIN, notes, and dates,
• and ownership diagrams can show separate Loan Security links when enabled.

If you need to review or manage the broader lending arrangement around an asset, use the dedicated loan workflow rather than treating the asset as a lender or borrower.

---

Assets as Lease Targets

Assets can also be the target of lease relationships.

Important behavior:

• the lease runs from the lessee entity to the asset,
• assets are lease targets, not lessees,
• lease rows can carry dates and lease metadata such as payment, review, option, bond, PPSR, and notes,
• and asset rows can show indicators such as who the asset is leased to and the payment summary when that data exists.

Use the dedicated lease workflow when you need to record or edit that use-right relationship.

---

Creating assets

You can create an asset from Assets & Liabilities, an ownership diagram, or an entity page. Complete Asset details, add Asset funding if required, and create the ownership relationship for the relevant owner.

See How to Create Assets for the step-by-step workflows.

Ownerless Asset Handling: Assets with no ownership relationships are not automatically deleted. They appear in Unowned Assets on Assets & Liabilities, where you can reassign ownership or delete them.

---

Examples

Residential Property (Joint Tenants)

• Name: 123 Main Street, Sydney
• Type: Residential Property
• Gross value: $1,200,000
• Amount owing: $800,000
• Net asset value: $400,000
• Ownership method: Joint Tenants
• Number of owners: 2
• Owners:
  • John Smith (50% automatic)
  • Sarah Smith (50% automatic)

---

Investment Property (Tenants in Common)

• Name: Unit 5/456 Investment Ave
• Type: Commercial Property
• Gross value: $850,000
• Amount owing: $450,000
• Net asset value: $400,000
• Ownership method: Tenants in Common
• Owners:
  • Smith Family Trust (70%)
  • Johnson Trust (30%)

---

Business Entity

• Name: Smith Consulting Business
• Type: Business
• Gross value: $500,000
• Amount owing: $100,000
• Net asset value: $400,000
• Ownership method: Sole
• Owner:
  • Smith Holdings Pty Ltd (100%)

---

Listed Shares Portfolio

• Name: ASX Listed Shares Portfolio
• Type: Listed Shares
• Gross value: $250,000
• Amount owing: $0
• Net asset value: $250,000
• Owners:
  • Michael Brown SMSF (100%)

---

Negative Equity Property

• Name: Underwater Investment Property
• Type: Residential Property
• Gross value: $400,000
• Amount owing: $550,000
• Net asset value: -$150,000 (shown in red)
• Owner:
  • Distressed Investor (100%)

---

Assets & Liabilities Page

Purpose

Central hub for managing assets, liabilities, ownership, and responsibility across all entities.

Features

• Create allocation: Create ownership or responsibility relationships, including inline asset or liability creation.
• All Allocations: Search and filter existing ownership and responsibility relationships.
• Unowned Assets: Reassign or delete assets with no ownership relationships.
• Inline editing: Edit ownership percentages and record details.
• Group filtering: Filter by the active group or all groups.

For the detailed edit workflow, see Editing Assets on Assets & Liabilities.

Reports and financial position

The Assets and Liabilities report keeps each concept separate:

• assets show Gross value, Amount owing, creditor details, associated liabilities, and net asset value;
• liabilities show responsible entities, associated assets, and their own balance;
• Inter-entity Loans and Debts shows loan receivables and debts payable from recorded outstanding balances;
• loans between two entities inside the same consolidated scope are identified as internal and eliminated from the consolidated net position; and
• associations and loan security provide context but do not add or subtract value by themselves.

The report's Data quality section flags an asset that has Amount owing as well as an associated liability or secured loan so that you can review possible duplicate debt.

Workflow

1. Select entity (from active group)
2. Select or create asset
3. Check the asset ownership method
4. Enter an ownership percentage if the asset is tenants in common
5. Save relationship
6. View in list below with totals

---

Unowned Assets Register (Orphan Asset Schedule)

When an asset has zero ownership relationships, it appears in Unowned Assets at the bottom of Assets & Liabilities.

What you can do there

• Reassign ownership: Use Create allocation to create a new ownership relationship for the asset.
• Edit asset details: Use the edit action on the asset row.
• Delete assets: Delete one-by-one or use Select all + Delete Selected for bulk cleanup.

Why this exists

• It gives you a safe holding area for ownerless assets.
• It supports ownership transition workflows (for example, remove one owner and then add a new owner).

---

Ownership Transition Behaviour in Diagrams

In an Ownership Diagram session, assets follow this deterministic contract:

1. If an asset has at least one persisted ownership relationship, it behaves normally.
2. If its last ownership relationship is deleted, it becomes a session-retained orphan.
3. A session-retained orphan:
   • can remain on canvas,
   • can be hidden to stencil and dragged back,
   • does not show false "already has an owner" warnings.
4. If a new ownership relationship is created successfully, retained-orphan status is cleared immediately.
5. If creation fails, retained-orphan status remains unchanged.
6. The source of truth is the persisted/scoped relationship state (not stale local cache).

For long-term management of ownerless assets, use the Unowned Assets register on Assets & Liabilities.

---

Inline Editing

For the full edit workflow, including when to edit the asset versus the ownership row, see Editing Assets on Assets & Liabilities.

Edit Ownership Relationship

1. Click the pencil action on the ownership row
2. Modify relationship-level details such as owner, dates, or percentage where allowed
3. Click "Save" (validates) or "Cancel"
4. Other rows remain read-only

Edit Asset Details

1. Click the asset name to open the edit dialog
2. Modify Asset details, Asset funding, ownership settings, or associations
3. Click "Save" or "Cancel"
4. Ownership method changes may require related ownership relationships to be adjusted

Delete Ownership

1. Click "Delete" button
2. Confirm deletion
3. If this was the last owner, the asset moves to the Unowned Assets register (it is not auto-deleted)

---

Implementation Notes

Code vs Story Differences

1. Asset Types: Implemented 16 types (stories 7.1a/b specified 13 types, added 3 more: superannuation, life-insurance, crypto)
2. Ownership Method Storage: Stored on asset entity itself (stories implied per-relationship storage)
3. Number of Owners Field: Added to asset for joint tenants calculation (not in original stories)
4. Inline Creation: Fully integrated into ownership form (stories outlined concept, implementation made seamless)
5. Ownerless Asset Lifecycle: Assets without owners are surfaced in the Unowned Assets register; in Ownership Diagram sessions they can be temporarily retained to support reassignment flows
6. Net asset value calculation: Automatic calculation with negative value support
7. Purpose Field: Added to assets (not in story 7.1)

Validation Rules

• Asset name is required (up to 200 characters)
• Asset type is required (must select from 16 types)
• Gross value must be ≥ $0 if provided
• Amount owing is entered as a positive amount; compatible storage keeps the value at or below $0
• Net value can be negative (calculation allows it)
• Ownership relationships are entity → asset (never asset → entity)
• Ownership method applies to property types primarily
• Ownership method is stored on the asset, not on each ownership relationship
• Joint tenant owner count is stored on the asset and must be at least 2
• Actual joint tenant ownership relationships cannot exceed the asset's configured number of owners
• Tenants in common percentages cannot exceed 100% in total

---

Related Topics

• Liabilities
• Loans, Security, and Guarantors
• Leases
• Editing Assets on Assets & Liabilities
• Creating Relationships
• Asset Ownership Methods
• Individuals
• Companies
• Trusts
• SMSFs
• Partnerships
• Ownership Diagrams