Schedule III disclosures for property, plant and equipment: what the notes must show

Why the note deserves its own plan

Schedule III to the Companies Act, 2013 sets the format of the balance sheet and statement of profit and loss. Division I applies to companies that follow the notified Accounting Standards (AS), Division II to companies following Ind AS, and Division III to non-banking financial companies on Ind AS.

For most companies the property, plant and equipment note is one of the largest in the financial statements, and since amendments notified by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on 24 March 2021, effective for financial years beginning on or after 1 April 2021, it carries several additional disclosures that need data many registers did not hold. This article goes through the note line by line and says where each figure should come from. It is written for Divisions I and II; check the exact wording of your Division with your auditor.

1. Classes of assets

Schedule III asks for property, plant and equipment to be classified, typically into land, buildings, plant and equipment, furniture and fixtures, vehicles, office equipment and others, with intangible assets shown separately. Assets under lease are to be separately specified under each class (Division I). Under Ind AS, right-of-use assets under Ind AS 116 are shown either as a separate line or within the class of the underlying asset, with the Ind AS 116 disclosures.

Where it comes from: the asset category in the register must map to exactly one Schedule III class. If your categories are finer (laptops, servers, printers), keep a mapping table so every category rolls up correctly.

2. The reconciliation of carrying amounts

For each class, the note reconciles the gross and net carrying amounts at the beginning and end of the period, showing additions, disposals, acquisitions through business combinations, other adjustments, and the related depreciation and impairment losses or reversals.

Where it comes from: the register's roll-forward. This is the core reason to keep the register and the ledger in agreement throughout the year. If the opening balance in the register does not equal last year's audited closing balance, the note will not reconcile, and the difference has to be found before anything else.

Transfers between classes and from CWIP to PPE should appear as separate movements, not netted into additions.

3. Revaluation

Two disclosures apply when a company revalues property, plant and equipment:

• Whether the revaluation is based on the valuation by a registered valuer as defined under rule 2 of the Companies (Registered Valuers and Valuation) Rules, 2017
• Where the change due to revaluation is 10% or more in the aggregate of the net carrying value of each class, the amount of the change is to be stated separately

Under Ind AS 16, the revaluation model also brings its own disclosures (the effective date, whether an independent valuer was involved, the carrying amount under the cost model). CARO 2020 clause 3(i)(d) then asks the auditor whether the revaluation was based on a registered valuer and whether a change of 10% or more was disclosed.

Where it comes from: the revaluation document for each asset or class, with the valuer's report and registration details attached.

4. Title deeds not held in the company's name

The amendments added a disclosure for immovable property (other than properties where the company is the lessee and the lease agreement is duly executed in favour of the lessee) whose title deeds are not held in the name of the company. For each such property, the note gives:

• The relevant line item in the balance sheet
• A description of the item of property
• The gross carrying value
• The name in which the title deeds are held
• Whether the title deed holder is a promoter, director, a relative of a promoter or director, or an employee of a promoter or director
• The date from which the property has been held
• The reason for not being held in the name of the company, including where the matter is in dispute

CARO 2020 clause 3(i)(c) covers the same ground from the auditor's side.

Where it comes from: a title register for land and buildings, kept alongside the fixed asset register, with the deed reference, the name on the deed and a copy of the deed. Common reasons a deed is not in the company's name include properties acquired through a merger where mutation is pending, and properties bought in the name of a director before incorporation. The reason has to be specific.

5. Capital work-in-progress ageing

CWIP is to be shown with an ageing schedule in four buckets: less than one year, one to two years, two to three years, and more than three years, separately for projects in progress and projects temporarily suspended.

For projects whose completion is overdue, or whose cost has exceeded the original plan, a completion schedule is also required, showing when each such project is expected to be completed in the same buckets. Projects whose activity has been suspended are disclosed separately.

Where it comes from: the CWIP sub-ledger, by project, with the date of each cost entry and the original plan (budget and target date) for each project. The ageing is usually computed from the date each amount was incurred. Confirm the basis with your auditor and use it consistently. The CWIP article goes into the mechanics.

6. Intangible assets under development

The same ageing schedule and completion schedule apply to intangible assets under development, for example software being built in-house or product development costs being capitalised.

7. Benami property

Where any proceedings have been initiated or are pending against the company for holding any benami property under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 and the rules made under it, the company discloses details including the property, its amount, the beneficiaries, whether it is in the books, and the nature of the proceedings. CARO 2020 clause 3(i)(e) reports on the same matter.

8. Capital commitments

Under contingent liabilities and commitments, Schedule III requires the estimated amount of contracts remaining to be executed on capital account and not provided for.

Where it comes from: open purchase orders for capital items and the uncompleted portion of CWIP contracts. A procurement system that links orders to CWIP projects makes this a report rather than a survey.

9. Disclosures from Schedule II and the standards

The Schedule III note is not the only place where fixed assets are disclosed. Alongside it:

• Schedule II. Where a company uses a useful life or residual value different from Part C, the financial statements must disclose the difference and the justification, supported by technical advice. Check your lives against the useful life table.
• Ind AS 16 or AS 10. The measurement bases, depreciation methods, useful lives or rates, and the reconciliation already described.
• Ind AS 36 or AS 28. Impairment losses and reversals by class, and the events that led to them. See impairment indicators.
• Accounting policies. The capitalisation threshold, the treatment of components, and the policy on borrowing costs.

Building the note from the register

Teams that build the note by hand in a spreadsheet each year tend to struggle with the same three items: the transfer from CWIP, the title deed table and the CWIP ageing. Each needs data captured during the year, not reconstructed at the end. A practical approach:

1. Map every category to a Schedule III class once, and lock the mapping.
2. Record CWIP by project with dates and the original plan.
3. Keep the title register with the deed details for every property.
4. Reconcile the register to the ledger monthly or quarterly, not only at year-end.
5. Have someone other than the preparer tie the note to the trial balance before it goes to the auditor.

The year-end closing checklist puts these steps into an order of work.

How FixedAsset Pro helps

The report centre in FixedAsset Pro includes a Schedule III fixed asset schedule built from the register, and CWIP ageing in the Schedule III buckets is available from Financial Management. Register, ledger and depreciation can be reconciled per account as at a date with drill-down to the asset (Audit and Compliance). The note's wording and the judgements in it remain the company's and the auditor's.

This article is general information as at October 2026, not legal or accounting advice. Schedule III wording differs between Divisions; check the current text and your auditor's expectations before finalising the note.