I wrote this question and later learned a great deal more about fixed assets in Business central and wanted to update it with better steps.
Business Central actually has this built in but doesn't explain it well in the trainings.
If the purchasing department uses a clearing account, then a different individual adds fixed assets. Here are the steps:
1) After setting up the asset depreciation information on the card, a bar will show at the top to Acquire - you can also get there by going to Home > Acquire
2) This will start a wizard that allows you to pick a GL account, which will be the clearing account.
3) The next screen will let you enter the cost and the date it was actually purchased
4) There is a radial button on the next slide that asks if you want to see the journal or just post it - I selected see it.
The entry correctly moves the asset from the clearing account to the asset account and books the book value to the asset.
Why is this important - many larger A/P departments the A/P person is not the knowledge holder for the depreciation set-up of an asset or asset management.
Utilizing a clearing account helps expedite the A/P process and allows the knowledge holder of the assets to set-up the assets before month-end. Why use a clearing account instead of directly going to the asset account? This is the best way to make sure someone has set-up all the assets for the month that were booked by the A/P department. Plus it makes it way easier on the A/P department for coding. If they make a mistake on coding an asset that shouldn't be capitalized, the asset manager can review that in the clearing and then simply move it to the proper expense account. Otherwise, they can move it out by utilizing the step above when they capitalize the asset.
Hope this helps anyone else trying to navigate clearing accounts in BC fixed assets.