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Straight-line depreciation method

Description

In financial accounting, an asset is an economic resource. Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value and that is held to have positive economic value is considered an asset. In determining the profits (net income) from an activity, the receipts from the activity must be reduced by appropriate costs. One such cost is the cost of assets used but not immediately consumed in the activity. Such cost so allocated in a given period is equal to the reduction in the value placed on the asset, which is initially equal to the amount paid for the asset and subsequently may or may not be related to the amount expected to be received upon its disposal. Depreciation is any method of allocating such net cost to those periods in which the organization is expected to benefit from use of the asset. Straight-line depreciation is the simplest and most often used method. In this method, the company estimates the salvage value (scrap value) of the asset at the end of the period during which it will be used to generate revenues (useful life). (The salvage value is an estimate of the value of the asset at the time it will be sold or disposed of; it may be zero or even negative. Salvage value is also known as scrap value or residual value.) The company will then charge the same amount to depreciation each year over that period, until the value shown for the asset has reduced from the original cost to the salvage value.

Related formulas

Variables

ADEAnnual Depreciation Expense (dimensionless)
CFACost of Fixed Asset (dimensionless)
RVResidual Value (the future value of a good in terms of absolute value in monetary terms) (dimensionless)
ULOAUseful life of Asset (in years) (dimensionless)