Depreciation expense can be a big portion of a company’s total expense. And since expenses decrease income, it affects the overall value of a company. Understanding what it is and the methods can help ...

Accumulated depreciation is the sum of an asset’s depreciation expense. It’s calculated from the start of its use to a specific date. It’s also a contra-asset account. That means it decreases the ...

Depreciation is the recovery of the cost of a physical asset, like property or equipment, over multiple years. It allows companies to spread out the cost of some expenses, reduce taxable income and ...

David Kindness is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and an expert in the fields of financial accounting, corporate and individual tax planning and preparation, and investing and retirement planning.

Depreciation is an accounting and tax principle that acknowledges the useful life of a physical, long-term asset, which is an asset with a life span exceeding 12 months, and accounts for wear and tear ...

Amortization and depreciation are accounting methods used to allocate the cost of assets over their useful lives. Amortization applies to intangible assets like patents and trademarks. Depreciation ...

There are dollar limits on the depreciation deductions (including deductions under the IRC §179 expensing election) that can be claimed with respect to passenger automobiles. That limit is adjusted ...

Depreciation is a common accounting concept that helps adjust the value of a deteriorating asset over time as it becomes less efficient. A business can depreciate an asset with an expected useful life ...

Peter Gratton, Ph.D., is a New Orleans-based editor and professor with over 20 years of experience in investing, risk management, and public policy. Peter began covering markets at Multex (Reuters) ...