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Depreciation vs Depletion

Good Essays

The concept and practice of depreciation and depletion play an integral part in a company 's cash flow and profit or loss statements. Depreciation, according to investopedia is a method of allocating the cost of a tangible asset over its useful life. Depletion is very similar to depreciation with very subtle differences, the first one being what is depreciated verses depleted. All assets (except land) are depreciated but the assets with natural resources are depleted. The methods on how depreciation and depletion are calculated vary as well. Each will be visited in this essay.

Using depreciation, the time based usefulness of an asset of course varies depending on what the asset is. If it is a van for example, its usefulness might be …show more content…

Example: A copy machine is purchased for $3,217.89. The expected life is 4 years. Using double declining balance the depreciation would be calculated as follows:

factor = 2 * (1/4) = 0.50

Year

Depreciable

Basis

Depreciation

Calculation

Depreciation

Expense

Accumulated

Depreciation

1

3,217.89

3,217.89 * 0.5

1,608.95

1,608.94

2

1,608.94

1,608.94 * 0.5

804.47

2,413.41

3

804.48

804.48 * 0.5

402.24

2,815.65

4

402.24

402.24 * 0.5

201.12

3,016.77
Sum of the Years Digits

The first step is to sum the digits or numbers starting with the life and going back to one. For example, an asset with a life of 5 would have a sum of digits as follows: 5+ 4+ 3 +2 + 1 = 15

To find the percentage for each year divide the year 's digit by the sum. In the example above the percentage would be calculated as follows:

Year 1

5 / 15 = 33.34%

Year 2

4 / 15 = 26.67%

Year 3

3 / 15 = 20 %

Year 4

2 / 15 = 13.33 %

Year 5

1/ 15 = 6.67%

Example: A conference table is purchase for 1,467.89. The expected life is 5 years. Since this is a 5 year asset the yearly factors have been calculated above.

Year

Depreciation

Calculation

Depreciation

Expense

1

1,467.89 * 33.34

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