Depreciation—a Method of Cost Allocation

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DEPRECIATION—A METHOD OF COST ALLOCATION Most individuals at one time or another purchase and trade in an automobile. The automobile dealer and the buyer typically discuss what the trade-in value of the old car is. Also, they may talk about what the trade-in value of the new car will be in several years. In both cases, a decline in value is considered to be an example of depreciation. To accountants, however, depreciation is not a matter of valuation. Rather, depreciation is a means of cost allocation. Depreciation is the accounting process of allocating the cost of tangible assets to expense in a systematic and rational manner to those periods expected to benefit from the use of the asset. For example, a company like Goodyear (one of the world’s largest tire manufacturers) does not depreciate assets on the basis of a decline in their fair value. Instead, it depreciates through systematic charges to expense. This approach is employed because the value of the asset may fluctuate between the time the asset is purchased and the time it is sold or junked. Attempts to measure these interim value changes have not been well received because values are difficult to measure objectively. Therefore, Goodyear charges the asset’s cost to depreciation expense over its estimated life. It makes no attempt to value the asset at fair value between acquisition and disposition. Companies use the cost allocation approach because it matches costs with revenues and because fluctuations in fair value are uncertain and difficult to measure. When companies write off the cost of long-lived assets over a number of periods, they typically use the term depreciation. They use the term depletion to describe the reduction in the cost of natural resources (such as timber, gravel, oil, and coal) over a period of time. The expiration of intangible assets, such as patents or

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