DEPRECIATION Definition

DEPRECIATION is the amount of expense charged against earnings by a company to write off the cost of a plant or machine over its useful live, giving consideration to wear and tear, obsolescence, and salvage value. If the expense is assumed to be incurred in equal amounts in each business period over the life of the asset, the depreciation method used is straight line (SL). If the expense is assumed to be incurred in decreasing amounts in each business period over the life of the asset, the method used is said to be accelerated. Two commonly used variations of the accelerated method of depreciating an asset are the sum-of-years digits (SYD) and the double-declining balance (DDB) methods. Frequently, accelerated depreciation is chosen for a business tax expense but straight line is chosen for its financial reporting purposes.

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LOAN TO VALUE RATIO, in real estate, is the percentage value for the relationship between the amount of the mortgage loan and the appraised value of the property. Loan-to-value ratio is expressed to a potential purchaser of a property in terms of the percentage a lending institution is willing to finance.

INSTALLATION is 1. the act of installing something (as equipment) or, 2. a building or place that provides a particular service or is used for a particular industry.

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