Depreciation: How Accountants Should Manage Assets

(Depreciation) is a vital financial tool that helps companies measure the value of assets over their useful life. While many view it as just an ordinary accounting process, it actually raises important issues related to analyzing a company’s financial health.

Why is depreciation important to business?

When companies compare profits with others, depreciation often creates significant differences. Companies with extensive machinery and facilities will deduct higher depreciation, which may make their net profit appear lower than companies with fewer fixed assets.

In practice, depreciation is included in the calculation of EBIT(Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) but is excluded from EBITDA. This difference is crucial for investors because EBITDA provides a clearer picture of a company’s actual earning capacity without the impact of accounting choices.

Which assets can be depreciated?

The Revenue Department clearly defines which assets can be depreciated. Assets with the following characteristics are considered eligible:

• Owned by the company and used in operations or income generation
• Have a determinable useful life
• Expected to be used for more than one year

Common assets eligible for depreciation include vehicles, buildings, furniture, computers, machinery, and even intangible assets such as patents, copyrights, and software.

Conversely, land, collections(such as artworks), investments(in stocks and bonds), and personal assets cannot be depreciated because their value does not decrease or they are used for less than a year.

How to calculate depreciation: four main methods

1. Straight-line Method(

This is the simplest and most widely used method. It divides the asset’s value equally over its useful life. For example, if a company purchases a car for 100,000 THB expected to last 5 years, annual depreciation will be 20,000 THB.

Advantages: Easy to use, few errors, often preferred by small businesses.

Disadvantages: Does not account for rapid loss of value in the early years or increased maintenance costs as the asset ages.

) 2. Double-Declining Balance###

This method allows for higher depreciation in the first year and decreases over time, helping companies recover asset value faster. Suitable for businesses needing additional cash flow early on.

Advantages: Compensates for increased maintenance costs, provides higher tax deductions in the first year.

Disadvantages: Less beneficial if the business is already experiencing tax losses.

( 3. Declining Balance)

A form of accelerated depreciation, where the asset’s value is deducted at twice the rate of the straight-line method, resulting in higher depreciation in the initial years and decreasing thereafter.

4. Units of Production Method(

This method calculates depreciation based on actual usage, ideal for machinery where depreciation depends on hours operated or production volume.

Advantages: High accuracy, reflects actual usage costs.

Disadvantages: Requires detailed tracking of usage, difficult to estimate the asset’s total production capacity at the end of its useful life.

What is amortization)?

Amortization is an accounting process similar to depreciation but applied to intangible assets and loans. It involves paying off debt in regular installments that include interest and principal.

Classic example: If a company has a loan of 10,000 THB with monthly payments of 2,000 THB, annual amortization will be 24,000 THB.

For intangible assets: If a patent for machinery costing 10,000 THB is valid for 10 years, annual amortization is 1,000 THB.

Key differences between depreciation and amortization

Similarities between EBIT and EBITDA

Investors often confuse EBIT)Earnings Before Interest and Taxes( and EBITDA)Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization(.

The main difference: EBITDA adds back depreciation and amortization to income to show earnings unaffected by accounting methods. This is why EBITDA is useful for comparing companies across industries.

Why is this important for investors?

Understanding depreciation helps investors to:

• Analyze the quality of reported profits)(that is, whether profits are genuine or partly due to accounting choices)
• Fairly compare companies with different asset structures
• Accurately forecast cash flows(since depreciation is a non-cash expense)

In summary: Depreciation and amortization are not just accounting processes that can be ignored; they are crucial lenses for understanding a company’s true financial health. Deep knowledge of these concepts is an essential skill for anyone interested in investing or managing corporate finances.