Glossary · Bookkeeping & QuickBooks term
Depreciation
The accounting method that spreads the cost of a long-lived asset across the years it’s used, rather than expensing it all in the year of purchase — a non-cash expense that lowers profit without touching cash.
In plain terms
What depreciation means.
Depreciation is the accounting method of allocating the cost of a tangible long-lived asset — equipment, vehicles, machinery — over the years it is expected to be used, instead of recording the whole cost as an expense in the year you bought it. Each period takes a portion as a depreciation expense.
It is a non-cash expense: it reduces reported profit and the asset’s book value (via accumulated depreciation on the balance sheet), but no cash leaves the business when it is recorded — the cash left when you bought the asset.
Where it shows up — and where the CPA takes over.
Depreciation matters because it affects both profit (a recurring expense on the P&L) and the balance sheet (asset value declining over time). Booked correctly, it keeps both statements honest; ignored, it overstates both profit and asset value.
Importantly, book depreciation and tax depreciation are not the same. The tax rules — Section 179 expensing, bonus depreciation, MACRS schedules — are the domain of your CPA or EA, who sets the tax method and amounts. TechBrot records depreciation in your books to match what your tax professional directs; we keep the books right, they make the tax call.
Put it to work
Fixed assets not on the books correctly?
A Certified ProAdvisor sets up asset and depreciation tracking in your books to match your CPA’s schedule — written fixed-fee scope.