adyakubu
Jul 14, 2009, 05:43 AM
On what side of the trial balance is depreciation recorded
2. Trial balance format
ROLCAM
Jul 14, 2009, 06:20 AM
Depreciation is another EXPENSE.
All expenses are DEBITS.
So depreciation has to be on the left
Among all debits.
morgaine300
Jul 14, 2009, 05:26 PM
Except that depreciation expense is not on the balance sheet at all. It's on the income statement.
Accumulated depreciation is on the balance sheet, which is a contra asset and a credit account. However, since things like contra accounts exist, you can't always use debits & credits to decide which side of the balance sheet it goes on. Even though accumulated depreciation is a credit account, it is not on the right side of the balance sheet. It's on the left with the other assets, but it is subtracted from the plant asset it goes with and offsets the balance of the asset. This makes more sense if you understand what contra accounts do.
But... you also didn't specific which depreciation account. Putting a word on an account to indicate what type of account it is works better. (i.e. if you just say "rent" then no one knows if it's prepaid rent, rent expense, rent revenue or unearned rent. Those seemingly unimportant words are very important.)