DB

MS Excel Spreadsheet

See Also

Returns the depreciation of an asset for a specified period using the fixed-declining balance method.

Syntax

DB(cost,salvage,life,period,month)

Cost    is the initial cost of the asset.

Salvage    is the value at the end of the depreciation (sometimes called the salvage value of the asset).

Life    is the number of periods over which the asset is being depreciated (sometimes called the useful life of the asset).

Period    is the period for which you want to calculate the depreciation. Period must use the same units as life.

Month    is the number of months in the first year. If month is omitted, it is assumed to be 12.

Remarks

  • The fixed-declining balance method computes depreciation at a fixed rate. DB uses the following formulas to calculate depreciation for a period:

    (cost - total depreciation from prior periods) * rate

    where:

    rate = 1 - ((salvage / cost) ^ (1 / life)), rounded to three decimal places

  • Depreciation for the first and last periods is a special case. For the first period, DB uses this formula:

    cost * rate * month / 12

  • For the last period, DB uses this formula:

    ((cost - total depreciation from prior periods) * rate * (12 - month)) / 12

Example

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank spreadsheet.

ShowHow?

Data Description
1,000,000 Initial cost
100,000 Salvage value
6 Lifetime in years
Formula Description (Result)
=DB(A2,A3,A4,1,7) Depreciation in first year, with only 7 months calculated (186,083.33)
=DB(A2,A3,A4,2,7) Depreciation in second year (259,639.42)
=DB(A2,A3,A4,3,7) Depreciation in third year (176,814.44)
=DB(A2,A3,A4,4,7) Depreciation in fourth year (120,410.64)
=DB(A2,A3,A4,5,7) Depreciation in fifth year (81,999.64)
=DB(A2,A3,A4,6,7) Depreciation in sixth year (55,841.76)
=DB(A2,A3,A4,7,7) Depreciation in seventh year, with only 5 months calculated (15,845.10)