Straight-Line Depreciation

A method that spreads an asset's cost evenly across its useful life.

Straight-line depreciation divides an asset's cost, minus its estimated salvage value, evenly across each year of its useful life, producing the same depreciation expense every period. It's the simplest and most widely used depreciation method, favored for its predictability even though it doesn't reflect that some assets lose value faster in their early years.

Using straight-line depreciation, the company expensed the same amount for the delivery truck every year of its useful life.