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Accounting
Depletion
The expense that records the using up of natural resources like oil, timber, or minerals.
Depletion works just like depreciation but only for natural resources that get physically used up. It follows the units-of-production method because the resource is literally being removed from the ground.It's like slowly eating through a giant bag of candy and counting how much you've already eaten.
Real world: An oil company that pumps 10% of the oil out of a field in one year records 10% of the field's cost as depletion expense that year.
💡 Depletion makes sure the cost of the oil or timber you sell is matched to the revenue you earn — it's the mining and logging version of depreciation.