8. On the first day of January 2021, SEO Consulting Company paid $210,000 for equipment that it began using immediately. The equipment was depreciated using the straight-line method that assumed a salvage value of $10,000 at the end of the equipment’s estimated useful life of 10 years.
In January 2024, SEO Consulting Company estimated that the equipment’s total useful life will be 7 years (instead of 10 years) and the salvage value is estimated to be $0 (instead of $10,000).
What amounts should be reported as depreciation expense in the years 2023 and 2024 respectively?
This question involves a change in two estimates: the estimated useful life and the estimated salvage value. Changes in estimates are not accounting errors and therefore any previously reported amounts are not changed. Any change in the estimates are recorded in the current and future accounting years.
The first step is to compute the depreciation that has already been reported in each of the years 2021, 2022, and 2023. The equipment's depreciable cost of $200,000 (cost of $210,000 minus the estimated salvage value of $10,000) divided by 10 years of useful life = $20,000 of depreciation expense in each of the years 2021, 2022, and 2023. As a result, the accumulated depreciation at the end of 2023 is $60,000 ($20,000 X 3 years). Therefore, the equipment's book value as of December 31, 2023 was $150,000 (cost of $210,000 minus accumulated depreciation of $60,000).
Beginning in 2024, the company estimated that the salvage value will be $0 at the end of the equipment's useful life. Since the useful life is now estimated to be a total of 7 years, there are only 4 years remaining in which to expense the $150,000 of book value. Therefore, the depreciation expense in each of the years 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027 will be $37,500 ($150,000 / 4 years).