DDB Function

DDB Function

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Class

Microsoft.VisualBasic.Financial

Syntax

 DDB(   cost   ,   salvage, life, period   [,   factor   ]) 

cost (required; Double)

The initial cost of the asset.

salvage (required; Double)

The value of the asset at the end of life .

life (required; Double)

Length of life of the asset.

period (required; Double)

Period for which the depreciation is to be calculated.

factor (optional; Double)

The rate at which the asset balance declines. If omitted, 2 (double-declining method) is assumed. However, the documentation doesn't mention what other values are supported or what they mean.

Return Value

Double representing the depreciation of an asset

Description

Returns a Double representing the depreciation of an asset for a specific time period. This is done using the double-declining balance method or another method that you specify using the factor argument.

The double-declining balance calculates depreciation at a differential rate, which varies inversely with the age of the asset. Depreciation is highest at the beginning of an asset's life and declines over time.

Rules at a Glance

• life and period must be specified in the same time units. In other words, both must be expressed in units of months, or both must be years .

• All arguments must be positive numbers .

Example

 Dim dblInitialCost As Double = 2000 Dim dblSalvageValue As Double = 50 Dim dblUsefulLife As Double = 12 Dim dblTotDepreciation As Double = 0 Dim dblPeriod, dblThisPeriodDepr As Double For dblPeriod = 1 To 12     dblThisPeriodDepr = DDB(dblInitialCost, _                  dblSalvageValue, dblUsefulLife, dblPeriod)     dblTotDepreciation = dblTotDepreciation + _                          dblThisPeriodDepr     Console.WriteLine("Month " & dblPeriod & ": " & _                 dblThisPeriodDepr) Next dblPeriod Console.WriteLine("TOTAL: " & dblTotDepreciation) 

Programming Tips and Gotchas

• The double-declining balance depreciation method calculates depreciation at a higher rate in the initial period and a decreasing rate in subsequent periods.

• The DDB function uses the following formula to calculate depreciation for a given period:

   Depreciation /   period   = ((   cost - salvage   ) *   factor   ) /   life