Abstract
"The transiency of human life has been a favorite theme of poets and philosophers since the dawn of history. Less poignant, but no less evident, is the transiency of man's handwork. Of the structures and artifacts of antiquity, only an infinitesimal remnant survives today...." The wasting nature of assets is the basis for depreciation accounting. Because of this wasting nature, we find it necessary to charge the cost of an asset somehow to the service we render or the product we manufacture and sell. Whenever a company acquires an asset, it acquires a "fund of usefulness. As the asset is used in the business operation, this fund of usefulness" is consumed. Depreciation is a measure of this consumption.