Depreciation accounting in the public sector: Lessons from the NHS

Depreciation accounting is currently used by parts of the public sector, such as the NHS, and it is now being spread to the remainder as a matter of Government policy. This article discusses the likely repercussions for managers from such a change in accounting procedure and then presents the results of a survey of NHS managers which measured their attitude to depreciation accounting in theory and their ability to apply it in practice. Finally, it considers the implications for staff training of introducing depreciation accounting.