Should I charge full year depreciation?

Question

Can we have a policy like charging depreciation for the full year for assets purchased within a specific year as per IFRS? or should we calculate depreciation from the date of purchase only?

Answer 1

No, you can not have a policy like that as it is against the IAS 16 - PPE. Note that IAS 16.55 Says " Depreciation of an asset begins when it is available for use, ie when it is in the location and condition necessary for it to be capable of operating in the manner intended by management..."

Thus you should start depreciating when the asset was available for the intended use irrespective of the actual use.

For instance say you bought a used lorry on 1 January 2014 for $5000 and it was required to do some modifications before you could start transporting the type of goods you have. And the required modifications to the vehicle were done by 15th February 2014. However the lorry was put into use with effect from 1st March 2014. In this case depreciation should start with effect from 15th February 2014.