What is the normal balance of depreciation expense accounts?

The answer to this question depends on the value of the depreciable assets the company has, the useful lives of the assets, and the depreciation methods used. When a firm owns many depreciable assets, depreciation expense will be higher. The longer the useful lives of the assets, the less the depreciation expense will be per period because the expense is being allocated over a longer period of time. The depreciation method also has a huge impact. If the straight-line method is used, then the expense will be constant each period. If another method such as double-declining balance is used, higher depreciation will occur during the beginning of the life of the asset. All of these factors affect the balance of the depreciation expense account.