Larger acquisitions that are in use over several years can be “capitalised”, i.e. they do not affect the current income statement, but are included as assets in the balance sheet.
The book value of the acquisition must be adjusted by the loss of value to the actual value by means of a depreciation. There are two main depreciation methods: linear depreciation – in this case the asset is depreciated every year by the same amount – or depreciation as percentage of the book value (= value of the acquisition in accounting) – in this case the asset is depreciated by the same percentage of the book value every year, the depreciation rate remains the same, however, since the book value decreases each year, the depreciation amount also decreases.
If the association is liable to tax, only depreciation in accordance with cantonal regulations is permitted.