Which of the following most accurately reflects the concept of depreciation as used in accounting? a. The process of charging the decline in value of an economic resource to income in the period in which the benefit occurred. b. The process of allocating the cost of tangible assets to expense in a systematic and rational manner to those periods expected to benefit from the use of the asset. c. A method of allocating asset cost to an expense account in a manner which closely matches the physical deterioration of the tangible asset involved. d. An accounting concept that allocates the portion of an asset used up during the year to the contra asset account for the purpose of properly recording the fair market value of tangible assets

B. The process of allocating the cost of tangible assets to expense in a systematic and rational manner to those periods expected to benefit from the use of the asset.

Explanation:

A piece of equipment will cost a lot of money, but should also last for a long time. Accounting depreciation breaks the cost of the equipment (or any asset) into predictable, mathematically determined amounts so that the costs can be "spread out" over the many years that you use it rather than just when you first purchase it.