Appreciation is a term used in accounting relating to the increase in value of an asset. In this sense it is the reverse of depreciation, which measures the fall in value of assets over their normal life-time. Accountancy (British English) or accounting (American English) is the process of maintaining, auditing, and processing financial information for business purposes. ... In business and accounting an asset is anything owned which can produce future economic benefit, whether in possession or by right to take possession, by a person or a group acting together, e. ... Declining-balance depreciation of a $50,000 asset with $6,500 salvage value over 20 years. ...

In times of high inflation, appreciation will be common to all balance sheet assets. Generally, the term is reserved for property or, more specifically, land and buildings. In any viable modern economy, such property tends to increase in value over the years - if only because of the scarcity of usable land forces its price in a competitive situation. However, this belief has often caused speculative bubbles to arise. In formal bookkeeping and accounting, a balance sheet is a statement of the book value of a business or other organization or person at a particular date, usually at the end of its fiscal year, as distinct from an income statement, also known as a statement of profit and loss... // Use of the term The concept of property or ownership has no single or universally accepted definition. ... Scarcity is a central concept in economics. ... In economics and business, the price is the assigned numerical monetary value of a good, service or asset. ... Currier & Ives print on economic bubbles, 1875. ...

Needless to say there are considerable difficulties in assessing the increase in value of any particular asset. This is principally because of the variety of interpretations that can be attached to the word value itself and due to the various instruments and methods used in the valuation process. Value is worth in general, and it is thought to be connected to reasons for certain practices, policies, actions, beliefs or emotions. ...

See also: investment. Investment or investing is a term with several closely-related meanings in finance and economics, related to saving or deferring consumption. ...

Capital accumulation, external link: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=239368