In Accounting, Can depreciation ever be an asset?

Question

In Accounting, Can depreciation ever be an asset?

Answer 1

I am not accountant but depreciation is book/accounting expense that can be used to reduce your tax liability, i.e. reduce your pre-tax income.

From that perspective, yes it can be considered an asset.

Answer 2

No.  Depreciation is an expense.  It can be beneficial from a tax standpoint, as was pointed out, but that doesn't make it an asset for accounting purposes.  Accumulated depreciation is a contra asset account, but not depreciation expense.

Answer 3

The question is a little vogue / not detailed.  Depreciation is a process of allocating an asset cost to different accounting periods.  Depreciation results, in most cases, in depreciation expense.  Depreciation expense reduces your net result (profit or loss) for the period.

Is depreciation an asset?  No, unless you capitalize some depreciation expense as an asset.  This happens, but very rarely.