DB Function in Excel: Declining-Balance Depreciation

DB Function in Excel: Declining-Balance Depreciation featured illustration

📎 This article includes 1 downloadable practice file ↓

⏱ 2 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

FinancialLevel: ExpertAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. DB in practice
  5. Where you will use it
  6. Worked example
  7. Mistakes people make
  8. Related functions
  9. Continue learning

DB calculates depreciation using a fixed-rate declining balance derived from cost, salvage and life, with an optional first-year month count.

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Syntax

=DB(cost, salvage, life, period, [month])
Argument What it means
month Months in the first year (12 if omitted).

Examples

Example 1

=DB(500000, 25000, 5, 1, 6)

First-year depreciation for an asset bought mid-year.

💡 Income-tax WDV uses a prescribed block rate, not DB’s calculated rate — multiply the opening WDV by the block rate instead.

DB in practice

Where you will use it

  • Declining-balance depreciation
  • WDV-style schedules
  • Compare methods

Worked example

₹5,00,000 asset, ₹50,000 salvage, 5 years.

YearFormulaResult
1=ROUND(DB(500000,50000,5,A2),0)₹ 1,84,500.00
2=ROUND(DB(500000,50000,5,A3),0)₹ 1,16,420.00
3=ROUND(DB(500000,50000,5,A4),0)₹ 73,461.00

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

MistakeWhat to do instead
Rounded rateDB rounds the rate to 3 decimals
Indian WDV ratesFor a fixed rate use cost*(1-rate)^(year-1)*rate

SLN · DDB · VDB

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📎 Practice files for this article

  • 📗
    Practice workbook: Financial: EMI, SIP, NPV, IRR, depreciation23 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
    ⬇ XLSX · 35 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.

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