Balance Sheet

Retained Earnings

Retained earnings has little practical significance.

  • Retained earnings is not an asset and it certainly is not cash.

Depreciation

with rare exceptions, business fixed assets are overdepreciated—not in the actual wearing out or physical using up sense but in the accounting sense.

  • the reported book values of a company's fixed assets (original cost less accumulated depreciation) are understated. A company's fixed assets are written off too fast. Book values shrink much quicker than they should.