Book value of fixed assets

Cannington:

Property, Plant, and Equipment $($in millions$)$:

Current Year Preceding Year

Land and buildings

Machinery, equipment, and internal$-$use software

Other fixed assets

Accumulated depreciation and amortization

$$502,610$

$477,480$

$608,158$

$(638,315)$

$$291,514$

$376,958$

$457,375$

$(532,767)$

a$.$ Compute the book value of the fixed assets for the current year and the preceding year.

Current year book value $($in millions$)$ $

Preceding year book value $($in millions$)$ $

A comparison of the book values of the current and preceding years indicates that they

million of additional fixed assets, which was offset by the additional depreciation expense of $

:$.$ A comparison of the total cost and accumulated depreciation reveals that Cannington purchased $

million taken during the current year.

b$.$ Would you normally expect Cannington's book value of fixed assets to increase or decrease during the year?