Depreciation expense is related to assets that have useful lives and are actively used in business operations. CPAs need to understandwhy impairment happens to depreciated assets. As the accounting manager at a manufacturing company:

• Explain how to:
• Determine whether an asset is impaired.
• Account for the asset's impairment.
• Address partial and total impairment in your explanation.
• Describe the effect impairments haveon the company's financial statements.
• Examine the importance of depreciation/amortization to presenting a fair evaluation of a company. Should more emphasis be placed on EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) than on financial reports presented according to GAAP? Does the use of EBITDA remove the chance of manipulating depreciation/amortization?