Straight-line
In accounting, straight-line means allocating an amount evenly across the periods it covers — cost less salvage value divided by useful life for depreciation; equal monthly amounts for a prepaid or a ratable subscription. One systematic and rational method among several.
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Authority
This definition follows ASC 360-10-35-4 (systematic and rational allocation).
Every citation in this system, with the text we read and the date we checked it, is in US GAAP and where these rules come from.
Straight-line, in use
Quoted from the 2 documents that use the word — what it does to an interface, in the spec's own sentence.
A lease of twelve months or less with no purchase option reasonably certain to be exercised can be expensed straight-line by policy election (ASC 842-20-25-2); the schedule records the election rather than an empty ROU line.
Schedules, accruals & roll-forwards — 7. Leases (ASC 842 / IFRS 16)
Every entry the period's schedules will generate — amortization, depreciation, recognition, straight-line lease expense — with totals, before anything posts.
For founders
The same idea written for a founder: what it costs a startup that ignores it, and what to do in a real month.
- Stock options, 409A valuations and vesting for startupsHow option strike prices are set by a 409A valuation, how vesting and the cliff work, and why ASC 718 makes every grant an expense on your P&L.
- US GAAP for early-stage startups, in plain EnglishAccrual accounting, revenue recognition (ASC 606), leases (ASC 842), stock compensation and capitalized software: what each means for a small company.
What it is not called
Each of these is a real word for a different thing. Using it here is what makes a product read as though it was built by someone who has not done the work.
- linear
- even split
Components that render this
The concept is not documentation-only. These are the components that name it in their specification, grouped and stated exactly as the catalog states them.
9Accounting core (GL)
Family specComponents that render the terms it depends on
Little in the catalog names this concept outright, but its definition is built out of others that are named. These render depreciation.
Terms this one depends on
- Salvage valueThe amount expected from disposing of an asset at the end of its useful life, net of disposal costs — the floor depreciation stops at
- DepreciationSpreading the cost of a fixed asset over the periods it serves
- Useful lifeThe period over which an asset is expected to contribute to cash flows, which sets the depreciation period — an estimate, revised prospectively
Also in Fixed assets & leases
Defined in Lexicon. This page is generated from that document, so the two cannot disagree.