Looking at my balance sheet that my accountant prepared, and he has listed the depreciation of my property as follows
Non Current Liabilities
Provisions
Accum Dep'n Property 20000
I don't understand I always thought dep'n is on the Asset side of the balance sheet and deducted from the asset is depreciates?
Depreciation is typically a contra-asset (an asset with a credit balance used to reduce net asset amounts) account on the balance sheet.
A decent example is a building:
==ASSETS==
Building 200,000
Accumulated Depreciation - Building (30,000)
----------
Net Building 170,000
As the asset is depreciated, the book value of the asset is calculated as a net of the historical cost and the depreciation accumulated/expensed over the life of the asset. When referring to an asset, you typically refer to its net value (net of asset and depreciation). In our example, I'd say that my building asset is 170,000 in my books.
To your issue: Depreciation is not a liability. Liabilities are (to put it simply) things we owe. Depreciation is a contra-asset and will be listed under the balance sheet as an asset with a negative (or credit) balance.
