Accelerated depreciation refers to any one of several methods by which a company, for 'financial accounting' or tax purposes, depreciates a fixed asset in such a way that the amount of depreciation taken each year is higher during the earlier years of an asset's life. For financial accounting purposes, accelerated depreciation is expected to be much more productive during its early years, so that depreciation  expense will more accurately represent how much of an asset's usefulness is being used up each year.
Accelerated depreciation involves different methods companies use for both financial accounting and tax reasons to depreciate a fixed asset by allocating higher costs during the earlier years of an asset’s life. For financial accounting, accelerated depreciation is expected to be more beneficial in its early stages, thus accurately reflecting how much utility from the asset is being used annually.