Once an asset has been fully depreciated, no more depreciation should be recorded on it, even though the property may be in good condition and still in use. The objective of depreciation is to spread the cost of an asset over the periods of its usefulness: in no case can depreciation expense be greater than the cost of the asset. When a fully depreciated asset remains in use beyond the original estimate of useful life, the asset account and the Accumulated Depreciation account should remain in the accounting records without further entries until the asset is retired