Consumption of fixed capital (CFC) is a term used in business accounts, tax assessments and national accounts for depreciation of fixed assets. CFC is used in preference to "depreciation" to emphasize that fixed capital is used up in the process of generating new output, and because unlike depreciation it is not valued at historic cost but at current market value (so-called "economic depreciation"); CFC may also include other expenses incurred in using or installing fixed assets beyond actual depreciation charges. Normally the term applies only to producing enterprises, but sometimes it applies also to real estate assets. CFC refers to a depreciation charge (or "write-off") against the gross income of a producing enterprise, which reflects the decline in value of fixed capital being operated with. Fixed assets will decline in value after they are purchased for use in production, due to wear and tear, changed market valuation and possibly market obsolescence. Thus, CFC represents a compensation for the loss of value of fixed assets to an enterprise. According to the 2008 manual of the United Nations System of National Accounts, CFC tends to increase as the asset gets older, even if the efficiency and rental remain constant to the end. The larger the depreciation write-off, the larger the gross income of a business. Consequently, business owners consider this accounting entry as very important; after all, it affects both their income, and their ability to invest. Capital Consumption Allowance The Capital Consumption Allowance (CCA) is the portion of the gross domestic product (GDP) which is due to depreciation. The Capital Consumption Allowance measures the amount of expenditure that a country needs to undertake in order to maintain, as opposed to grow, its productivity. The CCA can be thought of as representing the wear-and-tear on the country's physical capital, together with the investment needed to maintain the level of human capital (e.g. to educate the workers needed to replace retirees). Calculation Gross domestic product (GDP) equals net domestic product (NDP) + CCA (Capital Consumption Allowance): Valuation How much the depreciation charge actually will be, depends mainly on the depreciation rates which enterprises are officially permitted to charge for tax purposes (usually fixed by law), and on how fixed assets themselves are valued for accounting purposes. This makes the assessment of CFC quite complex, because fixed assets may be valued for instance at: historic (acquisition) cost operating value (as part of a "going