when a capital asset is impaired the periodic amount of depreciation is adjusted moving forward retroactive changes are not required for adjusting the previous depreciation already taken however depreciation charges are recalculated for the remainder of the asset s useful life based on the impaired asset s new carrying value as of the date of the impairment 
in 2015 microsoft recognized impairment losses on goodwill and other intangible assets related to its 2013 purchase of nokia initially microsoft recognized goodwill related to the acquisition of nokia in the amount of 5 5 billion plus another 4 5 billion in other intangible assets the book value of goodwill from the nokia purchase and therefore assets as a whole reported on microsoft s balance sheet were deemed to be overstated when compared with the true market value because microsoft had not been able to capitalize on the potential benefits in the cellphone business the company recognized an impairment loss in the amount of 7 6 billion including the entirety of the 5 5 billion in goodwill 6