What does writedown mean?
Writedown means a written record, summary, or concise statement of information. It is especially associated with business, finance, research, and official reporting, where a complex set of facts or figures may be set down in a brief and accessible form. The word can also have a specialized financial meaning: an amount recorded as a loss when the stated value of an asset is reduced. In this sense, a writedown reflects an accounting recognition and need not involve an equivalent immediate cash payment. The expression is commonly written with a hyphen as "write-down," particularly in formal and financial contexts, although the closed form "writedown" is also established. Writedown is useful because it names both the act of recording information and, in accounting, the recorded reduction itself, giving the word a broader scope than terms such as "note" or "summary" alone convey.
nounA written record, summary, or statement of information. In accounting, it also means an amount recognized as a loss because an asset's stated value has been reduced.
- A written record, summary, or concise statement of facts or figures.
- An amount written off as a loss, especially when an asset's book value is reduced.
"The committee circulated a brief writedown of the project's costs and unresolved issues."
"Her notes provided a clear writedown of the evidence collected during the investigation."
"The company announced a writedown of several million dollars following the impairment review."
The plural is used when referring to separate records, summaries, or accounting reductions.
"The auditors approved several write-downs before the financial statements were issued."
A financial write-down records a loss on paper without necessarily meaning that the same amount of cash has left the business.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of writedown
Writedown is an English compound formed from "write" and "down," with the original sense suggesting the act of putting something down in writing. Its general record-keeping meaning preceded the specialized accounting sense associated with recording a reduction in the value of an asset. The components also appear in related English forms such as "write," "writ," "writing," and "rewrite."
Related word forms
How writedown is actually used
The spelling "write-down" is more traditional and especially common in British and American financial, business, and technical usage. "Writedown" is an accepted closed form but is somewhat less usual.