Units of production depreciation definition including break down of areas in the definition. Analyzing the definition of key term often provides more insight about concepts. Units of production depreciation can be defined as: Method that charges a varying amount to depreciation expense for each period of an asset’s useful life depending on its usage. Units of production depreciation is less common then straight line depreciation or double declining balance depreciation because units of production depreciation require more information and more work but units of production depreciation is often more accurate than straight line depreciation or double declining depreciation because units of production uses a cost driver to drive the allocation of cost rather than using time. This is similar to using miles driven rather than time to determine the value of a used car. The number of miles driven may be a more telling factor then age.