Accounting: How does equipment and tool purchases appear in a general ledger?

Generally, if the equipment is going to be used for more than one year, it is placed on the balance sheet as an et and depreciated over its useful life. Say the company buys a computer for $2000 and its expected useful life is 5 years. Put it on the balance sheet as an et and for each of the 5 years, you reduce the balance of the et account using the contra-et account 'Aculated Depreciation - Office Equipment' and allocate $400 to the expense account 'Depreciation Expense - Office Equipment'.