This work presents development of a two-dimensional finite element model to predict temperature distribution and ablation depth in a laser ablation process. The model considers a number of aspects of the process, which hitherto have been considered independently in the literature. The aspects considered include: temperature dependent material properties of the target material, effect of plasma shielding on the incident laser flux, and temperature dependent absorptivity and absorption coefficient of the target. It was evident that these considerations have resulted in a significant improvement in the ability of the model to predict the ablation depth. Finally, the predicted ablation depth was found to match extremely well with experimental results at lower laser fluences, though at higher fluences there is a marginal overestimation. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.