Intangibles Flashcards
what is an intangible asset
assets of a company which lack physical substance and provide economic benefits through the rights and privileges associated with their possession & maybe identifiable or unidentifiable. they may also be extremely acquired (purchased at fair value) or internally developed.
what 3 basic forms do intangibles come in?
- knowledge
- legal rights & identifiable intangibles
- goodwill (unidentifiable intangible)
when should not be considered as R&D?
when they are directly related to revenue such as the following:
- research performed for others for a fee
- periodic design changes to existing products
- cost for settling up production of a commercially viable product
Note: these cost are considered cost of sales, and will be capitalized and recognized as appropriate
what are the legal rights regarding identifiable intangibles?
- capitalize cost of obtaining legal protection
- include cost of successful defense in court
- unsuccessful defense-expense the legal costs and possibly the entire patent
- do not include R&D of product or process
- Maximum 20 year life, but use the shorter of useful or legal life.
how do you account for a patent that is purchased from another party?
it is capitalized and amortized over the shorter of the useful life or legal life at the purchase price.
how are “copyright” legal rights accounted for?
the copyright period is for the life of the creator plus 70 yrs (or 95 yrs total for works made for hire) but the costs should be amortized over its useful life.
how are “trademarks” accounted for?
external acquisition costs are amortized over their useful life. indefinite number of renewals for periods of 10 years each
how are franchise cost accounted for?
the purchase price to the extent benefits were obtained from other parties and legal expenditures associated with protecting them should be capitalized.
how are leasehold improvements accounted for?
should be capitalized and amortized over the benefit period. which will be the shorter of
- *useful life of the improvements
- *legal life of the lease, including extensions that are reasonable assured of occurring.
how are intangible assets with finite useful lives accounted for?
-amortized over their estimated useful lives in accordance w/the matching principle and if there are multiple useful lives the shortest alternative should be used because of the conservative principle.
These assets are tested annually for impairment using the un-discounted present value approach.
how are the useful lives for intangible assets determined?
- the expected use of the asset by the entity
- legal, regulatory, or contractual provisions that may limit the useful life
- the effects of obsolescence, competition, and other economic factors
- the expected maintenance expenditures required.
what is the criteria for an intangible to have an indefinite useful life?
- no legal’
- no regulatory
- no contractual
- no competitive
- no economic or other factors limit the useful life, it is considered to be indefinite.
how are intangibles other than goodwill tested for impairment?
by comparing the carrying value of the asset to its fair value.
how is the FV determined to check to see if an asset is impaired?
- market approach (uses prices and other relevant information generated by market transactions involving identical or comparable assets, liabilities, or groups of assets and liabilities)
- income approach (converts expected future amounts, such as revenues or cash flows, to a single current amount applying present value concepts.)
- cost approach measures the amount that would be currently required to replace the service capacity of an asset
what are the 3 methods of amortization?
- straight line ( costs are recognized equally over the useful life
- units of sales (costs are allocated based on the sales to date as a % of estimated total sales)
- net realizable value (sufficient amortization is recorded to reduce the carrying value of the intangible to the estimated remaining future benefits.)
what is goodwill?
unidentifiable intangible since its value cannot be directly determined. It is instead represented by the excess of what a buyer is willing to pay for a business over the value of the net identifiable assets, including other intangible assets, but not goodwill on the books of the acquired company. It has an indefinite useful life and is tested annually for impairment.
how do you calculate the value of goodwill when checking for impairment?
the FV of all of the reporting units identifiable assets and liabilities will be measured by the following:
- cash and cash equivalents is valued @ face value
- short-term receivables are valued @ net realizable value
- inventories are valued at replacement cost subject to floor and ceiling limitations.
- all other items will be measured at the generic procedures to determine FV. for example the following:
- *the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction btwn market participants @ measurement date.
- *for financial assets & liabilities FV is generally the PV of expected cash flows
- *for nonfinancial assets, the entity considers the assets highest & best use, which might be in use such as the case of a productive asset or might be in exchange such as in the case of an asset held for investment purposes