Long-lived assets Flashcards
What are long-lived assets?
They are expected to provide economic benefits to a company over an extended period of time, typically longer than one year.
What are the 2 types of long-lived assets whose costs are not expensed over time?
- Land
- Intangible assets with indefinite useful lives
What is a capitalized item?
It is an item that provides benefits to the company for a period longer than one year.
What is an expensed item?
It provides economic benefits in only the current period; its cost is expensed.
What is the accounting treatment of capitalized cost?
- It is recognized as a noncurrent asset on the BS,
- The associated CF outflow is listed under investing activities on the CF statement.
What happens to items that are capitalized on other subsequent periods?
The capitalized amount is depreciation or amortization expense on the IS.
What is the accounting treatment of expensed costs?
- A cost that is immediately expensed reduces net income for the current period by its entire tax amounts
- The associated cash outflow is classified under operating activities on the CF statement.
What happens if an asset is acquired in a nonmonetary exchange?
The amount recognized on the balance sheet typically equals the fair value of the asset acquired.
What happens if the fair value of the asset acquired is greater than the value of the asset given up?
A gain is recorded on the income statement. If the fair value of the asset acquired is lower than that of the asset given up, a loss is recorded.
What happens if the fair value of the acquired asset cannot be determined?
The amount recognized on the BS equals the carrying amount of the asset given up.
What does expensing allow the company to do regarding taxes?
It allows companies to report lower taxable income in the current period and pay lower taxes.
What is the benefit of capitalization on cash flow?
It allows companies to report higher operating CF.
Where do interest costs appear with the accounting treatment?
- When capitalized: it appears on the BS.
- When expensed: it appears on the IS.
What is the interest payments treatment if the construction and sale of buildings is the core business activity of the firm?
- Interest payments made prior to completion of construction that are capitalized are classified under CFI.
- Interest payments that are expensed may be classified as CFO or CFF outflows under IFRS and CFO outflows under US GAAP.
What should be included in the interest coverage ratio to provide a true picture of a company’s interest coverage ratio?
- The entire amount of interest expense for the period, whether capitalized or expensed, should be used in the denominator.
- If the company is depreciating interest that was capitalized in previous years, EBIT should be adjusted to remove the effect of the depreciation of capitalized interest.
How are intangible assets of finite and indefinite life amortized?
- For finite life: it is amortized over its useful life.
- For indefinite life: it is not amortized; instead, the asset is tested for impairment at least annually.
What are the 5 criteria for recognizing intangible assets as identifiable under IFRS?
- They must be identifiable (they either should be separable from the entity or must arise from legal rights).
- They must be under the company’s control.
- They must be expected to earn future economic benefits.
- It is probable that expected future economic benefits will flow to the entity.
- The cost of the asset can be reliably measured.
What is an unidentifiable intangible asset?
It is one that cannot be purchased separately and may have an indefinite life.
What is the accounting treatment of intangible assets acquired in situations than business combinations?
- They are recorded at their fair value when acquired, where the fair value is assumed to equal the purchase price.
- They are recognized on the BS, and costs of acquisition are classified as investing activities on the CF statement.
- If several intangible assets are acquired as a group, the purchase price is allocated to each individual asset based on its fair value.
What is the accounting treatment of intangible assets developed internally?
They are generally expensed when incurred but may be capitalized in certain situations.
- A company that develops intangible assets internally will expense costs of development and recognize no related assets, whereas a firm that acquires intangible assets will recognize them as assets.
- A company that develops intangible assets internally will classify development-related cash outflows under operating activities on the CF statement, whereas an acquiring firm will classify these costs under investing activities.
How is research defined under IFRS?
It is an original and planned investigation undertaken with the prospect of gaining new scientific or technical knowledge and understanding.
How is development defined under IFRS?
It is the application of research findings or other knowledge to a plan or design of products, processes, systems, or services before the start of commercial production or use.
What is the accounting treatment of R&D under IFRS and US GAAP?
- IFRS: it requires that expenditures on R&D be expensed.
- US GAAP: It requires that R&D costs are expensed when incurred. The exception is for software development, where it needs to be capitalized.
What happens when a company acquires another company with a price that exceeds the fair value of its net assets?
The excess cash is recorded as goodwill.
What is goodwill?
It is an intangible asset that cannot be identified separately from the business as a whole.
When should an item acquired in a business combination be recognized separately from goodwill?
- If the asset arises from legal or contractual rights.
- The item can be separated from the acquired company.