Long-Lived Non-monetary Assets and Chapter 7 Long-Lived Non-monetary Assets and Their Amortization McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Nature of Long-Lived Assets Benefits obtained from expenditures on goods or services are either Obtained in current period (expenses) or Expected to be obtained in future periods (capitalized). Capital assets provide benefits to future periods. Amortization is the process of matching costs incurred for capital assets with the revenues obtained from their use.

Types of Long-Lived Assets Tangible asset Asset with physical substance Property, plant, and equipment = fixed asset. Intangible asset Intellectual property. No physical substance Examples are patent rights, copyrights

Amortization View capital asset as bundle of services. Similar to prepaid expenses, cost is expensed as company benefits from the services. Land - no depreciation Plant and equipment - depreciation. Natural resources - depletion Intangible assets - amortization

Asset versus expense Expenditures:either expensed or capitalized. Small items may be expensed (materiality). Capitalize large purchases of small items. Replacement items charged as an expense. Repairs and maintenance are expensed. Betterments are capitalized. Makes the asset better than when purchased. Replacements: assets or expenses depending on how the asset unit is defined.

What is Included in Cost? All expenditures necessary to make asset ready for its intended use. Self constructed assets: All construction costs (materials, direct labor, overhead). Capital asset acquired for other than cash: Record at fair market value (FMV) of consideration given or received. Basket purchase: Allocate cost based on FMV of acquired assets.

Depreciation Gradual conversion of cost into expense. Depreciation is a cost consumed by an entity during an accounting period. Definition: The systematic allocation of the original cost of an asset to the periods in which the asset provides benefit to the entity.

Definitions Deterioration = physical process of wearing out. Obsolescence = loss of usefulness because of change in technology or tastes. Physical life = time until asset wears out. Service life = shorter of either time until asset becomes obsolete or time until asset wears out. Book value = net book value = original cost - accumulated depreciation to date.

Judgments Required Service life of asset. Residual value at the end of its service life. Net cost = original cost - residual value. Method of depreciation used to allocate cost over useful life of asset.

Depreciation Methods: Straight line method: (original cost - residual value) /service life Accelerated methods: Declining balance methods. Sum of the years’ or years’ digits methods.

Declining Balance Method Depreciation = book value * depreciation rate. Double declining balance method = book value * 2 * straight line rate. Straight line rate = 1/(life of asset in years).

Years Digits Method Depreciation for first year = (cost - residual value) * n / SYD. SYD = n(n+1)/2 where n is estimated years of useful life. Depreciation for second year = (cost - residual value) * (n - 1) / SYD.

Units of Production Method Depreciation = (cost / estimated units of production over life of asset) * units produced in period

Depreciation Accounting Acquire an asset for $1,000 and depreciate straight line over 5 years. First year’s depreciation: Depreciation expense 200 Accumulated depreciation 200

Depreciation Miscellany Theoretically selection by management results in best matching. Changes in estimate: Not unusual. Affect future, not past depreciation. Fully depreciated assets on BS until disposal. Half year convention: record a half year’s depreciation in year of acquisition and disposition. Disclosure: amount of depreciation expensed in year, & original cost, accumulated depreciation by category.

Plant and Equipment: Disposal Sale of building: Remove cost and accumulated depreciation. Reminder: book value = cost - accumulated depreciation. Gain or (loss) = Selling price of asset - book value. Gain or loss in current period income statement. Cost = market value at time of purchase.

Impaired Assets An asset for which its remaining benefits, as measured by the sum of future cash flows the asset’s use will generate, is less than its book value. If entity expects to hold asset: Write asset down to fair value If entity expects to sell asset: Write asset down to lower of cost or fair value less cost of disposal.

Exchange and Trade-Ins Trade is for a similar asset if if the asset received is of the same general type of performing the same function. Otherwise, it is dissimilar. If exchange is for a similar asset, value of the asset received is recorded at additional amount paid + book value of old asset. No gain or loss is recorded. If exchange is between dissimilar assets, record asset received at fair value and recognize gain or loss on disposal of old asset.

Group Depreciation Treats all similar assets as a “pool” or group rather than calculating for each item separately. No gain or loss recognized when an individual item is disposed. Credit asset account for original cost. Debit cash for amount of proceeds. Debit accumulated depreciation for difference.

Accumulated Depreciation Does not represent the accumulation of any tangible thing. Sum of the original cost that has been expensed. Funding the purchase of new assets is usually unrelated to depreciation.

Income Tax Considerations Modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS). Rapid depreciation, lower taxes to encourage investment. Investment tax credit (ITC) Tax credit as a percent of cost of capital assets. Encourages investment. Currently not in tax code.

Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) Tax code allows rapidly accelerated depreciation for tax purposes to encourage investment in capital assets. Ignores estimated residual values. Combination of declining balance method, half-year convention, and switch to straight-line depreciation for the latter portion of the recovery period. IRS provides a table to look up percentage to multiply against original cost.

Natural Resources Measure cost same as other assets. 2 methods of handling oil exploration costs: Full cost method: All costs of exploration allocated to and capitalized as the value of reserves discovered during the year. Successful efforts method: Only capitalize costs involved with successful efforts (oil reserves that are discovered). Both allowed under GAAP.

Depletion Amortizing costs of natural resources. Units of production method ordinarily used. Depletion for a period = (Cost of reserve / estimated units, say barrels) * number of barrels extracted during the period. Accretion = increase in value arising from natural growth (e.g., timber, agricultural products) Not recognized in accounts until sold. Costs incurred are capitalized.

Intangible Assets Long-lived. Usually converted to expenses over a number of accounting periods. Amortization is the systematic allocation of cost to period of which benefits are provided. Amortization should reflect the pattern in which the economic benefits are consumed. Straight line amortization, if that pattern cannot be determined.

Internally Developed or Acquired Internally developed are expensed as incurred. Acquired are capitalized.

Categories of Intangibles Intangible assets with limited lives. Intangible assets with indefinite lives. Goodwill.

Intangibles with Indefinite Useful Lives Example: renewable broadcast license. Considered indefinite if no legal, regulatory, contractual, competitive or other limiting factors. Not amortized. Tested for impairment. If determined to be impaired, it is written down to realizable value and charged against income.

Goodwill When one company buys another. Goodwill = Purchase price of company – fair value of net assets. Net assets include tangible assets and recognized intangible assets net of liabilities assumed by the purchaser. Recorded as an asset upon acquisition. Not amortized. Annual impairment test. Any write down is charged against income.

Intangible Assets with Limited Lives Examples: patents and copyrights. If purchased, recorded at cost. Amortized over useful life. Useful life can equal or be shorter than legal life. If developed internally, expense as incurred.

Leasehold Improvements Improvements made to leased property. Revert to owner at end of lease. Amortized over the shorter of useful life or length of lease. (If renewal is likely amortize through renewed period.)

Start-up Costs Deferred Charges. Pre-operating period. Expense or Capitalize and amortize over a short period (rarely more than 5 years).

Research & Development Costs (R&D) Costs incurred to: Develop new knowledge, products or improve goods, processes, or services. GAAP: Expense since future benefits uncertain. Argument for capitalizing: Matching concept. Argument for immediate expensing: Conservatism, objectivity.

Other R&D R&D for customer under contract: Software development: Inventory until sold. Software development: Costs are expensed until technological feasibility of product has been established. Costs after feasibility established until product is available for release to customer are capitalized. Amount of amortization for year is the greater of: Straight line or ratio of year’s revenues to total anticipated revenues

Analysis of Non-monetary Assets To estimate: Average age of depreciable assets = (accumulated depreciation)/(annual depreciation expense) An asset’s depreciation period in years = (Original cost)/(annual depreciation expense) Annual expenditure for a particular intangible asset = annual amortization expense +increase in asset’s balance or – a decrease in balance