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Accelerated depreciation method  Method that produces larger depreciation charges in the early years of an asset's life and smaller charges in its later years.
Amortization  Process of allocating the cost of an intangible asset to expense over its estimated useful life.
Betterments  Expenditures to make a plant asset more efficient or productive; also called improvements.
Book value  Asset's acquisition costs less its accumulated depreciation (or depletion, or amortization); also sometimes used synonymously as the carrying value of an account.
Capital expenditures  Additional costs of plant assets that provide material benefits extending beyond the current period; also called balance sheet expenditures.
Change in an accounting estimate  Change in an accounting estimate that results from new information, subsequent developments, or improved judgment that impacts current and future periods.
Copyright  Right giving the owner the exclusive privilege to publish and sell musical, literary, or artistic work during the creator's life plus 70 years.
Cost  All normal and reasonable expenditures necessary to get an asset in place and ready for its intended use.
Declining-balance method  Method that determines depreciation charge for the period by multiplying a depreciation rate (often twice the straight-line rate) by the asset's beginning-period book value.
Depletion  Process of allocating the cost of natural resources to periods when they are consumed and sold.
Depreciation  Expense created by allocating the cost of plant and equipment to periods in which they are used; represents the expense of using the asset.
Extraordinary repairs  Major repairs that extend the useful life of a plant asset beyond prior expectations; treated as a capital expenditure.
Franchises  Privileges granted by a company or government to sell a product or service under specified conditions.
Goodwill  Amount by which a company's (or a segment's) value exceeds the value of its individual assets less its liabilities.
Impairment  Diminishment of an asset value.
Indefinite useful life  Asset life that is not limited by legal, regulatory, contractual, competitive, economic, or other factors.
Intangible assets  Long-term assets (resources) used to produce or sell products or services; usually lack physical form and have uncertain benefits.
Land improvements  Assets that increase the benefits of land, have a limited useful life, and are depreciated.
Lease  Contract specifying the rental of property.
Leasehold  Rights the lessor grants to the lessee under the terms of a lease.
Leasehold improvements  Alterations or improvements to leased property such as partitions and storefronts.
Lessee  Party to a lease who secures the right to possess and use the property from another party (the lessor).
Lessor  Party to a lease who grants another party (the lessee) the right to possess and use its property.
Licenses  (See franchises.)
Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS)  Depreciation system required by federal income tax law.
Natural resources  Assets physically consumed when used; examples are timber, mineral deposits, and oil and gas fields; also called wasting assets.
Ordinary repairs  Repairs to keep a plant asset in normal, good operating condition; treated as a revenue expenditure and immediately expensed.
Patent  Exclusive right granted to its owner to produce and sell an item or to use a process for 17 years.
Plant assets  Tangible long-lived assets used to produce or sell products and services; also called property, plant and equipment (PP&E) or fixed assets.
Plant asset age  Estimated by dividing accumulated depreciation by depreciation expense.
Plant asset useful life  Equals the plant asset cost divided by depreciation expense. It is the length of time an asset will be productively used in the operations of a business.
Revenue expenditures  Expenditures reported on the current income statement as an expense because they do not provide benefits in future periods.
Salvage value  Estimate of amount to be recovered at the end of an asset's useful life; also called residual value or scrap value.
Straight-line depreciation  Method that allocates an equal portion of the depreciable cost of plant asset (cost minus salvage) to each accounting period in its useful life.
Total asset turnover  Measure of a company's ability to use its assets to generate sales; computed by dividing net sales by average total assets.
Trademark  or
trade (brand) name  Symbol, name, phrase, or jingle identified with a company, product, or service.
Units-of-production depreciation  Method that charges a varying amount to depreciation expense for each period of an asset's useful life depending on its usage.
Useful life  Length of time an asset will be productively used in the operations of a business; also called service life.







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