Assets of an enterprise are property belonging to it and consisting of tangible, financial and intangible balance sheet items. Let's consider each of them in more detail.
Tangible assets represent a tangible form of ownership. This category includes buildings and structures, as well as the land on which they are built, mechanisms and tools, and production equipment. In addition, the reserves of used raw materials and materials, fuel resources and the like can also be added to this section.
In turn, the concept of "financial asset" is all kinds of financial instruments. This definition includes receivables, foreign currency investments, the amount of cash on hand, insurance policies and securities, and much more.
Intangible assets include rights to use intellectual property both during the production process and in the organization’s documentation. This category traditionally includes trademarks and logos, various patents for inventions and the like.
Assets: accounting
Like many economic indicators, the concept under consideration has many definitions characterizing it from various points of view. For example, everything written above allows us to understand that an “asset” is a concept that is closely related both to the economic activity of an enterprise and to the production process. However, we consider a concept that represents the desired concept as part of the balance sheet. Thus, an asset is a part illustrating both the composition and the cost of ownership of a company.
Classification
Currently, the assets of the enterprise are divided into several groups depending on a variety of criteria. For example, property rights distinguish between leased and own property; in terms of liquidity, they allocate absolutely, high, weak and illiquid assets. Depending on the source of formation, they are pure and gross, and by the nature of their participation in the production cycle, modern scientists identify working capital and non-current property.
Criteria
Nevertheless, despite some differences in wording, all existing definitions of the above concept reflect the main characteristics. There are only three of them:
1. The event, which allowed to manage the profit from the use of any property owned by the company, has already taken place.
2. An enterprise (organization) has the ability to benefit from the use of an asset. At the same time, there is also the possibility of comprehensive control over the amount of profit received.
3. Properly involved assets are a real opportunity to obtain economic benefits provided that the present potential is used rationally.
Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that the asset is the resources that the company has and which are fully involved in the production of goods and services.