Financial Accounting Statement FAS 142

Financial Accounting Statement 142

Intangible assets are an increasingly important economic resource for many businesses. Intangible assets have also become a greater portion of assets gained in an acquisition or business combination. Therefore, more useful information about intangible assets is needed for both those involved in the transaction and potential investors in the public community. Statement 142 replaces Accounting Principles Board (APB) Opinion No. 17, Intangible Assets in order to produce better information on which the public can rely.

APB Opinion No. 17 was issued in August of 1970 and involves intangible assets acquired from companies or individuals. The Opinion states that the cost of the acquisition of intangible assets should be classified as intangible assets. For intangible assets that are not easily identifiable, the Opinion states that the cost of developing these assets should be charged against income as they occur. However, intangible assets that are developed internally will not be added as an asset to the balance sheet according to Opinion 17. Finally, the Opinion’s policy on amortization is as follows: intangible assets should be amortized over the period of benefits; however amortization should not exceed forty years. Therefore, the theory behind this amortization rule is that the value of the intangible assets will disappear over the period of amortization.

“Statement 142 addresses the financial accounting and reporting acquired goodwill and other intangible assets and supersedes APB Opinion No. 17, Intangible Assets.” The Statement was issued in June 2001 in order to improve and change policies of Opinion 17 for intangible assets, and to specify how to treat goodwill. The Statement discusses how assets that are gained upon acquisition, either individually or with a group of assets should be accounted for in financial statements. Upon acquisition intangible assets should be recorded at fair value on the balance sheet. (Fair value is the amount at which the asset can be sold in a current transaction between willing parties, such as a quoted market price. ) However, internally developed intangible assets should not be recognized on the balance sheet, and should be recognized as an expense when incurred (just as stated in Opinion 17).

The Statement says that intangible assets with a limited life should be amortized over the useful life period. The useful life of an intangible asset is the period in which that asset is expected to contribute to future cash flows of the entity. In order to determine the useful life many factors are to be considered: how long the entity is expecting to use the asset, how long a comparable asset has lasted in the company, and legal and economic factors, to name a few.