Intangible assets refer to identifiable non-monetary assets without physical form. Intangible assets can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense. Intangible assets in a broad sense include monetary funds, financial assets, long-term equity investment, patent rights, trademark rights and so on. Because they have no physical entity, they show some legal rights or technologies. But intangible assets are usually understood in a narrow sense in accounting, that is, patent rights and trademark rights are called intangible assets.

Chinese name

invisible assets

Foreign name

invisible assets

application area

economy

subject

applied economics

nature

Non-monetary assets

Guide to primary accounting entries

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Define classification

Intangible assets in a broad sense include financial assets, long-term equity investment, patent rights, trademark rights and so on. Because they have no material entity, but are represented by some legal rights or technologies.

The definitions of some foreign scholars

Peyton's definition

In the book Accounting Theory (1922), Payton thinks that the broad definition of intangible assets is "any valuable reward, element or element that belongs to an enterprise but has no physical form and lasts for a long time".

The definition of Sydney Davidson

1983, Sidney s quoted a passage from 1927' s Accounting: Principles and Problems: "The meaning of intangible assets refers to patents, copyrights, secret production methods and formulas, goodwill, franchises and other similar properties.

Hendrickson's definition

In the new accounting theory (1992), hendrickson thinks that the deferred expenditure of enterprises can be divided into two categories, in which the expenditure on purchasing property constitutes the cost of physical assets such as inventory, and the expenditure on purchasing services forms intangible assets.

Definition proposed by baruch Lev

Baruch Lev (200 1) believes that intangible assets are a kind of claim for future income without physical form or non-financial form (stocks or bonds). When these rights are protected by law, they are called intellectual property rights, such as patents, trademarks or copyrights.