Typical examples of capitalized costs are expenses associated with constructing a fixed asset and include materials, sales taxes, labor, transportation and interest incurred to finance the construction of the fixed asset. Expenses associated with intangible assets can be also capitalized; these include trademark and patent filing and defending as well as software development.
In accounting, the cost of an item is capitalized on a company’s balance sheet if the company expects to consume the item over a long period of time. Rather than being expensed, the cost of the item is capitalized and amortized or depreciated over the useful life of the asset.
Capitalization Eligibility
To capitalize cost, a company must derive economic benefit from assets beyond the current year and use the items in the normal course of its operations. For example, inventory cannot be a capital asset since companies ordinarily expect to sell their inventories within a year.
Because capitalized costs are depreciated or amortized over a certain number of years, their effect on the company’s income statement is not immediate and is spread out throughout the asset’s useful life. Usually, the cash effect from incurring capitalized costs is immediate with all subsequent amortization or depreciation expenses being non-cash charges.
Fixed Assets Capitalized Costs
Companies often incur expenses associated with the construction of a fixed asset or putting it to use. Such expenses are allowed to be capitalized and included as part of the cost basis of the fixed asset.
If a company borrows funds to construct an asset, such as real estate, and incurs interest expense, the financing cost is allowed to be capitalized. Also, the company can capitalize other costs, such as labor, sales taxes, transportation, testing and materials used in the construction of the capital asset. However, after the fixed asset is installed for use, any subsequent maintenance cost must be expensed as incurred.
Intangible Assets Capitalized Costs
Companies are allowed to capitalize costs associated with trademarks, patents and copyrights. Capitalization is allowed only for costs incurred to defend or register a patent, trademark or similar intellectual property successfully. Also, companies can capitalize the costs that they incur to purchase trademarks, patents and copyrights.
Companies are allowed to capitalize development costs for new software applications if they achieve technological feasibility. Technological feasibility is attained after all necessary planning, coding, designing and testing are complete and the software application satisfies its design specifications.
Current Expensing
When a company cannot demonstrate a link between costs and future revenues, such costs must be expensed immediately. In the case of software development, any associated costs incurred prior to achieving technological feasibility are expensed. Research and development cost is another example of current expensing due to the high-risk profile and uncertainty of future benefits from such costs.