What are intangible assets and their classification and accounting?

First, the major changes in intangible assets under the new accounting standards

(1) The definition and scope of application of intangible assets have changed.

In the original standards, intangible assets refer to non-monetary long-term assets held by enterprises for producing goods or providing services, renting them to others or for management purposes, and are divided into identifiable and unrecognizable intangible assets. Unidentifiable intangible assets refer to goodwill, but do not include self-created goodwill. The purchased goodwill is accounted as intangible assets and amortized within a certain period of time.

Intangible assets in the new standards refer to identifiable non-monetary assets owned or controlled by enterprises without physical form, which emphasizes the identifiability of intangible assets. Goodwill is explicitly excluded from the intangible asset standard because it does not meet the identifiable standard of intangible assets. According to Article 23 of Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises No.20-Business Combination, the goodwill formed by business combination should be tested for impairment at least at the end of each year, instead of being amortized according to a certain number of years every year.

(2) The method of handling the research and development expenses of intangible assets has changed.

The new standard divides the creation process of intangible assets into two stages, namely, the research stage and the development stage. Research refers to the initial planned investigation for acquiring and understanding new scientific or technical knowledge. Development refers to the application of research results or other knowledge to planning or design before commercial production or use to produce new or greatly improved materials, devices, products, etc. Expenditures in the research phase of internal research and development projects shall be included in the current profits and losses when incurred. If the expenditure of internal R&D projects in the development stage can meet the five conditions listed in the new standards at the same time, it can be capitalized and included in intangible assets. This breaks through the original stipulation that the research and development expenses of intangible assets independently developed by enterprises are recognized as current expenses when they occur, and only the registration fees and attorney fees incurred when applying for acquisition according to law are included in the value of intangible assets, which is conducive to improving the enthusiasm of independent innovation, improving the scientific and technological content of enterprises and taking into account the long-term interests of enterprises.

(3) The amortization method of intangible assets has changed.

The new standard holds that the amortization amount of intangible assets with limited service life should be amortized systematically and reasonably within the service life, that is, the amortization method of intangible assets chosen by enterprises should reflect the way in which enterprises expect to consume the intangible assets in the future; If the consumption mode cannot be reliably determined, it shall be amortized by the straight-line method. It can be seen that the amortization method adopted in the new standard is more flexible, no longer limited to the straight-line method stipulated in the original standard, and can better reflect the economic essence of amortization.

(D) Comparison of intangible assets disclosure

Compared with the original standard, the new standard requires disclosure of four contents, namely: l. Estimation of the service life of intangible assets with limited service life; Intangible assets with uncertain service life and the judgment basis of uncertain service life; 2. Amortization method of intangible assets; 3. The book value and amortization amount of intangible assets as collateral; 4. Calculate the current profit and loss and the amount of R&D expenditure recognized as intangible assets. This revision fully embodies the principle of relevance and provides more useful accounting information for stakeholders to make value judgments and corresponding decisions.

Second, the accounting treatment of intangible assets under the new accounting standards

(A) the recognition of intangible assets

The new intangible assets standard stipulates that intangible assets can only be recognized if the following two conditions are met: 1. The economic benefits generated by this asset are likely to flow into the enterprise, and the projects recognized as intangible assets of the enterprise must have the basic conditions that the economic benefits generated are likely to flow into the enterprise. In practice, professional judgment is needed to determine whether the economic benefits created by intangible assets may flow into enterprises. When executing this judgment, relevant factors need to be considered. For example, whether the enterprise has enough human resources, high-quality management team, related hardware equipment and related raw materials to create economic benefits for the enterprise with intangible assets. Of course, the most important thing is to pay attention to the influence of external factors.

2. The cost of assets can be measured reliably. Reliable measurement of cost is the basic condition for asset recognition. Intangible assets. This condition is very important. The self-created goodwill of an enterprise conforms to the definition of intangible assets, but the expenses incurred in the process of self-created goodwill are difficult to measure, so it cannot be recognized as intangible assets of an enterprise. For another example, the scientific and technological talents of some high-tech enterprises assume that they have signed a service contract with the enterprise, and the contract stipulates that they cannot provide services for other enterprises within a certain period of time. In this case, although the knowledge of these scientific and technological talents is expected to create economic benefits for the enterprise within the prescribed time limit, the knowledge of these scientific and technological talents is difficult to identify, and the expenses incurred in forming this knowledge are difficult to measure, so it cannot be recognized as intangible assets of the enterprise. The intangible assets standard stipulates that the self-created goodwill of an enterprise cannot be confirmed. In accounting practice, purchased goodwill can be recognized as intangible assets.

(2) Measurement of intangible assets

The measurement of intangible assets refers to determining the recorded value of intangible assets. According to the different acquisition methods of intangible assets, the new intangible assets standards have made different provisions on this.

1. The purchased intangible assets shall be priced according to the actually paid price.

When intangible assets are bundled with tangible assets related to their technology, it is generally determined whether to carry out accounting treatment separately according to the proportion. If the fair value of intangible assets accounts for a small proportion of the total assets purchased, it can be directly included in its tangible assets account without separate accounting. On the other hand, it needs to be handled separately. When outsourcing intangible assets, because there are no physical transactions such as cash at the time of transaction, but transactions generated by other instruments such as credit and credit purchase, is the present value of pricing included in the book value of intangible assets? Due to the imperfection of China's credit system, China's financial market needs to be further standardized. It is generally believed that the pricing of intangible assets should take its book value, regardless of its discount, which is different from foreign practices.

2. Substitution of intangible assets. The new standard stipulates that the entry value of intangible assets exchanged through non-monetary transactions should be determined in accordance with the accounting treatment provisions of non-monetary transactions. To this end, enterprises should deal with different situations: first, if there is no premium involved, the exchanged intangible assets should be regarded as the book value of the exchanged assets, plus the relevant taxes and fees to be paid. Secondly, if the premium is involved, it should be handled according to the situation:

Third, the new accounting standards for the evaluation of intangible assets

The new Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises No.6-Intangible Assets has improved the original accounting standards, which is an important measure to adapt to the contemporary economic development, but at the same time, after making great improvements, there is still room for discussion.

(A) the positive impact of the new intangible assets standards

1. objectively reflect the value of intangible assets and improve the reliability of accounting information. The new standard stipulates that the purchase price of intangible assets exceeds the normal credit conditions. If the entity tool is financing, the cost of intangible assets is determined based on the present value of the purchase price. On the one hand, the present value measurement attribute fully considers the future cash flow and appropriate depreciation rate, reflects the time value of money, makes the value of intangible assets more comparable, and can objectively reflect the value of intangible assets. On the other hand, assets refer to the resources formed by past transactions or events of an enterprise, which are owned or controlled by the enterprise and are expected to bring economic benefits to the enterprise. Economic benefit is usually measured by future cash flow, and the present value of future cash flow is the most appropriate method to measure asset value. Determining the value of assets with present value conforms to the definition of assets and reflects the essence of assets.

2. Capitalization of development expenses is conducive to improving the enthusiasm of scientific and technological innovation of enterprises and increasing the value of enterprises. The concept of capitalization of development expenses is embodied in the following aspects: it is conducive to enhancing the technological innovation ability of enterprises and increasing the value of enterprises. The original standard stipulates that "the intangible assets developed by ourselves and applied for according to law shall be determined according to the registration fees, attorney fees and other expenses incurred when legally acquired, and the research and development expenses incurred before legally applied for acquisition shall be recognized as the current expenses when incurred". This kind of treatment will inevitably lead to a decline in profits in the development stage, and managers are unwilling to reduce development expenses because of the dissatisfaction of investors caused by the decline in performance. Such a short-term profit figure may be relatively high, but it harms the long-term interests of enterprise development. Capitalization of development expenses can reduce the pressure of managers' profit index in the development stage, thus improving the enthusiasm of enterprises for development investment, promoting enterprises to develop new products, new processes and new technologies, enhancing technological innovation ability, promoting enterprises' performance and cash flow to achieve long-term growth in the same direction, enabling companies to enter a virtuous circle and improve their value level.

3. The new standards for intangible assets gradually converge with international accounting standards, which is beneficial to overseas financing of enterprises and reduces foreign trade losses. With the in-depth development of China's socialist market economy, intangible assets account for an increasing proportion of enterprise assets, so it is particularly important to improve the intangible assets standards. Except for the recognition of intangible assets in consolidated assets, irrecoverable impairment losses of intangible assets and subsequent expenditures of intangible assets, the new standards are basically consistent with the provisions of International Accounting Standards No.38-Intangible Assets.

(ii) Defects

1. There is no standard in the research and development stage. The new standard only puts forward that "expenditure in research stage should be different from expenditure in development stage", and clarifies the respective meanings of "research" and "development" respectively, without giving specific operating standards. This general statement is likely to give enterprises a loophole in adjusting profits by capitalizing expenses, so it is necessary to strictly formulate this standard.

2. The amortization of expenses is single. The new standard stipulates that amortization must be fully recognized as profit or loss. IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) stipulates that amortization should usually be recognized as profit or loss, but some amortization is included in the future economic benefits of assets and absorbed when other assets are produced. In this case, the amortization expense should be attributed to other assets and constitute their book value. For example, the amortization expenses of intangible assets used in the production process should constitute the cost of inventory products. China should refer to international standards, so that amortization accounting can better reflect the economic essence.

3. Fairness has not been fully observed. Modern accounting is changing from the concept of fiduciary responsibility to the concept of decision-making, so the measurement mode of value is also changing from historical cost mode to fair value mode. Advocating fair value is one of the important means to improve the usefulness of decision-making Although the new standard mentions fairness in the relevant provisions of the measurement of intangible assets invested by investors, it still does not take "fair value" as the main measurement attribute, but takes the price agreed by both parties as the basis for recording intangible assets. For intangible assets produced by non-monetary transactions, China can divide them into cost model and fair value model according to whether they have commercial essence or not. Adopting different measurement models is not conducive to simplifying accounting, and the accounting information generated by different models is not comparable. Therefore, the author suggests that fair value should be adopted uniformly and converge with international standards.

4. The specific operation of impairment test is not specified. Impairment testing must be guided by strict standards or procedures, otherwise it is likely to become a mere formality, which is difficult to reflect the true value of assets, making the accounting treatment of intangible assets with uncertain life useless and unable to achieve the purpose of correct accounting.