The Treatment of Intangibles

INTRODUCTION - Changes in the Traditional Approach - Need Acceptable View Useful to All - Differences in Background and Use of Accounts - Not All Intangibles the Same - General Principles Which Apply to All? - GOODWILL - Traditional Definition - Accounts Understate Assets, Overstate Goodwill - Value vs. Sale Price - Valuation Without Sale - Amortise Goodwill, Depreciate Tangibles - Summary - BRAND NAMES AND PRODUCTS - Three Criteria for Value - Asset Intangible, Earnings Tangible? - Intangible Asset, Tangible Sale Price? - Replacement Cost - Converting Economic Value to Accounting Value - Doubts About Valuation Techniques - Conservative Yes, Deny No - Weakness is in Valuation even handed! - Obsessed with Cost not Value - CAPITALISED EXPENSES - Genuinely Intangible: Pure Accounting Fabrication - Cost: But Not Asset - Value Reflects Earning Power - Distorts and Conceals - Misguided not Deliberately Misleading - The Place for Accountants to Tighten - USES AND SITUATIONS - Introduction - Accounting Aside - Goodwill - Patents - Brand Names - Ratios and Covenants - Values in Insolvency - Does the Difference Matter? - CONCLUSION - In Stage of Liquidation Analysis - Failure to Adapt to Inflation - Banks Move Forward - Investors and Others - The Need to Focus on Value - Index