Business Assets · Asset register · Component
The intangible schedule
The assets with no purchase price — data, documentation, domains, accumulated models — which are frequently the most valuable and the least tracked.
The deliverable
What it is
Accounting recognises intangibles narrowly, for good reasons that do not help management. The assets an organisation would most miss are frequently the ones with no line in the accounts.
Identification is the hard part. An intangible asset usually announces itself only when someone asks what would happen if it disappeared.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
The intangibles
Each non-physical asset the organisation depends on.
3 attributes: Asset · Intangible type · Custodian
LearnThe replacement cost
What it would take to rebuild the asset from nothing.
3 attributes: Replacement cost · Time to replace · Replaceable
LearnThe exposure
How the asset could be lost, and what protects it now.
3 attributes: Loss scenario · Protection · Next renewal
Learn
For each intangible, ask how long it would take to rebuild. The time is usually more alarming than the cost.
The other components in asset register
The register
The list itself — every asset with an owner, a location and a category that leaves room for the things that were never bought.
LearnThe review record
When the register was last checked against reality, what was found, and what was corrected.
Learn