intangible assets recognition refers to the process of recording items that meet the conditions for intangible assets recognition as intangible assets of an enterprise and including them in the balance sheet of the enterprise. According to the accounting system, intangible assets can only be recognized by enterprises when they meet the following two conditions: (1) the economic benefits generated by the assets are likely to flow into enterprises; (2) The cost of the asset can be measured reliably. In other words, if a project is to be recognized as intangible assets, it must first meet the definition of intangible assets, and then meet the above two conditions.

1. Meet the definition of intangible assets

As an intangible asset accounting project, it should first meet the definition of intangible assets, that is, non-monetary long-term assets that are held by enterprises for producing goods, providing services, renting them out to others or for management purposes and have no physical form.

one of the important manifestations of conforming to the definition of intangible assets is that the enterprise can control the economic benefits generated by the intangible assets. Although this is the characteristic of general assets of enterprises, it is particularly important for intangible assets. Generally speaking, if an enterprise has the right to obtain the economic benefits generated by an intangible asset and can restrain others from obtaining these economic benefits at the same time, it means that the enterprise controls the intangible asset, or controls the economic benefits generated by the intangible asset, which is embodied in the fact that the enterprise has the legal ownership of the intangible asset, or the enterprise has signed an agreement with others, so that the relevant rights of the enterprise are protected by law. For example, after the technology developed by the enterprise itself has obtained the patent right according to law through application, it has the legal ownership of the patented technology within a certain period of time; Another example is that enterprises sign contracts with other enterprises to transfer trademark rights. Due to the signing of the contract, the relevant rights of the transferee of the trademark right are protected by law.

on the other hand, if the control right owned by the enterprise is not determined by legal means or contract means, it means that the relevant projects do not meet the definition of intangible assets. For example, an enterprise has a skilled staff, and it can be determined that the skills of employees will be improved through further training. In this case, the enterprise can expect that employees will continue to contribute their technology to the enterprise. However, enterprises usually can't fully control the expected future economic benefits caused by having a skilled staff and training them, so they can't be considered as conforming to the definition of intangible assets. For similar reasons, specific management or technical talents are unlikely to meet the definition of intangible assets unless the use of these management or technical talents and the expected future economic benefits from them are protected by legal rights. For another example, an enterprise may have a certain customer or market share, and make efforts to establish a good customer relationship and trust, so as to expect these customers to continue their business dealings with it. However, due to the lack of legal rights to protect or other ways to control this customer relationship or customer's trust in the enterprise, the enterprise can't generally control the economic benefits caused by this customer relationship and customer trust enough, so it can't be considered that these items (market share, good customer relationship and customer trust) meet the definition of intangible assets.

2. The generated economic benefits are likely to flow into the enterprise.

As an intangible asset of the enterprise, the basic condition that the generated economic benefits are likely to flow into the enterprise must be met. In practice, it is necessary to implement professional judgment to determine whether the economic benefits created by intangible assets are likely to flow into enterprises. When implementing 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 cooperate with intangible assets to create economic benefits for the enterprise. Of course, the most important thing is to pay attention to the influence of external factors, such as whether there are related new technologies and new products that impact the market of technologies related to intangible assets or products produced according to them. In short, when making judgment, the management department of the enterprise should make the most robust estimation of various factors existing in the estimated service life of intangible assets.

3. The cost can be measured reliably

It is a basic condition for asset recognition that the cost can be measured reliably. For 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 an intangible asset 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, it cannot be recognized as the intangible assets of the enterprise because the knowledge of these technical talents is difficult to identify and the expenses incurred in forming this knowledge are difficult to measure.

(II) Measurement of intangible assets

The accounting system clearly stipulates the determination of the cost of intangible assets according to the different acquisition methods of intangible assets.

1. purchased intangible assets

the accounting system stipulates that the purchased intangible assets should be recorded at the actual paid price. For example, an enterprise outsources a patent right with 1 million yuan, and at the same time, it also incurs related expenses of 2, yuan, so the cost of the outsourced patent right is recorded as 1.2 million yuan.

Two related explanations:

(1) The present value factor is not considered when calculating and determining the cost of intangible assets. Enterprises may purchase intangible assets on credit, in which case, they should be accounted for according to the total amount of liabilities undertaken. For example, Company A buys an intangible asset from Company B at a price of 2 million yuan, which will be paid off one year later. In this case, Company A should take 2 million yuan as the cost of purchasing intangible assets, and account for this amount. This treatment is somewhat different from the practice of international accounting standards and other countries, which generally require 2 million yuan to be discounted to determine the cost of purchasing intangible assets.

(2) For intangible assets purchased in a package, the cost should usually be determined in proportion to the fair value of the intangible assets and other assets. For example, Company A purchased a patent right and related equipment from Company B, and the price and related expenses totaled 3 million yuan. Among them, the patent right can be identified separately, but it is not marked separately from the price of related equipment. In this case, we should consider the relative proportion of the patent right and the fair value of the relevant equipment to share the actual payment of 3 million yuan. Assuming that the relative ratio between the patent right and the fair value of related equipment is 5: 1, the cost of the patent right should be 2.5 million yuan, and the cost of related equipment should be 5, yuan.

the relative proportion of fair value is adopted to determine the cost of intangible assets purchased together with other assets, and whether the relative value of the intangible assets is large or not is the prerequisite. If the relative value is small, it does not need to be accounted for separately, but can be included in the cost of other assets and regarded as an integral part of other assets; On the contrary, it needs to be accounted for separately. For example, software that is purchased randomly as an indispensable accessory of a computer and has a relatively small amount does not need to be accounted for separately; However, if it is purchased with a group of computers and the amount is relatively large (even accounting for the main part), it should be accounted for separately. The land use right purchased together with the attachments on the ground also belongs to a similar situation.

2. intangible assets

according to the accounting system, the recorded value of intangible assets exchanged through non-monetary transactions should be determined according to the accounting treatment provisions on non-monetary transactions. Therefore, enterprises should handle the following situations differently:

(1) If the premium is not involved, the book value of the exchanged intangible assets should be added with the relevant taxes and fees to be paid as the entry value.

for example, if enterprise a exchanges its non-cash assets for an intangible asset, the book value of the exchanged non-cash assets is 2, yuan, and the relevant taxes and fees are 1, yuan. If the premium is not involved, the intangible assets exchanged should be accounted for as 21, yuan.

(2) If the premium is involved, it should be handled according to different situations:

① If the premium is paid, the book value of the swapped-in intangible assets, plus the premium and relevant taxes payable, should be taken as the book value of the swapped-in assets.

for example, if enterprise a exchanges its non-cash assets for an intangible asset, the book value of the exchanged non-cash assets is equal to 2, yuan, the premium paid is 2, yuan, and the relevant taxes and fees are 1, yuan, then the intangible assets exchanged should be accounted for as 23, yuan.

② If the premium is received, the recorded value of the transferred intangible assets shall be calculated and determined according to the following formula:

The recorded value of the transferred intangible assets = the book value of the transferred assets-(premium/fair value of the transferred assets) × the book value of the transferred assets+relevant taxes to be paid

For example, if Enterprise A exchanges its non-cash assets for an intangible asset, the book value of the transferred non-cash assets is equal to 2, yuan. If the relevant tax is 1, yuan, the book entry value of the transferred intangible assets is calculated and determined as follows:

the book entry value of the transferred intangible assets = 2-(2/2) × 2+1 = 19 (ten thousand yuan).

if intangible assets are exchanged with other assets at the same time, the recorded value of the intangible assets shall be determined according to the proportion of its fair value to the total fair value of the assets exchanged, multiplied by the sum of the book value of the assets exchanged and the relevant taxes payable.

For example, Enterprise A exchanged several assets for a group of assets including intangible assets, the total book value of the exchanged assets was 1 million yuan, the fair value of the exchanged intangible assets accounted for 2: 5 of the total fair value of the exchanged assets, and the related taxes incurred were 2, yuan. Then the recorded value of the transferred intangible assets shall be calculated and determined according to the following formula:

the recorded value of the transferred intangible assets = (1+2) × (2/5) = 4.8 (ten thousand yuan)

3. Intangible assets invested by investors

The accounting system stipulates that the intangible assets invested by investors shall be regarded as the recorded value; However, the intangible assets that an enterprise accepts from investors for initial stock issuance shall be recorded at the book value of the intangible assets in the investor. That is to say, when an enterprise determines the cost of intangible assets acquired through investment, it should deal with the following situations:

(1) Under normal circumstances, the cost of intangible assets acquired by an enterprise through investment (that is, excluding intangible assets invested by investors for initial stock issuance) is determined by the value confirmed by all investors.

For example, Company A is a joint stock limited company established by two shareholders * * *. After one year of operation, another investor, C, other than the shareholders of A and B, requested to join Company A.. After negotiation, Party A and Party B agree that Party C will invest a non-patented technology, and the three parties confirm that the value of the non-patented technology is 1 million yuan. In this example, when Company A accepts the non-patented technology invested by Company C, it should be recorded as 1 million yuan.

for another example, company b is a listed company and plans to issue new shares this year. Enterprise A is its old shareholder, and after consultation with Company B, it is planned to use a patent right to offset the new share purchase. Both parties confirm that the value of the patent right used by Enterprise A to offset the share payment is 2 million yuan, which is equal to the share payment purchased. In this example, when Company B accepts the patent invested by Company A, it should be recorded as 2 million yuan.

(2) For the intangible assets that an enterprise accepts from investors for the initial stock issue, since there is no clear market price of the stock at the time of issuance, it should be recorded at the book value of the intangible assets in the other party (i.e. the investor). This also shows that if the intangible assets invested by investors are not recorded in the investors' accounts, then the enterprises that issue shares for the first time should not record the intangible assets when accepting them.

4. Intangible assets obtained through debt restructuring

According to the accounting system, the recorded value of intangible assets obtained through debt restructuring should be determined according to the accounting treatment provisions related to debt restructuring.

the acquisition of intangible assets through debt restructuring usually occurs when the debtor pays off debts with intangible assets. According to the provisions of the debt restructuring standards, the cost of intangible assets acquired by creditor enterprises should be accounted for according to the book value of restructured creditor's rights; In case of related taxes and fees, the influence of related taxes and fees should be considered.

for example, if the book value of the enterprise's creditor's rights (that is, the balance after deducting the impairment reserve) is 1.2 million yuan, and the related taxes and fees incurred are 2, yuan, the intangible assets obtained through debt restructuring should be accounted for as 1.22 million yuan.

if the debt restructuring transaction involves premium, it should be handled according to different situations: if the premium is received, the cost of intangible assets is determined according to the book value of creditor's rights plus the relevant taxes payable minus the premium; If the premium is paid, it shall be determined according to the book value of the creditor's rights plus the relevant taxes and fees payable and the premium.

5. Accepting donations to obtain intangible assets

According to the accounting system, the recorded value of intangible assets accepted donations shall be determined according to the following circumstances:

(1) If the donor provides relevant credentials, it shall be determined according to the amount indicated on the credentials plus the relevant taxes payable. For example, Company A accepts a set of computer management software donated by other units, and the software donated by the donor is outsourced, with a price of 1 million yuan; In the process of donation, related taxes and fees were 3, yuan. In this example, Company A should account for the donated software at 1.3 million yuan.

(2) if the donor fails to provide relevant evidence, it shall be determined in the following order: if there is an active market for the same or similar intangible assets, it shall be determined by referring to the estimated amount of the market price of the same or similar intangible assets, plus the relevant taxes to be paid; If there is no active market for similar or similar intangible assets, it shall be determined according to the present value of the estimated future cash flow of the donated intangible assets.

For example, an enterprise accepts donations from others to obtain a patent right, but the donor fails to provide evidence about its value; In the technology market, the price of a patent right similar to this patent right is 1 million yuan, and according to professional estimation, the value of this patent right is 9, yuan. Assuming that no relevant taxes and fees have occurred, the enterprise should account for the patent right at 9, yuan.

it is worth noting that the uniqueness of intangible assets determines the lack of similar or similar intangible assets, and the related market is not active enough. Therefore, when the donor fails to provide relevant value credentials, it is often necessary to determine its entry value by calculating the present value of its future cash flow.

6. Self-developed intangible assets

According to the accounting system, the recorded value of intangible assets developed by oneself and applied for according to law shall be determined according to the registered capital, attorney fees and other expenses incurred when they are obtained according to law; Research and development expenses incurred before the legal application is obtained shall be recognized as current expenses when incurred.

in the process of researching and developing intangible assets, enterprises will incur various expenses. For example, the salary and welfare of research and development personnel, the depreciation of equipment used, and the expenses incurred in outsourcing related technologies. These expenses are often difficult to collect according to a specific project; In addition, with the intensification of technological competition among enterprises, there is often great uncertainty in the process of research and development whether the project of enterprise research and development is likely to be successful or whether it will bring future economic benefits to enterprises in the future. Therefore, the accounting system clearly requires that the research and development expenses incurred by enterprises in the process of developing intangible assets by themselves should be recognized as current expenses at the time of occurrence; The registration fee, attorney's fee and other expenses incurred when applying for acquisition according to law should be regarded as the cost of intangible assets applied for acquisition according to law and accounted for accordingly.

for example, an enterprise has successfully developed a set of computer management software and applied for a patent according to law.