An asset (imovina) is property owned by a company, regarded as having value and available to meet debts. A capital asset (kapitalna imovina) is usually defined as property of any kind held by a taxpayer, and is also referred to as fixed asset (fiksna imovina). It includes property with an expected useful life of more than one year whose acquisition cost exceeds a company-designated minimum amount and which is not sold as a normal part of business operations. It is also not easily convertible into cash. Examples of property that is not considered capital are accounts receivable and inventory.
An asset which has a physical form, for example land, buildings, vehicles and equipment, is called a tangible asset (materijalna imovina). On the other hand, nonphysical assets, for example trademarks, copyrights and patents, are called intangible assets (nematerijalna imovina).
In the balance sheet assets are classified as current (kratkotrajna imovina) or non-current (dugotrajna imovina) depending on the duration over which the use of the asset is expected to provide economic benefit.
Assets can also be liquid, meaning they are easy to sell or convert into cash without any loss in its value. Liquid assets (likvidna imovina) include cash, money in bank accounts, securities, bonds, etc.
The property that can be depreciated in value is referred to as depreciable assets (amortizirajuća imovina, imovina s mogućnošću otpisa), and it includes most type of tangible property, for example buildings, vehicles, machinery, equipment, furniture, as well as intangible property, such as patents, copyrights, computer software. There are, however, assets that are inexhaustible or where the useful life does not diminish or expire over time, such as land, art collections, accounts receivable, cash. These are therefore called non-depreciable assets (imovina koja se ne amortizira).
Autorica: Jasminka Šturlić, prof. engleskog i talijanskog.
