The activeIn accounting, it is called the set of economic assets and rights that a company has. These assets can be converted into money or other equivalent liquid media. They are all the resources controlled by a company.
Liquidity means availability, that is, the ease with which a good can be converted into money.
Depending on liquidity, assets are classified as:
- Fixed asset. They are goods that are used by a company, that is, they were not acquired to be sold later. For example: furniture, machinery, investments.
- Current assets. They are the assets that will be used or sold in a period of less than one year. For example: gasoline, books, customers.
Between the current assets are inventories, which are the goods that a company has for sale, or the raw material used to manufacture the product for sale. Inventories can be raw materials, semi-finished products, intermediate products, finished products, merchandise, by-products and supplies necessary for production.
Examples of fixed assets
- Furniture. Furniture used in administrative or customer service offices is part of the assets of a company, but there is no intention of selling it.
- Estate (commercial premises, factories, workshops, etc.). Real estate is an important fixed asset.
- Office team. Like the furniture, it was purchased for use, not for sale.
- Machinery. Machinery can be a valuable asset. Although in every industry there is a replacement of machinery, it does not usually occur in less than a year, that is why it is a fixed asset.
- Investments. Investments in stocks, bonds or securities issued by affiliated companies are usually low liquidity, so they are fixed assets.
- Patent rights. It is an intangible fixed asset, which brings benefits to the company.
- Transportation equipment. Business cars and distribution and delivery trucks are used by the business for a considerable time before being sold.
Examples of current assets
- Wool. (existence) It is the raw material for a clothing manufacturer or a commodity for a wool seller.
- Gasoline. (existence) It is a necessary supply good for a merchandise distributor.
- Books. (existence) It is merchandise for publisher.
- Cash money. It is the current asset with the highest availability.
- Money in banks. Highly liquid, it is the second most widely available current asset.
- Customers. Customers are a source of profit for the company.
- Documents to collect.
- Refrigerators. (existence) They are the merchandise of an appliance manufacturer.
- Packaging. (existence) They are the way in which the product is divided and reaches the consumer.
- Parcel. (existence) In addition to the packaging, all the packaging material with which the products are distributed are part of the assets.