From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,38cd2874d6e7ac41 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-08-22 13:11:03 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-05!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: "Randy Brukardt" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: On accounting and engineering.(Slightly offtopic) Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 15:08:39 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: References: <3d5dc21a_2@news.tm.net.my> <3D5E7447.5E3EB4DB@san.rr.com> <3d61ff44_1@news.tm.net.my> <3D6258EA.17682C28@san.rr.com> <3d62faa5_2@news.tm.net.my> <5ee5b646.0208220201.627c534@posting.google.com> X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3612.1700 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3719.2500 X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:28318 Date: 2002-08-22T15:08:39-05:00 List-Id: Robert Dewar wrote in message <5ee5b646.0208220201.627c534@posting.google.com>... >"Randy Brukardt" wrote in message news:... >> If you are a large company and you try that sort of >> accounting, you go to jail (see Enron, Worldcom, et. al.) >> Hiding expenses as assets is frowned upon. > >Legal advice is always dubious on this newsgroup. Appallingly ignorant >and incorrect legal advice is really annoying. Randy, please don't guess about >things you know nothing about. You obviously have not the foggiest idea how items are categorized >as expenses or assets. Of course hardware acquisitions are assets and not expenses. I wasn't talking about hardware at all, only his remarks about software. He essentially said that you don't depreciate software, which is dead wrong. And software is an asset, not an expense, in most cases. RRS's accountants actually tried to have us assetize every software purchase in the late 80s; there were hundreds of such purchases that cost $19 and the like. We finally talked them into letting us expense stuff under $100 as being immaterial. Else the tax returns and financial reports would have been a nightmare. My understanding is that software can only be expensed if it has no value at the end of 12 months. Thus, subscriptions like MSDN can be expensed; most other software has to be capitalized and depreciated. Please, Robert, don't jump off on the deep end about *my* accounting knowledge as soon as you misread my response. I'd have to be pretty stupid to not learn a lot of that in 22 years of being an officer of a corporation with many shareholders... But I do agree on one point: see a professional if this matters to you; don't take my word for it (or Robert's, or any other engineer on this newsgroup). Randy.