Definition of Equipment

Equipment

The cost of equipment owned by the company.

Equipment trust certificates

Certificates issued by a trust that was formed to purchase an asset and lease it
to a lessee. When the last of the certificates has been repaid, title of ownership of the asset reverts to the
lessee.

PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

Assets such as land, buildings, machinery, and equipment that the business will use for several
years to make the product or provide the service that it sells. They are shown at the cost a company paid to buy or build them minus the amount they’ve depreciated since they were bought or built. (Except for land, which is not depreciated.)

property, plant, and equipment

This label is generally used in financial
reports to describe the long-term assets of a business, which include
land, buildings, machinery, equipment, tools, vehicles, computers, furniture
and fixtures, and other tangible long-lived resources that are not
held for sale but are used in the operations of a business. The less formal
name for these assets is fixed assets, which see.

Property, plant, and equipment

This item is comprised of all types of fixed assets
recorded on the balance sheet, and is intended to reveal the sum total of all tangible,
long-term assets used to conduct business.

Plant and Equipment

Buildings and machines that firms use to produce output.

Capital expenditures

Amount used during a particular period to acquire or improve long-term assets such as
property, plant or equipment.

Conditional sales contracts

Similar to equipment trust certificates except that the lender is either the
equipment manufacturer or a bank or finance company to whom the manufacturer has sold the conditional
sales contract.

Depreciation tax shield

The value of the tax write-off on depreciation of plant and equipment.

Direct lease

Lease in which the lessor purchases new equipment from the manufacturer and leases it to the
lessee.

Double-dip lease

A cross-border lease in which the disparate rules of the lessor's and lessee's countries let
both parties be treated as the owner of the leased equipment for tax purposes.

Fixed asset

Long-lived property owned by a firm that is used by a firm in the production of its income.
Tangible fixed assets include real estate, plant, and equipment. Intangible fixed assets include patents,
trademarks, and customer recognition.

Foreign direct investment (FDI)

The acquisition abroad of physical assets such as plant and equipment, with
operating control residing in the parent corporation.

Full-service lease

Also called rental lease. Lease in which the lessor promises to maintain and insure the
equipment leased.

Long-term assets

Value of property, equipment and other capital assets minus the depreciation. This is an
entry in the bookkeeping records of a company, usually on a "cost" basis and thus does not necessarily reflect
the market value of the assets.

Operating lease

Short-term, cancelable lease. A type of lease in which the period of contract is less than the
life of the equipment and the lessor pays all maintenance and servicing costs.

Real assets

Identifiable assets, such as buildings, equipment, patents, and trademarks, as distinguished from a
financial obligation.

Sales-type lease

An arrangement whereby a firm leases its own equipment, such as IBM leasing its own
computers, thereby competing with an independent leasing company.

Salvage value

Scrap value of plant and equipment.

Depreciation

A technique by which a company recovers the high cost of its plant-and-equipment assets gradually during the number of years they’ll be used in the business. Depreciation can be physical, technological, or both.

MACRS (Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System)

A depreciation method created by the IRS under the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Companies must use it to depreciate all plant and equipment assets installed after December 31, 1986 (for tax purposes).

RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI)

In its most basic form, the rate of return equals net income divided by the amount of money invested. It can be applied to a particular product or piece of equipment, or to a business as a whole.

SALVAGE VALUE

The amount management estimates a piece of equipment will be worth at the end of its useful life, either as a trade-in or if it were sold for scrap.

Capacity

The maximum volume of products or services that can be produced given limitations of space,
people, equipment or financial resources.

Set-up

The time required to make ready a machine or process for production, e.g. changing equipment
settings.

Vehicles

The cost of transportation equipment owned by the company.

accumulated depreciation

A contra, or offset, account that is coupled
with the property, plant, and equipment asset account in which the original
costs of the long-term operating assets of a business are recorded.
The accumulated depreciation contra account accumulates the amount of
depreciation expense that is recorded period by period. So the balance in
this account is the cumulative amount of depreciation that has been
recorded since the assets were acquired. The balance in the accumulated
depreciation account is deducted from the original cost of the assets
recorded in the property, plant, and equipment asset account. The
remainder, called the book value of the assets, is the amount included on
the asset side of a business.

capital expenditures

Refers to investments by a business in long-term
operating assets, including land and buildings, heavy machinery and
equipment, vehicles, tools, and other economic resources used in the
operations of a business. The term capital is used to emphasize that
these are relatively large amounts and that a business has to raise capital
for these expenditures from debt and equity sources.

capitalization of costs

When a cost is recorded originally as an increase
to an asset account, it is said to be capitalized. This means that the outlay
is treated as a capital expenditure, which becomes part of the total
cost basis of the asset. The alternative is to record the cost as an expense
immediately in the period the cost is incurred. Capitalized costs refer
mainly to costs that are recorded in the long-term operating assets of a
business, such as buildings, machines, equipment, tools, and so on.

fixed assets

An informal term that refers to the variety of long-term operating
resources used by a business in its operations—including real
estate, machinery, equipment, tools, vehicles, office furniture, computers,
and so on. In balance sheets, these assets are typically labeled property,
plant, and equipment. The term fixed assets captures the idea that the
assets are relatively fixed in place and are not held for sale in the normal
course of business. The cost of fixed assets, except land, is depreciated,
which means the cost is allocated over the estimated useful lives of the
assets.

mark to market

Refers to the accounting method that records increases
and decreases in assets based on changes in their market values. For
example, mutual funds revalue their securities portfolios every day based
on closing prices on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Generally
speaking, however, businesses do not use the mark-to-market method
to write up the value of their assets. A business, for instance, does not
revalue its fixed assets (buildings, machines, equipment, etc.) at the end
of each period—even though the replacement values of these assets fluctuate
over time. Having made this general comment, I should mention
that accounts receivable are written down to recognize bad debts, and a
business’s inventories asset account is written down to recognize stolen
and damaged goods as well as products that will be sold below cost. If
certain of a business’s long-term operating assets become impaired and
will not have productive utility in the future consistent with their book
values, then the assets are written off or written down, which can result
in recording a large extraordinary loss in the period.

autonomation

the use of equipment that has been programmed to sense certain conditions

capital budget

management’s plan for investments in longterm
property, plant, and equipment

committed cost

a cost related either to the long-term investment
in plant and equipment of a business or to the
organizational personnel whom top management deem
permanent; a cost that cannot be changed without longrun
detriment to the organization

productive capacity

the number of total units that could be
produced during a period based on available equipment time
productive processing time the proportion of total time that
is value-added time; also known as manufacturing cycle
efficiency

setup cost

the direct or indirect cost of getting equipment
ready for each new production run

Driver

A factor that has a direct impact on the incurring of a cost. For example, adding
an employee results in new costs to purchase office equipment for that person;
therefore, additions to headcount are cost driver for office expenses.

Capital

a) Physical capital: buildings, equipment, and any materials used to produce other goods and services in the future rather than being consumed today.
b) Financial capital: funds available for acquiring real capital.
c) Human capital: the value of the education and experience that make people more productive.

Capital Stock

The total amount of plant, equipment, and other physical capital.

Capital

Expenditures Purchases of productive long-lived assets, in particular, items of property,
plant, and equipment.

Depreciation

The systematic and rational allocation of the cost of property, plant, and equipment
over their useful lives. Refer also to amortization and depletion.

Sales-type Lease

Lease accounting used by a manufacturer who is also a lessor. Up-front gross
profit is recorded for the excess of the present value of the lease payments to be received across
a lease term over the cost to manufacture the leased equipment. Interest income also is recognized
on the lease receivable as it is earned over the lease term.

Company Acquisitions

Assets acquired to create money. May include plant, machinery and equipment, shares of another company etc.

Depreciation

Amortization of fixed assets, such as plant and equipment, so as to allocate the cost over their depreciable life.

Financial Lease

Lease in which the service provided by the lessor to the lessee is limited to financing equipment. All other responsibilities related to the possession of equipment, such as maintenance, insurance, and taxes, are borne by the lessee. A financial lease is usually noncancellable and is fully paid out amortized over its term.

Fixed Assets

Land, buildings, plant, equipment, and other assets acquired for carrying on the business of a company with a life exceeding one year. Normally expressed in financial accounts at cost, less accumulated depreciation.

Lease Payment

The consideration paid by the lessee to the lessor in exchange for the use of the leased equipment/property. Payments are usually made at fixed intervals.

Leasing

Contract granting use of real estate, equipment, or other fixed assets for a specified time in exchange for payment, usually in the form of rent. The owner of the leased property is called the lessor, the user the lessee.
See Also:
* Capital Lease
* Operating Lease
* Sale and Leaseback

Lease (Credit Insurance)

Contract granting use of real estate, equipment or other fixed assets for a specified period of time in exchange for payment. The owner or a leased property is the lessor and the user the lessee.

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