By (A) Cash, (B) Marketable Securities, (C) Depreciated Assets, (D) Depreciated Liabilities, (E) Fixed Assets and (F) Deferred Assets.
The last sentence is a great reminder that the balance sheet doesn’t always capture the totality of a company’s financial position. When it comes to tangible assets, what counts are the assets that are tangible, such as land, buildings, vehicles, and equipment. What counts in intangible assets, like stockholders’ equity, is the value of the company’s intangible assets (like the value of people’s memories).
This is a great example of the difference between tangible and intangible: tangible assets are directly linked to the value of a company, whereas intangible assets are generally not directly linked to the company’s value. For example, a company might have 100,000 shares of stock in its stockholders’ equity.
That is 100,000 shares of stock with no tangible assets attached to it.
In this case a company might have 100,000 people with memories attached to them.That is 100,000 people who remember the shareholders equity value of the company.
The problem with this is that when we compare tangible and intangible assets we are comparing two different types of assets. So if we have 100,000 people with memories attached to our company, we are comparing two different types of assets. You can also have 100,000 people with memories attached to your company and have no tangible assets attached to them.
I don’t know if the term “tangible” is accurate. It seems like many people use the term. So when people talk about tangible assets I’m sure that’s what they’re referring to.
I think youre right. But I still think it depends on how you define these two types of assets. I think a tangible asset is something that you can use immediately, right? If I have a tangible asset I can use it in my work immediately, and I can use it in my work immediately. I can’t just take it somewhere else and use it in some other project. But a intangible asset is something that you use later.
I think in the case of tangible assets, you use them in your work immediately; in the case of intangible assets you’re not so sure. However, in the case of intangible assets, you certainly use them. I was in the retail trade for a long time and I came to realize that people rarely used tangible inventory items. They used inventory that was more intangible. You know like the ones that are in a drawer in your desk. It was a whole new world to me.
