Capital Expenditures and Revenue Expenditures

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Capital expenditures: A capital expenditure is an amount used to obtain and improve a long term asset such as equipment or buildings. The cost most be recorded in an account classified as Property, Plant and Equipment. The cost (except for the cost of land) will then be charged to depreciation expense over the useful life of the asset. Some examples of Capital expenditures are upgrading costs, replacement costs and legal charges. Revenue Expenditures: A revenue expenditure is an amount that is used immediately and it is matched with revenues of the current accounting period. Routine and other repairs are revenue expenditures because they are charged directly to an account such as Repairs and Maintenance Expense. The repairs do not need to improve the asset, it could be just to bring back the asset to its normal condition. For example; if a business purchases a computer system, that amount will be counted as Capital expenditures, and all amount used to update and repair the computer system will be counted as Revenue expenditures. Revenue expenditures are expenses and not part of the assets cost. One of the differences between Capital expenditure and Revenue Expenditure, is that Capital expenditures benefit is derived over several accounting periods. It is important to know how to differentiate these two items and keep them separate and correctly classified in the company’s accounting books. Companies that record revenue expenditures as assets will create a distortion in their accounting figures, resulting in the fraudulent increase of net income. Let us not forget that financial statement fraud is severely punished by law whether it is committed intentionally or just by reckless mistakes. A business can be issue financial summonses depending on the type of business and type of fraud. Fraud can also result on licenses suspensions and even criminal prosecution.

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