Abstract
1-Tangible and intangible assets vs. tangible and intangible resources
2-Intellectual capital and entity’s performance
3-Accounting recognition of intellectual capital
4-Study case
5-Conclusions
References
Abstract
Nowadays the managers, investors and shareholders are seeking to identify the value sources of an economic entity in order to spot the most suitable destination for their investments. The context of the „new economy” concept stresses the importance of the intangibles assets that becomes greater and greater. Also, many international studies pointed out that performance and growth of the economic entities are driven by the intangibles assets owned, such as software, human capital, organizational structure, R&D investment. In spite of the increasing level of importance of these assets, many of them are not reported in the financial statements, are difficult trying to identify and also difficult to assess, but the endeavor should not be abandoned. This article is intended to show the way the intangibles assets are reported in financial statement of the Romanian economic entities and how they lead performance, growth and value for these companies
Tangible and intangible assets vs. tangible and intangible resources
Intangible resources, such as research-development expenses, innovations, the entity’s network, employee skills, etc., are the foundation of the competitive advantage which sustains high-level, long-term performance of the economic entity. According to Danescu and Spatacean (2009), current and potential investors, as well as other parties interested in the evolution of an economic entity, are more interested about the information on the resources which determine competitive advantage. For this, we consider that financial situations and public information companies reveal should have as much data on these future-benefit generating assets as possible. In the early nineties, a new concept started to emerge, in the literature and practice, about the importance of assets, especially intangible assets owned by economic entities. In particular, `movement of intangibles’, which received focus from managers, investors and those able to convey national laws and regulations. The value of intangible assets for the entities value and their performance started being acknowledged. Therefore, in the beginning of the 21st century, the importance of intangibles as a value and growth-generating factor was accepted by economists, investors and managers. (Lev and Daum, 2004) Nowadays, there is a re-focusing of the economic development, from industry to knowledge. Industry-based economy used to emphasize owning tangible assets, while knowledge economy considers intangible assets a crucial resource for economic entities, as well as a key factor for competitive advantage, economic success and generating value for companies. (Lev, Canibano and Marr, 2005)