Intangible assets are merely pieces of paper that represent something far more valuable to an entity. A business would therefore want to bring that value into its accounting records as capitalised assets.

Understanding whether you indeed have an intangible asset or not, requires guidance, and for this reason, we turn to Section 18.

Section 27 Impairments, on the other hand, places a responsibility on all businesses to consider the need for writing down asset values.

Whether there is a slow down in a business’ operations, changes in the level of activity in a market relative to an asset or an asset is no longer able to perform optimally, it brings into question the potential need for calculating a recoverable amount which represents a more realistic value attributable to an asset. This recoverable amount may thus indicate that an asset’s value, as represented in a business’ accounting records, could be overstated.