The criteria that can be applied to the breakdown of equity components constituting the estate of the company - intangible and tangible assets in accordance with U.S. GAAP and IAS / IFRS

The paper focuses on financial reporting of long-lived assets. The author's aim was to analyze the approach of two major accounting principles - IAS/IFRS and US GAAP. Both of the principles address following issues: * initial recognition and measurement, * depreciation: allocation of capitalized costs over the useful life of the asset, * disposal of the asset. Broadly accepted classification of the long-lived assets divides the whole group into two parts: tangibles and intangibles. General definitions and recognition criteria are covered by the framework. Particular standards dial then with special matters. Although both international approaches have a lot in common, several differences emerge: * US GAAP do not allow to capitalize internally developed intangibles,however developed intangibles can be capitalized under special conditions according to IAS/IFRS; * impairment: IAS/IFRS allow to cancel or adjust the impairment towards the original value of the asset, US GAAP - once impairment is recognized, it is not permitted to cancel it and to return back to the original value of the asset; * IS /IFRS use historical costs based treatment and allowed alternative treatment - revaluation, US GAAP don't use allowed alternative treatment of the assets - revaluation is not permitted; 138 * IAS/IFRS set the useful life of the intangibles up to 20 years, US GAAP don't restrict the useful life at all. In the process of convergence of IAS/FRS and USGAAPquestions have arisen which of the approaches should be taken as a crucial one for world accounting principles. Standard-setters prepare studies to support their current approach. Unified solution has not been found yet.