Towards intangible assets recognition : an empirical study of French CAC 40 companies

This article, which is based on the analysis of 33 CAC 40 French companies, tries to give an overall picture of intangible asset accounting methods on the eve of the advent of the new international accounting standards. Despite the varying differences in the recognition of intangible assets, the results obtained enabled us to draw up a typology, underlining the difficulties generated by the new standards: - Internal difficulties with the recognition and management of intangible assets, with the defining CGU (Cash Generating Units) or determining the recoverable amount of certain intangible asset and the appropriate discounting rate. - External difficulties with new requirements concerning the publication of accounting financial data of these assets.