Capital expenditures are for fixed assets, which are expected to be productive assets for a long period of time. Revenue expenditures are for costs that are related to specific revenue transactions or operating periods, such as the cost of goods sold or repairs and maintenance expense.
Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) are funds used by a company to acquire or upgrade physical assets such as property, industrial buildings or equipment. It is often used to undertake new projects or investments by the firm. This type of outlay is also made by companies to maintain or increase the scope of their operations. These expenditures can include everything from repairing a roof to building, to purchasing a piece of a equipment, or building a brand new factory.
Revenue Expenditures are cash spent in sales revenue generation, or in maintaining a revenue generating asset. A revenue expenditure is an amount that is expensed immediately—thereby being matched with revenues of the current accounting period. Routine repairs are revenue expenditures because they are charged directly to an account such as Repairs and Maintenance Expense.
Thus, the differences between these two types of expenditures are as follows:
- Timing. Capital expenditures are charged to expense gradually via depreciation, and over a long period of time. Revenue expenditures are charged to expense in the current period, or shortly thereafter.
- Consumption. A capital expenditure is assumed to be consumed over the useful life of the related fixed asset. A revenue expenditure is assumed to be consumed within a very short period of time.
- Size. A more questionable difference is that capital expenditures tend to involve larger monetary amounts than revenue expenditures. This is because an expenditure is only classified as a capital expenditure if it exceeds a certain threshold value; if not, it is automatically designated as a revenue expenditure. However, certain quite large expenditures can still be classified as revenue expenditures, as long they are directly associated with sale transactions or are period costs.
