The four categories of plant assets are buildings, equipment, land and improvements. The things we want to discuss are which assets fall into each category and how do we determine the overall cost/percentage of the assets.
Buildings
The most popular building assets are office buildings, retail spaces, warehouses and factories. But there are thousands of other types of buildings that can fall under this category, almost all of them specific to their industry. For example, in thoroughbred racing, a horse barn could be a plant asset. In the car industry, a testing or safety facility could be a plant asset.
Equipment
It would be impossible to list all possible equipment, but you should note that anything from six-figure farm equipment to an office copier can qualify as equipment.
Land
We can only expand on land so much. Assets include land (raw), vacant lots, approved building sites and any other taxable parcels. The one thing I do want to note, which I mentioned earlier, is that, land is the one plant asset that is not appreciable. While land is an inactive investment (as opposed to a factory) it is also very stable, This five-star course on accounting can help you develop a stronger business mindset for managing assets.
Improvements
When discussing plant assets, improvements are most commonly’ associated with land use and are even called “land improvements.” Land improvements consists of building things like parking lots, sidewalks, street lights, fences, ponds/lakes, landscaping, etc. But there can also be building improvements. among others: decoration, design, new signs, etc.
