登陆注册
5243900000021

第21章 Chapter 4(2)

only by comparison with the cost of the assets which it covers, not in relation to its earning-capacity. The latter point is taken care of by the stock quotations of the market. On the other hand, intangible assets neither have now nor ever have had any other basis than capitalisation of earning capacity, and any question of "water" in their case is consequently quite idle.

Intangible assets will not hold water.

Corporation finance is one of the outgrowths of the New Order. And one of the effects wrought by corporation finance is a blurring of the distinction between tangible assets and intangible; inasmuch as both are now habitually determined by a capitalisation of earning-capacity, rather than by their ascertained cost, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to draw a hard and fast line between that part of a concern's earning-capacity which is properly to be assigned to its plant and that which is due to its control of the market. Still, an intelligible distinction is maintained in common usage, between tangible assets and intangible, even if the distinction is somewhat uncertain in detail; and such a distinction is convenient, so long as too sharp a contrast between the two is not insisted on.

The earning-capacity of the tangible assets is presumed to represent the productive capacity of the plant, considered as a mechanical apparatus engaged in an industrial process for the production of goods or services; it is presumed to rest on the market value of the mechanical output of the plant. The plant is a productive factor because and in so far as it turns to practical account the state of the industrial arts now in use, --

the community's joint stock of technological knowledge. So soon, or so far, as the plant and its management falls short of meeting the ordinary requirements of this current state of the industrial arts, and fails to make use of such technological knowledge as is commonly employed, the whole works ceases by that much to be a productive factor. The productive efficiency, and the productive value, of any given item of industrial equipment is measured by its effective use of the technological knowledge current in the community for the time being. So also, the productive value of any given body of natural resources land, raw materials, motive power -- is strictly dependent on the degree in which it fits into the industrial system as it runs.

This dependence of productive value on conformity to and use of the state of the industrial arts is constantly shown in the case of land and similar natural resources, by the fluctuation of rental values. Land and other resources will be more valuable the more suitable they are for present and prospective use. The like is true for the mechanical equipment, perhaps in a more pronounced degree. Industrial plant, e.g., is always liable to depreciation by obsolescence in case the state of the industrial arts changes in such a way that the method of work embodied in the particular article of equipment is displaced by new and more suitable methods, more suitable under the altered circumstances.

In such a case, which is of very frequent occurrence under the new order of industry, any given plant, machine, or similar contrivance may lose all its value as a means of production. And so also, on the other hand, a given plant, as, for instance, a given railway system or dock, may acquire additional productive value through changes in the industrial system which make it more suitable for present use.

Evidently the chief, or at least the indispensable, element of productive efficiency in any item of industrial equipment or resources is the use which it makes of the available technological knowledge; and evidently, too, its earning-capacity as a productive factor depends strictly on the same fact, -- the usufruct of the state of the industrial arts. And all the while the state of the industrial arts, which the industrial equipment so turns to account for the benefit of its owner, continues to be a joint stock of industrial knowledge and proficiency accumulated, held, exercised, increased and transmitted by the community at large; and all the while the owner of the equipment is some person who has contributed no more than his per-capita quota to this state of the industrial arts out of which his earnings arise. Indeed the chances are that the owner has contributed less than his per-capita quota, if anything, to that common fund of knowledge on the product of which he draws by virtue of his ownership, because he is likely to be fully occupied with other things, -- such things as lucrative business transactions, e.g., or the decent consumption of superfluities.

And at this point the difference between tangible assets and intangible comes in sight, or at least the ground of the habitual distinction between the two. Tangible assets, it appears, are such assets as represent the earning-capacity of any mechanically productive property; whereas intangible assets represent assured income which can not be assigned to any specific material factor as its productive source. Intangible assets are the capitalised value of income not otherwise accounted for. Such income arises out of business relations rather than out of industry; it is derived from advantages of salesmanship, rather than from productive work; it represents no contribution to the output of goods and services, but only an effectual claim to a share in the "annual dividend," -- on grounds which appear to be legally honest, but which can not be stated in terms of mechanical cause and effect, or of productive efficiency, or indeed in any terms that involve notions of physical dimensions or of mechanical action.

When the theoreticians explain and justify these returns that go to adroit salesmanship, or "managerial ability," as it is also called, it invariably turns but that the grounds assigned for it are of the nature of figures of speech -- metaphor or analogy.

同类推荐
  • 佛说泥犁经

    佛说泥犁经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说老母经

    佛说老母经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Zanoni

    Zanoni

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上九要心印妙经

    太上九要心印妙经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 西湖游览志余

    西湖游览志余

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 大神别抢我buff

    大神别抢我buff

    【2018王者荣耀文学大赛·征文参赛作品】【本文佛系】人前他风华绝代,人后他腹黑记仇。传言SN战队的队长对自家队员和护小鸡仔儿似的,谁都不能碰一下。受不了的队员1:晖哥,你级那么高了,别抢小姐姐buff了行吗?看不过去的队员2:晖哥,你赏小姐姐一个buff吧?打抱不平的队员3:晖哥,你连自己上单的buff都抢你的良心都不会疼吗?慑慑发抖的低红上单:大神,求后期不抢我buff!某风华绝代的队长:我的野区,我做主。传言江湖飘,谁信谁挨刀。某上单风中凌乱,增益buff一个拿不到怎么办?在线等,急——
  • 窗下的树皮小屋

    窗下的树皮小屋

    本书是国家一级作家冰波先生的经典作品集,全书从“真”“善”“美”三个角度选取冰波先生具有代表性的作品。其中《窗下的树皮小屋》获儿童文学园丁奖,《蓝鲸的眼睛》获陈伯吹儿童文学奖,《蛤蟆的明信片》获冰心儿童文学新作奖,《长颈鹿拉拉》获全国优秀图书奖;《好天气与坏天气》《大象的耳朵》入选小学语文二年级教材。一个个取材于现实生活的故事,经过奇妙的想象,幻化成美丽的童话,让小朋友们在愉快的阅读中获得“真”“善”“美”的人生体验。
  • 财务部管理制度范本大全

    财务部管理制度范本大全

    《财务部管理制度范本大全》是“企业规范化管理制度范本大全”丛书之一,由“时代光华管理培训研究中心”整体策划完成。由注册会计师,北京科技大学经济管理学院副教授鲍新中编著。本书立足中国企业实际,结合企业管理的实际需要,将枯燥的理论简单化、流程化、制度化,对财务部门管理的相关制度、流程、管理表格、文案等进行了介绍。本书囊括了几乎所有与企业财务部门相关的管理制度、管理流程以及相关管理表格。
  • 呀,小狐狸

    呀,小狐狸

    狐狸爸爸为了照顾狐狸妈妈和四个刚出生的小狐狸,频频到农场偷鸡,它的行为激怒了农场主,遭到无情的射杀。失去丈夫的狐狸妈妈不得不负起独自抚养小狐狸的重任,教它们捕捉老鼠、智取松鼠、学习新技能。而丢鸡的事仍在发生,彻底惹怒了农场主,他带着雇佣和猎狗来到狐狸的藏身处,转瞬间三只小狐狸被杀死,唯一幸存的一只被带回,用铁链拴起来关在院子里。狐狸妈妈每晚都会带着食物来看小狐狸,并且不停的啮咬铁链,可一天又一天,铁链依然没有断,在这种万般无奈和绝望的情况下,狐狸妈妈到底要该怎么办呢……
  • 蜜爱成伤

    蜜爱成伤

    她爱他,刻骨铭心。却被他弃若敝履,反复践踏。三年的忍让,到头来,只是可笑的一厢情愿。她含泪带球离开,却被他全球通缉,“宋怀霜,我想你想的心都疼了。”
  • 世说新语

    世说新语

    《世说新语》是中国魏晋南北朝时期“笔记小说”的代表作,全书分上、中、下三卷,依内容分有:“德行”、“言语”、“政事”、“文学”、“方正”、“雅量”、“识鉴”等等,共三十六类,每类收有若干则,全书共一千多则,每则文字长短不一,有的数行,有的三言两语,由此可见笔记小说“随手而记”的特性。
  • 她故事:女人一生最应感悟的103种真情

    她故事:女人一生最应感悟的103种真情

    微笑着流泪的爱情、世界上最爱我们的两个人、轻触柔软的心灵、一生相随的友谊、女人心中永远的宝贝、倾听岁月的心声……本书为您讲述真实、感人的“她故事”,探微新女性的精神世界,追索新女性的幸福法则。
  • 繁花万丈不如你

    繁花万丈不如你

    潘晨阳回到A市,只有一个目的,那就是找回旧爱。可是用尽了所有办法,还是打不动这个冰山外科医生。于是,顾梦溪值班的那天,潘晨阳把办公室搬到,A市人民医院的值班房,并且说自己怕黑,要在这里办公,比较辟邪。于是,某日清晨,潘晨阳忽然跑到顾梦溪的门诊室,说自己胸口痛,还没等她的听诊器放在心尖处,他就握住了她的手,说:“昨夜想你想的心痛。”晨曦夫妇一起演绎,一眼万年的爱情。 新书《守护生命守护你》
  • 田园乞丐婆

    田园乞丐婆

    她是不得家人待见的穷苦农家丫头,吃不饱,穿不暖,身体受过伤被断言无法生育,被婆家人退了婚,坏了名声。村里人都说她要么一辈子嫁不出去,要么只能嫁给村里克妻的残障人士阿楞。结果呢?她愣是嫁给了村外破庙里的乞丐当乞丐婆子,跌破所有人的下巴!没聘礼,住破庙,娘家只给了一袋子陈米一袋子玉米当嫁妆,更扬言从此断绝来往不允许她回娘家打秋风!面对一众幸灾乐祸等着看好戏的人,秦家丫头高冷一笑。打秋风你老母!凸!姑奶奶穿越时身怀万能系统,系统商城里要什么好东西没有,还怕过不上好日子?吃不饱饭?不怕!找系统!买管催化剂,一把种子分分钟变粮食不要太美好!破庙太破?不怕!找系统!买一套福禄寿三星像一摆,香火鼎盛,破庙变神庙,各路达官贵人挤破头想住进来沾福气!亲戚找茬?不怕!找系统!整蛊用品层出不穷,玩死人不偿命,只有你想不到,没有系统做不到!无法生育?不怕!找系统——不,这个不用找系统,她自己就能解决!扎两针再吃两贴独家密药,保证药到病除,生一个足球队都没问题!系统介绍:本系统囊括日用,医疗,美食,兵器,商业,娱乐等各行业商品,实乃发家致富,居家旅行,杀人越货必备良品,你,值得拥有!*****彼时,他是乞丐,她是贫穷农女,一时心软给了他一个包子,得到一句:待我发达,娶你回家!她回:老娘不想当乞丐婆!此时,他是掌柜,她是东家,铺子打烊回到家:霜霜,晚上吃包子吧!她回:等着!他说:再配点酸黄瓜!如果有酒就更好了她默:……得寸进尺!若干年后,他是天子,她是皇后,下朝回来摸着肚子喊:皇后,咱们晚上吃包子吧!她怒:吃吃吃,吃了多少年了还吃!怎么不吃死你!他笑得得意:吃了包子才有力气一起种包子!皇后,你可是答应了朕要给朕生一个足球队的!她怒气掀桌,竖起中指:种尼玛种啊!*****推荐如歌的完结种田文《盛世田园之天才小酒娘》:
  • 皇宫情殇

    皇宫情殇

    《皇宫情殇》是国内第一部突出皇家情感悲剧的图书、“妒火”燃烧的皇宫、剥夺他人情感的皇家“试婚”、皇帝和女人们的裸泳馆、中国古代最早的红灯区、皇帝的难言之隐和断袖之癖、丑恶的性贿赂和性奏疏、“采阴补阳”的火骗术、让你更深层次地认识封建社会。