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This revised standard supersedes IAS 38 (1998) Intangible assets and should be applied:

(a) on acquisition to intangible assets acquired in business combinations for which the agreement date is on or after 31 March 2004.

(b) to all other intangible assets, for annual periods beginning on or after 31 March 2004.

Earlier application is encouraged.

Objective

1. The objective of this Standard is to prescribe the accounting treatment for intangible assets that are not dealt with specifically in another Standard. This Standard requires an entity to recognise an intangible asset if, and only if, specified criteria are met. The Standard also specifies how to measure the carrying amount of intangible assets and requires specified disclosures about intangible assets.

Scope

2. This Standard shall be applied in accounting for intangible assets, except:

(a) intangible assets that are within the scope of another Standard;

(b) financial assets, as defined in IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement;

(c) the recognition and measurement of exploration and evaluation assets (see IFRS 6 Exploration for and Evaluation of Mineral Resources); and

(d) expenditure on the development and extraction of minerals, oil, natural gas and similar non-regenerative resources.

3. If another Standard prescribes the accounting for a specific type of intangible asset, an entity applies that Standard instead of this Standard. For example, this Standard does not apply to:

(a) intangible assets held by an entity for sale in the ordinary course of business (see IAS 2 Inventories and IAS 11 Construction Contracts).

(b) deferred tax assets (see IAS 12 Income Taxes).

(c) leases that are within the scope of IAS 17 Leases.

(d) assets arising from employee benefits (see IAS 19 Employee Benefits).

(e) financial assets as defined in IAS 39. The recognition and measurement of some financial assets are covered by IAS 27 Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements, IAS 28 Investments in Associates and IAS 31 Interests in Joint
Ventures.

(f) goodwill acquired in a business combination (see IFRS 3 Business Combinations).

(g) deferred acquisition costs, and intangible assets, arising from an insurer’s contractual rights under insurance contracts within the scope of IFRS 4 Insurance Contracts. IFRS 4 sets out specific disclosure requirements for those deferred acquisition costs but not for those intangible assets. Therefore, the disclosure requirements in this Standard apply to those intangible assets.

(h) non-current intangible assets classified as held for sale (or included in a disposal group that is classified as held for sale) in accordance with IFRS 5 Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations.

4. Some intangible assets may be contained in or on a physical substance such as a compact disc (in the case of computer software), legal documentation (in the case of a licence or patent) or film. In determining whether an asset that incorporates both intangible and tangible elements should be treated under IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment or as an intangible asset under this Standard, an entity uses judgement to assess which element is more significant. For example, computer software for a computer-controlled machine tool that cannot operate without that specific software is an integral part of the related hardware and it is treated as property, plant and equipment. The same applies to the operating system of a computer. When the software is not an integral part of the related hardware, computer software is treated as an intangible asset.

5. This Standard applies to, among other things, expenditure on advertising, training, start-up, research and development activities. Research and development activities are directed to the development of knowledge. Therefore, although these activities may result in an asset with physical substance (eg a prototype), the physical element of the asset is secondary to its intangible component, ie the knowledge embodied in it.

6. In the case of a finance lease, the underlying asset may be either tangible or intangible. After initial recognition, a lessee accounts for an intangible asset held under a finance lease in accordance with this Standard. Rights under licensing agreements for items such as motion picture films, video recordings, plays, manuscripts, patents and copyrights are excluded from the scope of IAS 17 and are within the scope of this Standard.

7. Exclusions from the scope of a Standard may occur if activities or transactions are so specialised that they give rise to accounting issues that may need to be dealt with in a different way. Such issues arise in the accounting for expenditure on the exploration for, or development and extraction of, oil, gas and mineral deposits in extractive industries and in the case of insurance contracts. Therefore, this Standard does not apply to expenditure on such activities and contracts. However, this Standard applies to other intangible assets used (such as computer software), and other expenditure incurred (such as start-up costs), in extractive industries or by insurers.

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