Financial investment
Financial assets ( English financial assets are) at enterprises of the part of the fixed assets , all the, frequently serving the operations monetary and non-physical assets comprises.
General
The entire fixed assets of a company preparing the balance sheet consist of property , plant and equipment , intangible assets and financial assets. Fixed assets and current assets form the total assets (= balance sheet total ) of a company. Financial investments are of minor importance for most operationally active companies in the manufacturing sector , in trading companies or service companies . On the other hand, they are characteristic of holdings .
species
Financial investments are created through the permanent provision of capital, which is possible in various forms. Are from their interest income or profit sharing can be achieved. The classification rule of Section 266 (2) A. III HGB regulates in detail which assets are to be regarded as financial assets. Fall under this
- Participations and loans to these: Participations can be in the form of shares , shares in a GmbH , general partner and limited partner contributions and participations as silent partners .
- Shares in affiliated companies ( Section 271 (2) HGB) and loans to them: Loans in the sense of financial assets are exclusively financial claims such as mortgages or loans , but not claims for goods or services. The duration should be at least one year. In order to make the interlinking with other companies clear, the loans to affiliated companies, companies with which there is a participation relationship and other loans are to be kept separately.
- Fixed asset securities : If there is no intention to participate, the investments are to be listed under fixed asset securities. These include capital market papers such as shares, investment units , fixed-income securities and rights similar to securities (e.g. federal treasury bonds ).
The classification requirement requires these items to be shown separately for the purposes of balance sheet clarity . Interested parties should be able to see in what form the accounting company has given capital to other debtors . In addition to this distinction in terms of content, the structure also enables a differentiation according to the degree of influence that the accounting company can exercise. A distinction is therefore made between affiliated companies, associated companies and companies over which there is no possibility of influencing.
Assignment
Securities and loans are included twice in the classification scheme of Section 266 of the German Commercial Code, namely for financial assets (A III No. 2, 4 and 5) and under current assets (B II No. 2, 3 and III No. 1 and 2). For this reason, there may be problems with assigning the same balance sheet items to the current assets between securities and loans in financial assets. The specific operational type of use determines the allocation to fixed or current assets. For the correct allocation, it is crucial that the fixed assets are binding for the fixed assets, according to which the assets must continuously serve business operations ( Section 247 (2) HGB). For securities, this means that they may not be held for trading purposes and that they are intended to be used continuously on the balance sheet date . At banks , they are to be kept in the banking book . For bonds , it is assumed that they remain until maturity investment portfolio. Checks or bills of exchange or similar securities with a means of payment function - which also belong to the securities - are regularly assigned to the current assets.
Once an assignment has been made, it must generally be retained. A reclassification between fixed and current assets and vice versa is called reallocation and is subject to strict regulations. If an asset item is to be transferred from fixed to current assets or vice versa, its purpose must have changed (Section 247 (2) HGB). According to IAS 39.50-54 there are numerous prohibitions on reallocation , depending on the financial instrument and the valuation category . According to Section 340e (2) HGB, special regulations apply to banks . according to which securities to be reclassified as fixed assets must have a remaining term of at least one year.
The allocation to fixed or current assets has consequences for the valuation , because securities of fixed assets are subject to the moderate lower value principle , those of current assets to the strict lower value principle.
literature
- Coenenberg, AG : Annual financial statements and annual financial statements analysis. 20th edition, Landsberg am Lech 2005, ISBN 3-7910-2378-0 , pp. 227-229.
