Why are Intangible Assets Shown In The Balance Sheet

Because, Intangible Assets such us Goodwill, Patents, Licensing etc., provide economic benefits for more than one year, so these are reported on the Balance Sheet Under the Section of Non Current Assets.

However, the IAS requires from the company not to disclose internally generated intangible assets or Assets which is created by a company such a good brand’s name of a company which developed it over time as we can not assign a fair market value to it. So, only acquired intangible assets are shown on the balance sheet as these are acquired or purchased from other businesses either through a business combination such as Purchase Price Allocation (PPA) or just purchased of any asset through a settlement.