Capital Assets

Purpose and Scope

The purpose of providing Capital Assets standards is to ensure that university assets are properly acquired, accounted for, maintained, and disposed of. These procedures are carried out in accordance with State policies, Federal regulations, audit requirements, and governmental accounting standards.

According to the North Carolina Office of the State Controller (OSC), the term "capital asset" refers to property, such as land, land improvements, easements, buildings, equipment, works of art and historical treasures, and infrastructure, with a cost equal to or greater than $5,000 and a useful life of two or more years. Capital assets are acquired for use in normal operations and are not for resale.

These standards are intended to address capital assets using OSC’s definition referenced in the prior paragraph. More specifically, given historical data and the materiality of certain financial statement account balances, the focus of these standards is Equipment and Buildings. It should be noted that even though these standards address only capital assets, each department within a university is responsible for maintaining and safeguarding all assets regardless of cost.

Mission Statement

The Capital Assets Group is dedicated to:

Maintaining an accurate listing of all capital assets held by the university as mandated by state and federal regulations.
Maintaining accurate accounting and internal control records that document capital assets including proof of asset existence, ownership, and proper valuation.
Providing uniform procedures and communication to the campus community to encourage proper use and control of capital assets.

For more information regarding the Capital Assets initiative please contact:

Cliff Flood cliff_flood@ncsu.edu

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Capital Assets