UNIVERSITY OF EXETER S TAT E M E N T O F P R I N C I PA L A C C O U N T I N G P O L I C I E S
12. E Q U I P M E N T Equipment, including computers and software, that individually has a cost equal to or greater than £25,000 is capitalised. Equipment, including computers and software, that collectively have a cost equal to or greater than £25,000 where the assets are functionally interdependent or are purchased together and intended to be used for a common purpose and are under common management control are capitalised. Capitalised equipment is stated at cost and depreciated over its expected useful life, as follows: Computer equipment
4 to 8 years
Equipment acquired for
project life remaining
specific research projects
(generally 3 years)
Other equipment
8 years
15. C H A R I TA B L E D O N AT I O N S Unrestricted donations Charitable donations are recognised in the accounts when the charitable donation has been received or if, before receipt, there is sufficient evidence to provide the necessary certainty that the donation will be received and the value of the incoming resources can be measured with sufficient reliability.
Where equipment is acquired with the aid of specific grants it
Endowment funds
is capitalised and depreciated in accordance with the above
Where charitable donations are to be retained for the benefit
policy, with the related grant being credited to a deferred
of the University as specified by the donors, these are
capital grant account and released to the income and
accounted for as endowments. There are three main types:
expenditure account over the expected useful economic life of the related equipment (the period of the grant in respect of specific research projects). 13. L E A S E D A S S E T S Where assets are financed by leasing arrangements that give rights approximating to ownership (finance leases), the assets are treated as if they had been purchased outright and the corresponding liability to the leasing company is included as an obligation under finance leases. Depreciation on leased
1. Unrestricted permanent endowments – the donor has specified that the fund is to be permanently invested to generate an income stream for the general benefit of the University. 2. Restricted permanent endowments – the donor has specified that the fund is to be permanently invested to generate an income stream to be applied to a particular objective. 3. Restricted expendable endowments – the donor has
assets is charged to the income and expenditure on the
specified a particular objective other than the purchase or
same basis as above. Leasing payments are treated as
construction of tangible fixed assets, and the University
consisting of capital and interest elements and the interest is
can convert the donated sum into income.
charged to the income and expenditure account over the period of the lease. All other leases are operating leases and the annual rentals payable are charged to the Income and Expenditure Account.
Donations for fixed assets Donations received to be applied to the cost of a tangible fixed asset are shown on the balance sheet as a deferred capital grant. The deferred capital grant is released to the income and expenditure account over the same estimated useful life that is used to determine the depreciation charge associated with the tangible fixed asset.
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F I N A N C I A L S TAT E M E N T S
and IT infrastructure
14. H E R I TA G E A S S E T S The group holds at the Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture one of the largest public collections of books, prints, artefacts and ephemera relating to the history and pre-history of cinema. This centre contains both a public museum and an academic research centre. The collection contains many irreplaceable originals to which no reliable cost or value can be attributed. As a result, no value is reported for these assets in the group’s Balance Sheet. Any costs of maintaining and displaying the collection are reported in the Income and Expenditure Account in the year that it is incurred.