understanding balance sheets

Ainsley1

Thanks all for your time and trouble to respond; these posts have helped clarify things and put them into perspective.
A bit of searching the inter-web will now be more relevant.

EdGasket

AndyT678 wrote: »

Don't forget that for many businesses the worth is in the brand(s) they own the value of which might not appear on the balance sheet at all. Unilever doesn't have a market cap >£120bn because they own a bunch of property.

Often things like brand value will show as goodwill / intangible assets.

AndyT678

EdGasket wrote: »

Often things like brand value will show as goodwill / intangible assets.

If it's separately identifiable and a recent acquisition then that might help but most companies build their own brands.

http://www.ifrs.org/IFRSs/Documents/Technical-summaries-2014/IAS%2038.pdf

"Internally generated goodwill shall not be recognised as an asset."