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Investors should check the inventory costing method, and LIFO is generally preferred to FIFO. However, if the LIFO reserve drops precipitously year over year, then the implied inventory liquidation distorts COGS and probably renders the reported profit margin unusable.
Finally, it's wise to check the current accounts for derivatives (or the lack of them, when key risks exist) and off-balance sheet financing.
Long-Lived Assets
In the preceding section, we examined working capital, which refers to the current assets and liabilities of a company. In this section, we take a closer look at the long- lived assets (a.k.a. non-current assets) carried on the balance sheet. Long-lived assets are those that provide the company with a future economic benefit beyond the current year or operating period. It may be helpful to remember that most (but not all) long-lived assets start as some sort of purchase by the company.
In fact, whenever a company purchases an asset, it will either expense or capitalize the purchase. Consider a simple example of a company that generates $150 in sales and, in the same year, spends $100 on research and development (R&D). In scenario A below, the entire $100 is expensed and, as a result, the profit is simply $50 ($100 – $50). In scenario B, the company capitalizes the $100, which means a long-lived asset is created on the balance sheet and the cost is allocated (charged) as an expense over future periods. If we assume the asset has a five-year life, only one-fifth of the investment is allocated in the first year. The other $80 remains on the balance sheet, to be allocated as an expense over the subsequent four years. Therefore, the profits are higher under scenario B, although the cash flows in the two scenarios are exactly the same:
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