Where does asset collide?

In accounting, an asset is a resource controlled by an entity as a result of past events and expected to produce future economic benefit, the item that fills the left side, or top, of a balance sheet. The Financial Accounting Standards Board's 1985 Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No. 6: Elements of Financial Statements fixed this meaning by defining assets as probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by a particular entity as a result of past transactions or events. The referent is an accounting element, a claim on future value stated in currency, not a recruited human source, a resource file loaded by a program, or a measured strength in a young person's life.[1]

Unit

One recognised item of future economic benefit, carried in currency

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Recognised and measured at historical cost, fair value, or amortised cost, and reported as a line on the balance sheet

In positive youth development, a developmental asset is a measured building block of healthy growth, an internal strength such as a positive value or an external support such as a caring adult, that predicts thriving and buffers against risk in adolescents. Benson, Scales, and Syvertsen's 2011 review of The Contribution of the Developmental Assets Framework to Positive Youth Development set out the forty such assets and the evidence linking them to good outcomes. The referent is a protective resource in a young person's life, counted in a survey, not a balance-sheet item, a recruited informant, or a file in a program.[2]

Unit

One of forty measured internal or external strengths, per young person

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Counted through youth self-report surveys, such as the Search Institute profiles, as the number of assets present