Identification of the Cash-Generating Unit

If there is any indication that an asset may be impaired, the recoverable amount should be estimated for the individual asset, if it is not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of the individual asset because the value in use of the asset cannot be determined and it is probably different from scrap value. Therefore, the enterprise estimates the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs.

If recoverable amount cannot be determined for an individual asset, an enterprise identifies the lowest aggregation of assets that generate largely independent cash inflows from continuing use. Even if part or all of the output produced by an asset or a group of assets is used by other units of the reporting enterprise, this asset or group of assets forms a separate cash-generating unit if the enterprise could sell this output in an active market.

This is because this asset or group of assets could generate cash inflows from continuing use that would be largely independent of the cash inflows from other assets or groups of assets. In using information based on financial budgets/forecasts that relates to such a cash-generating unit, an enterprise adjusts this information if internal transfer prices do not reflect management’s best estimate of future market prices for the cash-generating unit’s output. Cash-generating units should be identified consistently from period to period for the same asset or types of assets, unless a change is justified.

Recoverable Amount and Carrying Amount of a Cash-Generating Unit

The carrying amount of a cash-generating unit should be determined consistently with the way the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit is determined i.e. carrying amount is the summation of the carrying amount of all the assets grouped under one cash-generating unit. This also includes the liability only if that liability is necessary to be considered to determine the recovery amount. This may occur if the disposal of a cash-generating unit would require the buyer to take over a liability. In this case, the net selling price of the cash-generating unit is the estimated selling price for the assets of the cash-generating unit and the liability together, less the costs of disposal. In order to perform a meaningful comparison between the carrying amount of the cash-generating unit and its recoverable amount, the carrying amount of the liability is deducted in determining both the cash-generating unit’s value in use and its carrying amount. For practical reasons, the recoverable amount of a cash-generating unit is sometimes determined after consideration of assets that are not part of the cash-generating unit or liabilities that have already been recognised in the financial statements. In such cases, the carrying amount of the cash-generating unit is increased by the carrying amount of those assets and decreased by the carrying amount of those liabilities.

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