Accounting for self-constructed assets means bundling every cost necessarily incurred to bring the asset to the condition and location needed for its intended use into a single capitalized amount, holding those costs in a Construction in Progress account during the build, and then transferring the total to a fixed asset account for depreciation once the asset is placed in service. The language comes from ASC 360-10-30-1, and it governs what you record on the balance sheet versus what runs through the income statement. Getting the capitalized total right matters because it becomes the asset’s depreciable basis for its entire useful life, and errors ripple through the financial statements for years.
What Goes Into the Capitalized Cost
Direct materials and direct labor form the foundation. Materials are the raw goods and components that physically become part of the finished asset. Labor includes wages, payroll taxes, and benefits for people physically working on the construction, from welders and electricians to the foremen supervising them.
Overhead is where judgment comes in. The more conservative reading of current US GAAP, consistent with the guidance in ASC 350-40 for internal-use software, draws a hard line: only costs directly identifiable to the project should be capitalized. Occupancy expenses for office space used by engineers assigned to the project, general accounting salaries, executive compensation, security for your corporate campus, the CFO’s time reviewing project budgets, and depreciation on existing equipment used part-time for construction all stay on the income statement. The reasoning is that these costs are not “necessarily incurred” to build the asset, because the company would bear them whether the project existed or not.
Costs that do qualify include fees paid to outside engineers, permit and inspection fees, and temporary utilities installed specifically for the construction site. If the project runs into unexpected obstacles such as additional excavation or new permitting requirements, those extra costs qualify too, because they were necessary to complete the asset. Penalties and fines for code violations or regulatory noncompliance do not qualify. They were avoidable and have nothing to do with preparing the asset for use.
How Costs Flow Through Construction in Progress
As costs accumulate, they flow into a temporary balance sheet account called Construction in Progress (CIP). This account holds every capitalized dollar until the project is finished. Nothing gets depreciated while costs sit in CIP, because the asset is not yet in service.
Capitalization of non-interest costs begins when two things are simultaneously true: you have started spending money on the asset, and activities to prepare it for use are underway. “Activities” is defined broadly. It covers physical construction and also preconstruction steps like developing plans, obtaining government permits, and resolving unforeseen technical problems or labor disputes.
When construction wraps up and the asset is ready for its intended purpose, the full CIP balance transfers to the appropriate fixed asset account. That transfer amount becomes the asset’s historical cost and the starting point for depreciation.
Capitalizing Interest During Construction
If an asset takes a substantial period to build, any interest your company incurs during that period because of the construction spending becomes part of the asset’s cost rather than a current expense. This is one of the more technical pieces of self-constructed asset accounting, and it is where the biggest dollar errors tend to happen.
When Interest Capitalization Starts and Stops
Under ASC 835-20-25-3, interest capitalization begins when three conditions are all present at the same time:
- Expenditures have been made. You have actually spent money on the project (cash basis, not accrual, unless your accruals bear interest).
- Construction activities are in progress. Work to prepare the asset for its intended use is actively underway.
- Interest cost is being incurred. You have outstanding debt generating interest expense.
Capitalization continues as long as all three conditions remain true. It stops when the asset is substantially complete and ready for use, even if you choose not to start using it right away. If you intentionally delay or suspend construction for an extended stretch, capitalization must also stop during that pause. Brief interruptions, delays caused by outside forces like weather, and pauses inherent in the construction process do not trigger a suspension.
For assets completed in stages, interest capitalization stops for each portion as it becomes independently usable. A high-rise building where individual floors finish at different times is the classic example. Once a floor is substantially complete, you stop capitalizing interest on that portion even while work continues elsewhere in the building.
Calculating the Amount
The goal is to capitalize the interest your company could have avoided if it had never started the project. This “avoidable interest” concept keeps the calculation grounded in the real financing cost of tying up capital in construction.
Start with average accumulated expenditures for the period. Weight each payment by the fraction of the capitalization period it was outstanding. An expenditure made on April 1 for a project running through December 31 is weighted 9/12; one made on October 1 is weighted 3/12. The sum of those weighted amounts is the base to which you apply an interest rate.
The rate itself follows a two-tier approach. If your company borrowed money specifically to finance the construction, apply the rate on that specific debt to the portion of accumulated expenditures it covers. If accumulated expenditures exceed the specific construction borrowing, the excess is treated as if financed by your general borrowings. Calculate a weighted-average rate on all other outstanding debt (total general interest expense divided by total general principal) and apply that rate to the excess.
One hard cap applies. The total interest you capitalize for a period can never exceed the total interest your company actually incurred during that same period. The financial statements must then disclose both the total interest incurred during the period and the portion that was capitalized, so readers can see how much reported interest was shifted onto the balance sheet.
Tax Treatment Under Section 263A
Book accounting and tax accounting diverge sharply for self-constructed assets. For federal income tax purposes, Section 263A of the Internal Revenue Code imposes its own capitalization rules, known as the Uniform Capitalization (UNICAP) rules, on any real or tangible personal property a taxpayer produces. The statute defines “produce” to include constructing, building, installing, and manufacturing.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 263A – Capitalization and Inclusion in Inventory Costs of Certain Expenses
Under Section 263A, you must capitalize both direct costs and a proper share of indirect costs allocable to the property. Even if you expense overhead for financial reporting, Section 263A may require you to capitalize some of those same overhead costs on the tax return. The indirect costs that must be capitalized for tax purposes are broader than what GAAP requires, including items like certain administrative costs, insurance, and taxes related to the production activity.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 263A – Capitalization and Inclusion in Inventory Costs of Certain Expenses
Smaller businesses get a break. Section 263A does not apply to taxpayers (other than tax shelters) that meet the gross receipts test under Section 448(c). The threshold adjusts annually for inflation. For the 2024 tax year, the cutoff was $30 million in average annual gross receipts over the three preceding years, and the threshold continues to rise with inflation in later years.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 263A – Capitalization and Inclusion in Inventory Costs of Certain Expenses If your business falls below the line, you follow your regular accounting method for these costs without the additional Section 263A layer.
Depreciation Once the Asset Is in Service
Once the asset transfers out of CIP into a fixed asset account, depreciation begins. The total capitalized cost, including any capitalized interest, becomes the depreciable basis.
Book Depreciation
For financial reporting, management selects an estimated useful life, a salvage value, and a depreciation method. Straight-line is the most common choice: subtract salvage from cost, divide by useful life, and expense the same amount each year. Accelerated methods like double-declining balance front-load the expense into earlier years, which can better match revenue patterns for assets that lose productivity over time.
Complex self-constructed assets like buildings may warrant component depreciation. Instead of treating the entire structure as one unit, you break it into major components (the roof, the HVAC system, the structural shell, the elevator) and give each its own useful life and schedule. The result is a more accurate expense pattern, because a roof with a 20-year life wears out much faster than a concrete foundation with a 50-year life.
Tax Depreciation Under MACRS
For income tax purposes, depreciation follows the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System. MACRS assigns each type of property to a recovery period class (7-year property, 15-year property, 39-year nonresidential real property, and so on). The placed-in-service date, meaning the date the property is ready and available for a specific use, triggers the start of MACRS depreciation.3Internal Revenue Service. Publication 946 – How To Depreciate Property That date does not need to be the date you first actually use the asset. MACRS recovery periods and methods frequently differ from the useful lives and methods you chose for book purposes, creating another common book-tax difference.
Spending More on the Asset Later
Money you spend on the asset after it enters service falls into one of two buckets. Routine maintenance and repairs that keep the asset in its current operating condition are expensed immediately. Replacing air filters, repainting walls, and fixing a broken window are all period costs.
Capitalization is appropriate only when the expenditure extends the asset’s remaining life or increases its functionality. An expenditure that boosts productive capacity, like adding a second production line to a manufacturing facility, qualifies. So does a major overhaul that adds years to the asset’s useful life. Converting an asset from one use to another, such as retooling a tire machine to produce a different model, typically does not meet the capitalization threshold.
Asset Retirement Obligations
Some self-constructed assets come with a legal obligation to dismantle, remove, or remediate the site when the asset is eventually retired. A manufacturing plant built on contaminated land, a wind turbine with a decommissioning requirement, or a leased building with a contractual restoration clause are common examples. Under ASC 410-20, these asset retirement obligations must be recognized as a liability at fair value the moment the obligation is incurred and can be reasonably estimated.
The initial fair value of the obligation gets added to the carrying amount of the related asset, effectively increasing the depreciable basis. That added cost is then depreciated over the asset’s useful life along with every other capitalized cost. Meanwhile, the liability accretes over time using an expected present value technique, until the retirement date arrives and the actual costs are incurred. Failing to recognize an ARO at the outset understates both the asset’s value and the company’s long-term liabilities.
Impairment Testing
Self-constructed assets are not immune to losing value. Under ASC 360-10, a long-lived asset must be evaluated for impairment whenever a triggering event suggests the carrying amount may not be recoverable. Common triggering events include:
- A significant drop in the asset’s market price
- A major adverse change in how the asset is used or in its physical condition
- An unfavorable shift in the legal or business environment
- Construction costs that significantly exceeded the original budget
- Ongoing operating or cash flow losses tied to the asset
When a triggering event occurs, US GAAP uses a two-step process. The first step compares the asset’s carrying amount to the total undiscounted future cash flows you expect it to generate through use and eventual disposal. If undiscounted cash flows exceed the carrying amount, the asset passes and no write-down is needed.4Deloitte Accounting Research Tool. Measurement of an Impairment Loss
If the carrying amount exceeds undiscounted cash flows, you move to step two. Measure the impairment loss as the amount by which carrying value exceeds the asset’s fair value. The asset is written down to fair value, and the loss hits the income statement immediately. Once recorded, an impairment loss on a long-lived asset cannot be reversed under US GAAP, even if the asset’s value recovers later.4Deloitte Accounting Research Tool. Measurement of an Impairment Loss
The cost-overrun trigger deserves special attention for self-constructed assets. If a project runs significantly over budget, that overrun is itself a signal the asset may already be impaired before it enters service. Testing early prevents carrying an inflated value forward for years.
If You’re Building Internal-Use Software
Software a company builds for its own internal use follows a parallel but slightly different set of rules under ASC 350-40. The development process is divided into three stages, and the accounting treatment depends on which stage a cost falls in:
- Preliminary project stage: research, planning, and determining whether the technology can meet your objectives. All costs are expensed as incurred.
- Application development stage: coding, design, installation, and testing. Directly identifiable costs such as developer payroll (to the extent of time on the project), third-party service fees, and applicable interest are capitalized. General overhead and training costs are not.
- Post-implementation stage: user training, routine maintenance, and minor updates. All costs are expensed as incurred.
Cloud computing arrangements that are service contracts rather than software licenses follow the same stage-based framework under ASU 2018-15. Implementation costs during the application development stage get capitalized even though you do not own the underlying software, and the capitalized costs are amortized over the term of the hosting arrangement rather than the software’s useful life.
If You Also Report Under IFRS
Companies reporting under International Financial Reporting Standards face several meaningful differences for self-constructed assets. If your organization reports under both frameworks or is considering a transition, these are the points where numbers will diverge.
Cost Capitalization
IAS 16 uses the same general principle as US GAAP: the cost of a self-constructed asset includes everything necessary to bring it to working condition. But IAS 16 explicitly requires the exclusion of abnormal waste, meaning unusually high amounts of wasted materials, labor, or other resources. It also prohibits capitalizing any internal profit on the construction. If a manufacturing division builds an asset and charges the company a markup, that markup must be stripped out.5IFRS Foundation. IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment
Borrowing Costs
IAS 23 requires capitalizing borrowing costs on qualifying assets, similar to ASC 835-20, but the mechanics differ. Under IFRS, if you borrow specifically for a project and temporarily invest the unused funds, you can offset the investment income against the borrowing costs. US GAAP generally does not allow that offset. IFRS also includes exchange rate differences on foreign currency borrowings as eligible borrowing costs, while US GAAP excludes them.
Component Depreciation
Under IFRS, component depreciation is mandatory, not optional. Every significant part of an asset with a different useful life must be depreciated separately.5IFRS Foundation. IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment Under US GAAP, component depreciation is permitted but not required, and many companies choose the simpler approach of depreciating the entire asset as one unit.
Impairment
IAS 36 replaces the two-step US GAAP approach with a single comparison: the asset’s carrying amount versus its recoverable amount, which is the higher of its fair value less costs of disposal and its value in use. There is no undiscounted cash flow screen. And unlike US GAAP, IFRS allows the reversal of impairment losses on long-lived assets (other than goodwill) if conditions improve in a later period.