 Welcome to this module overview related to assets. For starters, I want to show you the FASB definition of an asset. It's the probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by a particular entity as a result of past transactions or events. That definition sounds very legal, so let's break it out into three parts. Probable future economic benefit means that an item will probably be worth something in the future. If you have an item that is described this way, you probably have an asset. Obtained or controlled by a particular entity means at an accounting principles level that a company owns the item that has value. There are many complex assets, often related to certain type of lease agreements, where a company doesn't own an asset but controls it enough to call it an asset. But that's beyond the scope of this course. As a result of past transactions or events, means that a transaction exists where the acquisition of an asset can be verified. If these three components describe an item, then that item is an asset and needs to be reported on the balance sheet. Balance sheet reporting of assets classifies them into two categories, current assets and long term assets. Current assets are assets that are expected to be converted to cash or used up within one year. Some common examples of current assets are listed on the slide and include cash, accounts receivable, inventory, supplies and other prepaid expenses. Long term assets are assets whose value is expected to last beyond one year. They are often categorized on the balance sheet in the following four categories. Long term investments, plant assets, intangible assets and other long term assets. Let's look at the four assets we're going to cover in this module. Our first asset is cash. The cash account includes currency, coins, checking accounts and undeposited checks received from our customers. Additionally, we will learn about internal controls over cash. We will introduce the accounting for inventory in this course. For merchandise firms, inventory is a current asset which includes items held for resell. Manufacturing firms, which we will learn about in the managerial accounting portion of this course, have several inventory accounts including raw materials, work in process and finished goods. Receivables are the money that a company has the right to receive because it has provided customers with goods or services. There are a few different categories of receivables, but we will focus on accounts receivables and notes receivables. In our course, these receivables are going to be current assets. However, long term notes receivables are quite common in practice. The final asset is plant asset, which includes long term assets such as building and equipment used by a company. Plant assets are sometimes called fixed assets, sometimes called property, plant and equipment, or PPE for short. These terms all mean the same thing. Unlike the current assets, plant assets are depreciated over their useful lives. And we will learn all about how to do that and many other things in this module covering key assets.