FOD Project Capitalization

To ensure the appropriate accounting for projects, it is important that considerations made to determine if project is Capital or not. To aid departments and units in making these determinations a detailed guidance document has been added to the B&F website.

For Capitalizable Building Improvements to qualify for capitalization, project expenditures must exceed $100,000 (excluding moveable equipment, which is capitalized separately) and represent significant alterations, renovations, or structural changes that increase the usefulness of the building, enhance its efficiency, or extend its original useful life. 

Capitalizable building improvements include:

• Alterations to the internal structural arrangement or other physical characteristics of a building so that it may be effectively used for a newly designated purpose.
• Renovations, Renewals and Replacements to upgrade a building to higher standards of quality or efficiency and projects to overhaul or replace major building components that have deteriorated because of time and usage.
• Some projects, while necessary, are not considered to increase the usefulness of the building, enhance its efficiency or extend its useful life. These projects should be expensed as incurred (not capitalized).

For questions on B&F project capitalization guidance contact Christopher Kropp (kropp.21).

Please note, this guidance has also resulted in Adaptive Project Planning changes as well as changes to the eBuilder project process in Adaptive which can be found in two separate NewsLink articles.

• Adaptive Planning – Project Intake and Capital Planning Enhancements
• Adaptive Planning – eBuilder Managed Projects Process Change