Capitalisation of Interest

Peasnell, Ken (1993) Capitalisation of Interest. British Accounting Review, 25 (1). pp. 17-42. ISSN 0890-8389

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the case for capitalising interest on self-constructed and maturing assets. Three perspectives on interest capitalisation- cost matching, opportunity cost, and valuation—are compared and contrasted. The paper's principal contributions are twofold: (i) to show how interest capitalisation can be related to the concept of deprival value; and (ii) to analyse the issues of capital structure, the choice of an appropriate capitalisation rate and the treatment of the resultant credits that have plagued the efforts of accountants in this area.