KM Discussion 11: Types of Intellectual Capital 

"The only irreplaceable capital an organization possesses is the knowledge and ability of its people. The productivity of that capital depends on how effectively people share their competence with those who can use it."
- Andrew Carnegie




		

	



	

		

			
			

		

	



	

		

			
Key Takeaways


    

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    Intellectual capital, which can also be called intangible assets, comes in many forms such as: copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, patents and proprietary data.
    

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    In GAAP accounting, Goodwill is a term used to record intangible assets, but it can only be done so under special circumstances such as mergers and acquisitions.
    

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    In 1988, The Konrad Group (a team of industry practitioners) published a Swedish book with the title "Den osynliga balansräkningen". In 1990, an English version was published with the title “The Invisible Balance Sheet”. The book outlines three categories of intellectual capital.
    

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    Over the past 40 years, the value for S&P 500 companies is increasingly made up of intangible assets. Today, that figure exceeds 80%.
    

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References


Adams, Mary. “Intangibles and Sustainability: Holistic Approaches to Measuring and Managing Value Creation”. Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 87-94


Adams, Mary. S-C Four Frameworks Model. 2016. Smarter-Companies Inc. Boston. How to Measure Sustainability Efforts, http://info.smarter-companies.com/blog/how-to-measure-sustainability-efforts/


Edvinsson, Leif. "Developing Intellectual Capital at Skandia." Long Range Planning, Vol. 30, No. 3, 1997, pp. 366-373


Elsten, Cate and Hill, Nick, Intangible Asset Market Value Study? (July 27, 2017). les Nouvelles - Journal of the Licensing


Executives Society, Volume LII No. 4, September 2017. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3009783


Integrated Reporting. Octopus. 2015. International Integrated Reporting Council. England and Wales. Get to grips with the six capitals, https://integratedreporting.org/what-the-tool-for-better-reporting/get-to-grips-with-the-six-capitals/


Konrad Group (ed. Karl-erik Sveiby). The Invisible Balance Sheet. Affärsvärlden Förlag, 1990.