useful life

(noun)

the length of time, typically in years, that an asset is expected to function and be useful.

Related Terms

Examples of useful life in the following topics:

  • Limited-Life Impairment

    • Limited-life intangibles are amortized throughout the useful life of the intangible asset using either the units of activity or the straight-line method.
    • A software company has a patent valued at $10 million with a useful life of 40 years.
    • Limited-life intangibles are intangible assets with a limited useful life, such as copyrights, patents and trademarks
    • Intangible assets can have either a limited or an indefinite useful life.
    • Limited-life intangibles are systemically amortized throughout the useful life of the intangible asset using either units of activity method or straight-line method.

  • Product life extension

    • This does not mean that the product or its parts have reached the end of their useful life.
    • In many cases, products can be broken down into base materials or components in order to be used again for the same or other applications.

  • Product Life-Cycle Curve

    • Product life cycles are a useful guide to lifetime sales and profits, and can help marketers understand what strategies to deploy & when.
    • A given product may hold a unique product life cycle shape such that use of typical product life cycle models are useful only as a rough guide for marketing management.
    • Rather, the product life cycle model should be used as a rough guide to predict how sales patterns may play out given competitive and economic conditions.
    • All in all, it is a useful model, but not a certainty.
    • Such a product may be difficult to classify using the product life cycle model - is it the same old iPod, or an entirely new product?

  • Indefinite-Life Impairment

    • A software company has a trademark valued at $10 million with an indefinite useful life.
    • Under US GAAP, intangible assets are classified into: Purchased vs. internally created intangibles, and Limited-life vs. indefinite-life intangibles.
    • Since intangible assets are typically expensed according to their respective life expectancy, it is important to understand the difference between limited-life intangible assets and indefinite-life intangible assets.
    • Intangible assets with identifiable useful lives (limited-life) include copyrights and patents.
    • Instead of amortization, indefinite-life assets are evaluated for impairment yearly.

  • Elements of Life

    • Key elements were needed for early life to start on earth.
    • There is no "standard model" of the origin of life.
    • In such a reducing atmosphere, electrical activity can catalyze the creation of certain basic small molecules (monomers) of life, like amino acids.
    • An outline of the apparatus used by Miller and Urey.
    • Using this apparatus, and using conditions thought to approximate the conditions on pre-biotic earth, they were able to catalyze the molecules of life like amino acids.

  • Microbes and the Origin of Life on Earth

    • Some began making their own food using carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and energy they harvested from the sun.
    • With a population of increasingly diverse bacterial life, the stage was set for more life to form.
    • And both organelles use their DNA to produce many proteins and enzymes required for their function.
    • Astrobiologists are now using archaea to study the origins of life on Earth and other planets.
    • Life had created the conditions for new life to be formed.

  • Web, Network, and Ring of Life Models

    • This model is often called the "web of life."
    • In an effort to save the tree analogy, some have proposed using the Ficus tree with its multiple trunks as a phylogenetic tree to represent the evolutionary role for HGT .
    • The "ring of life" is a phylogenetic model where all three domains of life evolved from a pool of primitive prokaryotes .
    • According to the "ring of life" phylogenetic model, the three domains of life evolved from a pool of primitive prokaryotes.
    • Describe the web, network, and ring of life models of phylogenetic trees

  • Still-Life Painting

    • Still-life painting flourished during the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic.
    • Early still-lifes were relatively brightly lit, with bouquets of flowers arranged in a simple way.
    • Virtually all still-lifes had a moralistic message, usually concerning the brevity of life.
    • Flowers wilt and food decays, and silver is of no use to the soul.
    • Bosschaert was an early still-life painter who established a dynasty of flower painters.

  • Considering the Organizational Life Cycle

    • The life cycle of an organization is important to consider when determining its overall design and structure.
    • In organizational ecology, the idea of age dependence is used to examine how an organization's risk of mortality relates to the age of that organization.
    • The Enterprise Life Cycle is the dynamic, iterative process of changing an enterprise over time by incorporating new business processes, technologies, and capabilities, as well as maintaining, using, and disposing of existing elements of the enterprise.
    • Daft theorized four stages of the organizational life cycle, each with critical transitions:
    • The Enterprise Life Cycle comes strongly into play in the elaboration stage.

  • Half-Life of Radioactive Decay

    • The following equation is used to predict the number of atoms (N) of a a given radioactive sample that remain after a given time (t):
    • The half-life is related to the decay constant.
    • What is the half-life of element X if it takes 36 days to decay from 50 grams to 12.5 grams?
    • This means each half-life for element X is 18 days.
    • Nuclear half-life is the time that it takes for one half of a radioactive sample to decay.