Concept Of “Hidden Assets” And Methodological Bases For Their Assessment

To assess the prospects of an enterprise and plan its activities, it is very important to know what assets it has, including hidden assets. Today, there is no single understanding of this concept. Some researchers attribute this to an underestimation of the company’s assets, others – to a lack of accounting for assets, or to insufficient use of assets. This is the result of applying various methodological approaches and insufficient research of this concept. On the ground of a methodological approach based on the identification of generic concepts and essential features, a generalized definition of the concept of “hidden assets” is proposed. These are assets, value of which on the company’s balance sheet is undervalued compared to their real value, or which are not reflected in the balance sheet, or which are underutilized and which are real assets, and which are capable to provide a competitive advantage or economic benefit. This definition of the concept of “hidden assets” allows to combine different existing points of view on this concept and to look at the capital of an enterprise in a broader context. The difference between the concepts of “hidden assets” and “accounted assets” from the point of view of law is considered separately. Assets that are recorded in the balance sheet belong to the enterprise based on ownership rights. As for hidden assets, as a rule, the enterprise in relation to them has the right to use only. Firstly, this applies to the leased fixed assets, human capital (use of time, knowledge and skills of specialists). In other words, the right to use is of crucial importance. In this case, the assets of the enterprise are considered as a set of rights to receive economic benefits. With such a broad view, the components of the hidden capital of an enterprise can be identified. Analysis of existing methodological approaches to the assessment of hidden assets has shown that they have significant methodological shortcomings and difficulties in applying and collecting the necessary initial data. Methodological bases for estimation of hidden assets are proposed based on the defined concept of “public value of an enterprise” as the sum of all assets used by an enterprise to create gross value added. Calculations have shown that the average share of hidden assets of Ukrainian enterprises in the period from 2012 to 2018 in the total volume of all assets is 33.7 %, and by type of economic activity from 14.3 % in construction to 70.1 % in agriculture. Hidden assets are the missing link in determining the level of capitalization of an enterprise. All other things being equal, the difference in the level of economic development of enterprises can be explained by differences in the volume and structure of their hidden assets. Hidden assets can be the key to creation of an enterprise’s development strategy.