The capitalization threshold for identifying capital expenditure and
assets is typically applied on an item-for-item basis. Thus, if a jurisdiction
with a $5,000 capitalization threshold purchases 30 office desks, each costing
$500, the desks would be accounted for as current assets or items—that is,
fully expensed in the year acquired—rather than recorded and carried in the
accounting records as capital assets. Correspondingly, the expenditure to
acquire the desks would be an operating rather than a capital expenditure,
even though the useful life of the desks spans many years and the total outlay
to acquire the 30 desks is $15,000 (30 × $500), which is three times the capitalization
threshold of $5,000. Although the capitalization threshold should
generally be applied on an item-for-item basis, there can be exceptions when
purchases of certain lower-cost, long-lived assets or property, such as water