In determining whether emission allowances held are inventory or intangibles, many entities consider how they have historically used the allowances, their prospective intent, and the accounting ramifications of each accounting model. In fact, some companies that have used allowances for different purposes have treated groups of allowances differently based on the business intent. For example, a fully diversified utility that purchases and uses allowances for its power generation business unit and buys and sells allowances in its trading operations might want to utilize different accounting models for the different groups of emission allowances, treating allowances held for compliance purposes as intangibles and those held for trading classified as inventory. Supporters of this hybrid approach might point to other situations where items classified as held for trading are treated differently from those held for normal business purposes. Additionally, IFRS intangible guidance (1AS 38) is explicit that intangible assets held for sale in the ordinary course of business (i.e., trading and marketing) are to be recorded as inventory in accordance with IAS 2; thus an IFRS reporting entity that classified allowances held for use as intangibles would be required to record any allowances held for trading as inventory. Further evaluation may be necessary to determine when hybrid approaches are warranted for emission allowances, including consideration of whether (1) the business units are managed separately, (2) it is clear which transactions are for each respective business unit, nd (3) the policies are consistently applied.