Data acquisition and licensing
Data bought or licensed for training routes three ways. Separately acquired data that meets the asset definition is recognised at cost as an intangible; data consumed over a licence term is a prepayment released as used; data with no separable future benefit is expensed. The test is whether the entity controls a resource expected to yield future economic benefits.
Routing by framework
Separately acquired data that meets the asset definition is recognised at cost as an intangible or, where consumed over a period, as a prepayment. Data with no separable future benefit is expensed.
Licensed data consumed over a term is generally a prepaid asset; data integral to internal-use software built in the application-development phase may be capitalised.
Separately acquired intangibles are treated more favourably than internally generated ones: their cost is usually recognised because the purchase price itself evidences probable future benefit and reliable measurementIAS 38§25.
Perpetual licence versus term licence
A perpetual, transferable dataset licence that the entity controls can be an intangible asset amortised over its useful life. A time-limited licence for data consumed over the term is a prepayment released to profit or loss as the right is used IAS 38§70. The contract terms, not the label on the invoice, decide.
An entity licenses a specialist text corpus under a three-year term for internal fine-tuning. The prepaid licence is carried as an asset and released over three years. A separate one-off purchase of a perpetual, resellable dataset is recognised as an intangible and amortised over its expected useful life. All figures are illustrative.
- S1IAS 38 Intangible Assets, IFRS Foundation (IFRS). https://www.ifrs.org/issued-standards/list-of-standards/ias-38-intangible-assets/
- S2Handbook: Software and website costs (ASC 350-40 internal-use software), KPMG (US GAAP). https://kpmg.com/us/en/frv/reference-library/2026/handbook-software-website-costs.html