BlogEngineering Economics
Engineering Economics11 min read

Software Capitalization: The Capex/Opex Guide for CTOs

Understanding ASC 350-40 and how software development costs flow through your P&L.

By Richard Ewing·

Why CTOs Need to Understand This

Under ASC 350-40, software development costs can be capitalized (Capex) during the "application development stage." This moves costs from the P&L to the balance sheet, improving EBITDA.

What qualifies: new feature development, significant enhancements. What doesn't: maintenance, bug fixes, requirements gathering. The classification impacts your company's financial statements. Work with your CFO to properly categorize engineering time.

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Published Work

This article expands on ideas from my published work in CIO.com, Built In, Mind the Product, and HackerNoon. View published articles →

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Richard Ewing

The Product Economist — Quantifying engineering economics for technology leaders, PE firms, and boards.