The main sense in which the term asset is used is to describe anything owned by an individual or business that has a monetary value. Some assets are relatively easy to measure - debtors, cash, stock and so on. Others are more difficult - goodwill, intellectual property and brand values. In the context of a company's balance sheet, an asset is also a deferred cost. Equipment valued at #1m in a balance sheet represents #1m that the company has spent and which is being depreciated as the equipment exhausts its usable life. The question of whether that equipment is actually an asset or a liability is really whether that asset generates more in after-tax revenues than it costs. If not, it is hardly something accruing to the benefit of the company and its shareholders.