Current Assets are those activities whose normal expected life would be one year or less. Such activities could be tracking reimbursable expenses, travel advances, short-term loans to a friend or family member, prepaid expenses, annual insurance premium amortization, and so on. The individual entity could have many other kinds of short term activities that reflect what it is doing. (These asset types are explained individually below.)

Long-term (Fixed) Assets are those activities whose normal expected life exceeds one or more years. This grouping covers both tangible and intangible assets. Examples of tangible assets are land, buildings, and vehicles (cars, trucks, construction equipment, factory presses, etc.) Intangible assets include such things as patents, copy rights, goodwill, etc. Because the lives of some of these assets show wear and tear and deterioration in value over time, businesses and individuals can allow for that diminution in value by calculating depreciation on such assets. For example, land normally does not depreciate, but buildings do, as do equipment and vehicles. (These asset types are explained individually below.)