To provide guidelines for capturing costs of capitalizable equipment fabricated by departments. Occasionally, it is necessary to fabricate specialized equipment within the university due to lack of availability on the market. When this occurs, several purchases that are individually below the capitalization threshold are charged to expense general ledger accounts, resulting in a valuable piece of equipment being omitted from the capital equipment inventory and not being insured.
When a department determines the need to fabricate an equipment item with an expected total cost of $5,000 or greater, a fabricated equipment WBS element must be established to track the expenses associated with the fabrication of the equipment. Charges which should be included in the capitalization of this equipment must be charged to GL account 550090, Fabricated Equipment.
Note: Equipment having a total cost of $200,000 or greater requires legislative approval.