In financial accounting, an asset is an economic resource. Anything tangible or intangible that can be owned or controlled to produce value and that is held to have positive economic value is considered an asset. Simply stated, assets represent value of ownership that can be converted into cash (although cash itself is also considered an asset).
The balance sheet of a firm records the monetary value of the assets owned by the firm. It is money and other valuables belonging to an individual or business. Two major asset classes are tangible assets and intangible assets. Tangible assets contain various subclasses, including current assets and fixed assets. Current assets include inventory, while fixed assets include such items as buildings and equipment.
An 'asset' in economic theory is an output good which can only be partially consumed (like a portable music player) or input as a factor of production (like a cement mixer) which can only be partially used up in production. The necessary quality for an asset is that value remains after the period of analysis so it can be used as a store of value. As such, financial instruments like corporate bonds and common stocks are assets because they store value for the next period. If the good or factor is used up before the next period, there would be nothing upon which to place a value.
As a result of this definition, assets only have positive futures prices. This is analogous to the distinction between consumer durables and non-durables. Durables last more than one year. A classic durable is an automobile. A classic non-durable is an apple, which is eaten and lasts less than one year. Assets are that category of output which economic theory places prices upon. In a simple Walrasian equilibrium model, there is but a single period and all items have prices. In a multi-period equilibrium model, while all items have prices in the current period. Only assets can survive into the next period and thus only assets can store value and as a result, only assets have a price today for delivery tomorrow. Items which depreciate 100% by tomorrow have no price for delivery tomorrow because by tomorrow it ceases to exist.
A grant, in law, is a transfer of property, generally from a person or other entity giving the property (the grantor) to a person or entity receiving the property (the grantee).
Historically, a grant was a transfer by deed of that which could not be passed by livery, an act evidenced by letters patent under the Great Seal, granting something from the king to a subject, and a technical term made use of in deeds of conveyance of lands to import a transfer.
Though the word "grant" was originally made use of, in treating of conveyances of interests in lands, to denote a transfer by deed of that which could not be passed by livery, and was applied only to incorporeal hereditaments, it became a generic term, applicable to the transfer of all classes of real property.
As distinguished from a mere license, a grant passes some estate or interest, corporeal or incorporeal, in the lands which it embraces; can only he made by an instrument in writing, under seal; and is irrevocable, when made, unless an express power of revocation is reserved. A license is a mere authority; passes no estate or interest whatever; may be made by parol; is revocable at will; and, when revoked, the protection which it gave ceases to exist.
Grant can be both a surname and a given name. The name is of English and Scottish origin, and there are several possible origins for the name.
One possible origin of the name is from a nickname derived from the Anglo-Normangraund, graunt ("tall", "large"). This in turn was derived from the Old Frenchgrand, grant, which was originally derived from the Latingrandis. This nickname was likely given to a person of remarkable size or merely to distinguish two persons bearing the same name.
Another possible origin of the surname is from a medieval personal name ultimately derived from the Old EnglishbynameGranta, which might have meant "snarler".
The surname may also be an alternate spelling of the German Grandt or Grand.