All costs to get an asset in place and ready for its intended use should be ______.Multiple choice question.expenseda gaincapitalized

The correct answer is capitalized.

Explanation

In accounting, all costs incurred to acquire an asset and prepare it for its intended use should be capitalized. This means that these costs are added to the asset's value on the balance sheet rather than expensed immediately on the income statement. Capitalizing costs allows for the allocation of expenses over the useful life of the asset through depreciation (for tangible assets) or amortization (for intangible assets). This approach better reflects the actual economic value produced by the asset over time.

On the other hand, expenses refer to costs that are deducted in the period they are incurred, impacting profitability directly within that period, while gains refer to increases in equity from peripheral or incidental transactions. Therefore, the proper treatment for such acquisition costs is to capitalize them.