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How do you classify portions of your AWS bill as a capital expenditure? I'm not familiar with this, assuming your context is as a user of AWS?
by late2part 9y ago
How do you classify portions of your AWS bill as a capital expenditure?
I'm not familiar with this, assuming your context is as a user of AWS?
- QuinnyPig 9y agoYes, that's the right context. In short form, you have to go with dedicated tenancy on your instances, 3 year RIs, and get your auditors on board with it first. It's not worth the hassle for most shops until they're looking at a seven to eight figure annual AWS spend.
- late2part 9y agoI know lots of folks doing mid to high 8 figures and I haven't heard of anyone capitalizing the leases like that. But maybe. Thanks for expounding.
- QuinnyPig 9y agohttp://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/03/10/are-there-tax-breaks-in-the-cloud/ http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/03/10/are-t... <-- NetFlix does it, as one of the few public examples of this. If you read the AWS economics page, they go into it slightly, but are quick to defer to the customer's finance and audit teams.
- hn_throwaway_99 9y agoIANACPA, but based on your "In short form" sentence, I guess I see what you mean and how it could be treated as capex. Still, from a layman's point of view, it seems sketchy as hell to me in that the primary goal looks to be making the operating budget look more profitable than it really is if the AWS spend can be amortized over a couple years.
- QuinnyPig 9y agoYou're not at all wrong. Changing how things reflect on the income statement is a bit of smoke and mirrors; it doesn't change the underlying truth, but does change how they're represented. It's a weird, weird world.