What are fixed assets?

Fixed assets are pieces of property that are used by firms
to make their products and which are expected to last for a number of years.  These
sorts of assets are sometimes referred to as the firm's
"plant."

Fixed assets can come in many forms.  If a firm
actually owns the land on which its facilities are built, the land is a fixed asset.  If
a firm is in the business of producing goods, then the machines that it uses to produce
those good are part of its fixed assets.  If the firm has a front office with computers
and desks and chairs and such, all of those things are fixed assets as well.  In all of
these cases, the assets are things that are needed for the firm's production process but
are also things that will last for years rather than being used
up.

In other words, fixed assets are the things that are
used in the process of making products but which are not actually consumed to make the
product.