Capital expenditures are purchases made by a company to buy or maintain an asset. Or, if you're talking specifically accounting, the money they spent buying or maintain the asset.
The whole buying vs. repairing thing comes in with accounting. Say you're buying an asset (a building for storage, for example), the cost needs to be spread out over the useful life of the asset. On the other hand, if you're repairing a roof on a building you already own, you can deduct that expense right away. This relates back to the estimated value and life of the asset (because it will count on the books as an asset after purchase).
Businesses have varying amounts of capital expenditures, but the figure can be viewed as a ratio. Generally, you can divide the cash flow by the capital expenditure and use that number as a gauge. A high ratio means the company is funding their capital expenditures (their purchases) with funds generated from their business. A low one though means they might not be funding their purchases with cash flows, and they might be borrowing to buy things.
There's no rule against that (businesses are allowed to have loans) but if it gets too out of whack the business could be headed for more debt than it can handle...and potential bankruptcy.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is a Current Asset?16 Views
Finance, a la shmoop. What is a current asset? Current yeah it's kind of a [Picture of a currant on a plant]
socialist raisin there, you know they all look about alike but that's a [Soldiers marching in front of Stalin with currants for heads]
currant and has nothing to do with current as cur-rent remember it like
your rent comes due soon, you rent a place for a year or less usually or at [Guy sticks his head out of pile of overdue bills]
least that's how long, you know lock in your rental rate. So if your [Someone signing a contract]
asset is current then it can be turned into cash within a year. That's how we
remember it here around Shmoop. Examples? A bond coming due in a year or less. [Bond document]
Companies store their cash all the time in short term paper like certificates of
deposit or Bank CDs which come due in less than a year. that's a current asset. [List of short-term paper]
And companies buy these kinds of bonds so they get a little more interest than
from their banks you know checking account. They buy stocks as well, shares [New interest rate is very small]
of goog can be easily converted into cash quickly. Shares in Google are a [Current asset stamp]
current asset. Ounces of gold, yep easily a current asset. All right you get the
idea, so what's not current well fourteen thousand acres of solar panel land that [Huge fields full of solar panels]
your company owns. If you ever had to sell it while there are very few buyers
and it likely would take more than a year just to figure out all the [Calendars popping up]
regulatory restrictions on selling it. A big old factory well can't sell that on [Red cross appears on a factory]
Amazon or Ebay, definitely not current. Your brand equity
in your corporation like the relationship you've developed with your
consumers, yeah it's another non-current asset you can't exactly go to the bank [Guy going up to the bank and pleading]
and convert brand loyalty to USD. So that's it current assets they live here [Arrow pointing to current assets on a balance sheet]
on this side of the balance sheet way up top in the good view seats high on the [Current assets in a tree]
vine of the tree. So put down those currants, stop ranting about the [Stalin holding a currant]
proletariat and for God's sake just buy some raisins. [Guy pointing to a box of raisins]
Up Next
A company’s ability to cover its short-term debts with its current liquid assets, which can be cash, inventory, and accounts receivables, is desc...
What is collateral? Any type of asset or property that a borrower pledges as security for a loan is classified as collateral. As the lender has a c...
What is a Hard Asset? A hard asset is a specific type of asset listed on a company’s balance sheet. It is an actual physical piece of property th...