Accrued capex
Accrued capital expenditures are property and equipment a company has received but not yet paid for at the end of a period, so they appear on the balance sheet before they appear in capex.
Equipment is delivered, installed and often running before the invoice is settled. The cash flow statement records the purchase when cash leaves, so a quarter of heavy deliveries can show modest capex and a large accrued balance, and the following quarter shows the payment.
Several companies disclose the change in this balance in the notes to the cash flow statement. A rising balance means reported capex is running behind installed capacity; a falling balance means the quarter’s cash paid for last quarter’s deliveries.
How this site measures it
This site does not adjust capex for accruals, because the disclosure is not available for every company. Where a letter reads the balance from a filing it says so, and the company page carries the figure as a note.
Questions this page answers
- Does accrued capex mean a company is hiding spending?
- No. It is ordinary trade credit on equipment, disclosed in the filing. It matters for timing: it tells you whether the reported quarter overstates or understates what was installed.
Where it is used
Every company page states it, for example Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Oracle, and the companies page sorts all twenty-one.
Related terms: Capital expenditures (capex), Finance leases and capex.