DEFINITIONS
be coupled with all sorts of conditions such as division of profits;
the fulfilment of all kinds of obligations; the limitation of
charges for the service rendered or the commodity furnished.
It may be nothing more than a privilege to occupy the public
highways with rails for transportation purposes or with pole or
pipe lines for the transmission or delivery of electricity, water,
oil or gas. It may be a grant without cost or may have to be
paid for at a fixed price or subject to competitive bidding. It
is one of the intangible elements which may represent value and
frequently appears among the items of cost.
Going Concern. — The term “ going concern ” is applied to
such business enterprises as are in actual operation. If in suc-
cessful operation, the value of the “ going concern ”’ should be
somewhat greater than the sum of the value of the physical
elements of which the property is made up.
Going Value. — The increment of value which is due to the
fact that a business has been established and brought upon a
paying basis is its “ going value.” By some appraisers the cost
of developing the business, measured by deficient earnings or
estimated on the basis of prevailing conditions, is included in
the rate-base under the designation ‘going value.” But going
value cannot be measured by any specific items of cost. If the
early losses have been treated in the accounts as operating loss
and not as invested capital it may be found that early deficien-
cies of earnings have been fully made good. There may be
“going value” despite this fact but the relation between actual
cost and this value is lost. It will, in other words, be difficult
to establish any generally applicable relation between the going
value of any utility and the actual cost of establishing its
business.
Good-Will. — The term good-will” is closely related to
“ going value.” It represents the intangible element of value
in an ordinary business and is applied generally in those cases
where there is competition with other like business ventures.
The courts hold that where there is no competition there can
be no good-will.
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