Methodological approaches to definition of the concept of digital assets and assessment of labour efficiency in IT companies

The IT industry is developing rapidly, and its share in the Russian economy is constantly growing. At the same time, the economic aspects of the activities of companies in this sector are still poorly studied. The purpose of this study is to develop approaches to the formation of the main directions of economic analysis of the activities of IT companies. The article analyzes the existing approaches to the subject of research - the concept of "digital assets" as the main product of IT activities, and proposes adjustments in order to converge with the general concept of assets used in business to generate income. The authors also present an analysis of the object of study - the boundaries of the IT industry to avoid different understandings of concepts such as IT sector, IT industry, and IT sphere. It is shown that not all companies in the IT industry create digital assets, and it is proposed to give accent to this segment in order to form economic guidelines for investors planning investments in this direction. Indicators of return on capital for IT companies of different sizes are calculated. A high level of this indicator means that it takes into account the premium for creating high value for customers. The author's approach to the study of the effectiveness of IT companies is also that the features of their business model are taken into account, namely the intellectual nature of activities related to the high-tech sector of the economy. A key resource in this industry is highly skilled labor. It is also taken into account that at present there is a problem of providing IT companies with the necessary specialists. Therefore, unlike traditional performance assessment systems used in other sectors of the economy, the system of performance indicators of IT companies is based on labor performance indicators. Calculations revealed a higher level of efficiency in large IT companies due to a higher capital-labor ratio. The results can be used by investors to plan investments in the industry, as well as by researchers for the development of a new direction in the sectoral economy.