Property, Plant and Equipment Definition (PP&E) definition including break down of areas in the definition. Analyzing the definition of key term often provides more insight about concepts. Property, plant and equipment (PP&E) can be defined as: Tangible long-lived assets used to produce or sell products and services; also called plant asset or fixed assets. Property plant and equipment (PP&E) are generally longer lives tangible assets used to help generate revenue. Property plant and equipment are recorded as asset, and is then depreciated, the cost of property plant and equipment (PP&E) being allocated, as an expense of depreciation, to the time period it was used to help generate revenue. The book value of property plant and equipment (PP&E) is cost less accumulated depreciation.