Accounting for 'heritage assets'
04 Feb 2006
The United Kingdom Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has published a Discussion Paper Heritage Assets: Can Accounting Do Better? setting out proposals to improve the consistency and transparency of the financial reporting of heritage assets.
The proposals will be relevant to entities such as museums holding collections of art, antiques, and books and also to entities that own and manage landscape or buildings for their environmental or historical qualities. The report concludes that the best financial reporting requires heritage assets to be reported as assets at current value, and the paper makes proposals to facilitate that approach. However, it offers an alternative approach for those entities that face genuine difficulties in valuing their heritage assets. Illustrative disclosures are included. Click to download:
The ASB requests comments by 31 May 2006.