Museums will not be forced to declare the value of their collections under newly published guidelines from the Accounting Standards Board (ASB), which, it says, are designed to "improve the reporting of assets held by museums and art galleries".
The reprieve is the latest development in the ASB's 2006 plan to compel cultural institutions to price collections for accounting purposes.
ASB project director Alan O'Connor said: "The new standard requires information on the nature and scale of heritage assets held by an entity, including assets not reported in the balance sheet. It will be for each museum to decide how to meet this."
Financial Reporting Standard 30 also requires accounts to include a summary of transactions relating to heritage assets .
But the previous Financial Reporting Standard (15), which requires museums to capitalise heritage assets acquired since 2001, is still in force. This prompted Helen Wilkinson, the Museums Association's projects officer, to comment: "The situation is rather messy, though it's great that the ASB has scrapped its proposal that everything had to be capitalised."
The backtrack is due to "the many practical difficulties associated with identifying cost," O'Connor said.
The reprieve is the latest development in the ASB's 2006 plan to compel cultural institutions to price collections for accounting purposes.
ASB project director Alan O'Connor said: "The new standard requires information on the nature and scale of heritage assets held by an entity, including assets not reported in the balance sheet. It will be for each museum to decide how to meet this."
Financial Reporting Standard 30 also requires accounts to include a summary of transactions relating to heritage assets .
But the previous Financial Reporting Standard (15), which requires museums to capitalise heritage assets acquired since 2001, is still in force. This prompted Helen Wilkinson, the Museums Association's projects officer, to comment: "The situation is rather messy, though it's great that the ASB has scrapped its proposal that everything had to be capitalised."
The backtrack is due to "the many practical difficulties associated with identifying cost," O'Connor said.
