When I was at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, this subject was brought
up more than once by the bean-counters of the office of the Auditor General
of Canada (by legislation, the museum's external auditors). At the time, I
was the museum's director of audit and evaluation.

The position the museum took and takes is as follows:

1. It is impossible to place values on everything in the collection (4.5
million items) as we could never afford the staff time to do it or the money
to have it done by an external agent (the only credible way in my opinion.
Also, what kind of a contingent liability would you be creating, given that
values are not static and all appreciate at different rates? It would be
opening Pandora's box.

2. What is the point in placing a value on the collection? We won't insure
it, as (a) we can't afford to and (b) our other insurance needs are covered
by the federal government. Nor will we sell it, which would be the other
logical reason for placing a value on everything.

3. Values are shown in financial reports for ASSETS. By definition, items in
a museum's collection are NOT assets, thus there is no point in placing a
value on them.



----- Original Message -----
From: Ann Rybon <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2000 11:43 AM
Subject: Capitalization of the Collection in Financial Statements.


> I have brought up this subject before in a survey of who does and who does
> not.  I still have not been able to convience the Finance Committee that
not
> is the right thing to do.
>
> Does anyone know of any formal articles published or papers on the
subject.
>
> I could even use a short response from anyone who has an opinion that
> includes sound reasoning.
>
> Ann Rybon
> [log in to unmask]
> Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
> PO Box 636
> St Michaels, Md 21663
>
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