University Accounting Report: Heritage Assets and Valuation

This report delves into the accounting treatment of heritage assets, defining them as assets with significant historical, scientific, technological, environmental, or geographical merit, whose value is not fully reflected in financial terms. The report provides examples of heritage assets like the Sydney Opera House, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, The Great Wall of China, and Taj Mahal, highlighting their cultural, artistic, and economic significance. It discusses the challenges of accounting for these assets, particularly in relation to valuation and the influence of economic value on cultural value. The report also examines the government's role in maintaining these assets and the importance of public funding and accountability. It references several academic sources to support its analysis.

Running head: HERITAGE ASSETS
HERITAGE ASSETS
Name of the student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1HERITAGE ASSETS
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1.
A place, building, monument, site or landscape is identified as a heritage asset when
they have a degree of significant merit in their historical, scientific, technological,
environmental and geographical qualities (Biondi and Lapsley 2014). Heritage assets are
accounted for as the distinct category because their value is unlikely to be completely
reflected in a financial value and price.
Sydney opera house embodies inspiration, beauty and liberate power of art as well as
ideas. This masterpiece belongs to all Australians. This historic asset has artistic importance
and is maintained and held for its contribution to culture and knowledge. It is Australia’s the
most iconic landmarks. Sydney Opera House is currently a centre for natural as well as
cultural activities. From the very time of its construction and completion, this monument has
gained national as well as international interest as the performing arts venue. It is therefore
perfectly matches general accounting definition of assets.
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is
the home of both Uluru-Kata and Tjuta. This particular park features the spectacular
geological formations which dominates vast red sandy region with immense monolith Uluru-
and the rock domes Kata Tjuta. This National Park has been nominated as the UNESCO
world heritage site for its natural and cultural values. It is the representative of Anangu
Aboriginal People which is believed to be one of the oldest human societies. This national
park is owned by Australian government and has a strong present and future economic value
which can be measured and expressed in terms of dollars.
The Great Wall of China has a great cultural, historical and artistic value. This is a master
piece was built originally for protecting the Chinese empire against the intrusion by the
ancient nomadic groups. This current site of The Great Wall has been rebuilt ad maintained

2HERITAGE ASSETS
from 5th to 16th century which has made this unique. From the accounting perspectives, their
asset value may increase, instead of depreciate, even if the physical condition has
deteriorated.
Taj Mahal is also a UNESCO heritage site located in India. It has immense historic,
cultural and artistic value which has one of the seven wonders in the world. It can be termed
as inalienable asset. The Taj Mahal is one of the jewel of Muslim arts in India and
representative of amalgamation of various types of art in one monument. It is one of the
universally admired masterpieces of the heritage of the world (Centre 2018). This type of
asset meets the definition of asset because the Taj Mahal is used to generate income and have
a service potential. The Indian Government cannot sell and dispose them without external
consent. In this case the artistic and cultural value cannot be expressed in dollars exactly as
they have spiritual inheritance also.
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2.
The recent modifications in the accounting directives for the heritage assets
apprehended by the governments, charities and regional authorities need recognition in the
financial statements as well as measurement of their economic values (Basnan et al. 2017).
This is the reason why, abundant sales of the heritage assets by the national governments
have taken place. According to Sheila Ellwood and Margaret Greenwood, perfect
examination of the intrusion of the commercial value into the demesne of the cultural assets
discloses the fact that assessing the economic value of heritage assets, cultural value is
affected (Ellwood and Greenwood 2016). The authors have developed a strata of analysis
which is particularly based on the scientific observation theory and they have applied this
within the socially erected world of accounting.

3HERITAGE ASSETS
Accounting has created a reality which has included the items of economic value
chiefly for the cultural property of the heritage sites. Sometimes observation of economic
value can affect the acuity of the cultural values of these heritage items (Jeacle and Miller
2016). The government of the region are responsible to maintain these assets. Hence the
connection between the government bodies besides maintenance of cultural heritage is
typically centred around the state funding of the activities deemed cultural values. Public
funding, on the other hand, creates demands for accountability (Aversano and Christiaens
2014). As these heritage sites are viewed as important components of civilised society, then
the involvement of the states becomes essential for cultures to thrive. This is the reason why
the intuition of economic value in the culture is important (Laing et al. 2014). This helps the
government to monitor the organisations taking care of these heritage sites and prevent them
from accidentally neglecting or disposing of these valued assets.

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References:
Aversano, N. and Christiaens, J., 2014. Governmental financial reporting of heritage assets
from a user needs perspective. Financial Accountability & Management, 30(2), pp.150-174.
Basnan, N., Salleh, M.F.M., Ahmad, A., Harun, A.M. and Upawi, I., 2017. Challenges in
accounting for heritage assets and the way forward: Towards implementing accrual
accounting in Malaysia. Geografia-Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 11(11).
Biondi, L. and Lapsley, I., 2014. Accounting, transparency and governance: the heritage
assets problem. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, 11(2), pp.146-164.
Centre, U. (2018). Taj Mahal. [online] Whc.unesco.org. Available at:
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/252 [Accessed 14 May 2018].
Ellwood, S. and Greenwood, M., 2016. Accounting for heritage assets: Does measuring
economic value ‘kill the cat’?. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 38, pp.1-13.
Jeacle, I. and Miller, P., 2016. Accounting, culture, and the state. Critical Perspectives on
Accounting, 37, pp.1-4.
Laing, J., Wheeler, F., Reeves, K. and Frost, W., 2014. Assessing the experiential value of
heritage assets: A case study of a Chinese heritage precinct, Bendigo, Australia. Tourism
Management, 40, pp.180-192.