In: Accounting
Under current U.S. GAAP, assets that have been donated to a company are recorded at fair value. By basing your argument on the conceptual framework, argue in favor of the current GAAP treatment for donated assets.
When donations are given to an organization, usually a nonprofit entity, those donations have a "worth" and must be counted as an asset for that company. The value of assets that have been donated is normally based on what those assets would cost if purchased, or their "market value." It is important that organizations are aware of how to post these contributions in their financial books, because the assets of nonprofit organizations come under more scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service, than do other organizations.
Understand the definition of fair market value. In the case of donated assets, fair market value is defined as,"the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date," according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).[1] Basically, this means that you should record any donated assets for the value that they would fetch if you turned around and sold them immediately. This is also referred to as the "exit price."
Research the market to determine the "exit price." In the past, nonprofits depended on the donor to specify a value for the donated asset. However, modern accounting standards now require that the organization determine a value for the asset based on prices of identical or similar assets. This means that you'll have to seek out the market prices of items identical or very similar to those that have been given to your organization.
Estimate a fair market value. If you can't find an item in the market identical to your donated asset, you can estimate it's value based on similar ones. This is mainly useful for large assets like land or buildings. Research the market to find several similar assets and use those values to estimate the value of your asset. This is allowed by GAAP but is not preferred as strongly as finding an identical asset to compare to.
Value the asset using a donor-supplied price. If you are unable to find identical or similar assets or value the donation in any other reasonable way, it is acceptable to use the fair value given by the donor. The donor will have recorded the donation in their own books using a certain value, so simply ask them for this amount. This method is the least preferred of three valuation methods provided by GAAP, but sometimes there's no way around it.[5]
Determine whether the transaction is a contribution or an exchange. Accounting principles treat contributions and exchanges as different transactions and record them differently, even though we may think of both as donations. A contribution here is defined as "unconditional," meaning that the donor doesn't get anything in return for their donation. An exchange is a situation in which a donor would receive a gift in exchange for their donation. The type defined here will be important later in recording the transaction.[7]
Record the transaction properly if multiple organizations are involved. In many cases, items donated to a charity may pass through other charities or organizations on their way to the their final destination. In theory, it makes sense that every middle-man should report the items transferred through them. However, only the original recipient of the item and the "end-user" (the charity that uses the item or gives it to those in need) should record the item transaction. If you are just passing assets through to another organization, you should only record your expense in doing so, not the value of the assets themselves.
Determine whether or not to record donated services. Generally, donated services are not recorded as donated assets. This means that while you should record donations of items like toys and clothing, you wouldn't necessarily record donated services or any donated use of facilities. However, if the services meet certain conditions, they must be recorded. Specifically, these requirements are that the donated services either: