Accumulated Depreciation-Opening Balance at commencement date

[Joojo]

Is it appropriate to include an opening balance for accumulated depreciation at the official commencement date of a small business?

Eg. A business begins actual operations on 1 January 2016 before then it is in it formation stage.

I know you can't depreciate fixed assets before the official start date (as above) but once you begin operations can you put a value on ACUMMULATED DEPRECIATION as at the official start date?

Thanks

 

[DerrickWD]

At the start date, your fixed assets should be at fair value. They enter the company's books at fair value. Loosely speaking, this fair value is already lowered by accumulated depreciation, but the accumulated depreciation is not entered separately on the books. This is an analogous treatment to when the company buys a used asset. The used asset isn't recorded at it's original value (i.e. price when it first hit the market) with accompanying accumulated depreciation, but is instead entered at its cost when the company buys it (i.e. fair value).

Accumulated depreciation is for accumulated depreciation expenses. Can't take depreciation expense before the company starts operations.