USA Bringing a very old asset onto the books.

[NPatt]

Trying to clean up some old bookkeeping issues on the books of a church (i.e. no tax reporting)

(1) Two centuries ago this denomination built a church on the land on which it stands today...They purchased/own the property but they never brought it onto the books in that time. No money spent, not a donation etc. it was finally assessed (at a pretty high value) and then posted to the books as credit to Opening Balance Equity acct. and Debit to Church Property. That amount remains in OBE. Do I need to get it out of OBE (while of course leaving it as a church asset?) And if yes, where and how?

(2) Also a while ago (15 years) they changed systems and restarted QB books -- Funds remaining in the account (at that point the old balances left over after expenses against income) - was also brought into OBE. Once again no real account to post it to. Do we need to get it out of OBE as it was never income? Or let it stay where it is? At some point I suspect they could make use of those funds but unless pressed would prefer NOT to post it to current year collections.

Thanks for your help!

 

[BIG E]

1) It was "assessed". Assessed at what value - market value, insurance value, property tax value (even though tax exempt)? And when?
Perhaps the church should obtain professional advice from either a licensed attorney, real estate appraiser, insurance appraiser, tax exempt specialist to determine at what value to record the property?

2) All of the OBE balances should be posted to an Equity account called "Net Assets", which would ordinarily be called
Retained Earnings for commercial for-profit entities.

 

[NPatt]

Somehow I didn't get an email that this was here. Just saw your reply. Thanks for your answer and sorry for the late reply. The property was assessed at market value by a licensed real estate agent in 2017. On the asset side it is posted to Church Property. On the Equity side it was posted to OBE and remains there.

And thanks for the reply re the old incoming balance. Will do.