Personal Financial Statements

[Damon111]

Hello All,

I'm trying to prepare some personal financials for myself. Though I worked in public accounting before, I never had much experience reviewing/ preparing personal financials. I understand the basics but there are a few specific issues I'm not quite sure about.

Mainly my issue is with fixed assets.

So I own a car and would want to show that on my statement of net worth, but my question is how is that car valued on a statement of net worth? (Fair value, Cost less depreciation)

I understand the idea of a statement of net worth is to show a relevant fair value for assets, so would I carry the car at cost and then, at reporting dates, adjust/ impair it to fair value? (using something like kelly blue book?)

Or, like a company, should I carry it at costs and depreciate it over a estimated useful life? I don't know why but it would seem unusual to me to have a depreciation expense on a personal income statement.

Thanks for all your help?

 

[kirby]

The goal of a PFS is to find out what you are worth as of the statement date. Given that, the number to use for a car is its fair value. Just show fair value and not the cost basis.
If you get further stuck, look online for the PFS required by mortgage lenders and follow the rules they use.

 

[pjfrench]

Unless accounting rules are enforced, NEVER use them as realistically the resulting statements could NOT be more misleading.