Purpose

The monetary valuation of cultural heritage of a selection of 16 major public, not-for-profit Australian cultural institutions is examined over a period of almost three decades (1992–2019) to understand how they have responded to the paradoxical tensions of heritage valuation for financial reporting purposes.

Design/methodology/approach

Accounting for cultural heritage is an intrinsically paradoxical practice; it involves a conflict of two opposite ways of attributing value: the traditional accounting and the heritage professionals (or curatorial) approaches. In analysing the annual reports and other documentary sources through qualitative content analysis, the study explores how different actors responded to the conceptual and technical contradictions posed by the monetary valuation of “heritage assets”, the accounting phraseology of accounting standards.

Findings

Four phases emerge from the analysis undertaken of the empirical material, each characterised by a distinctive nature of the paradox, the institutional responses discerned and the outcomes. Although a persisting heterogeneity in the practice of accounting for cultural heritage is evident, responses by cultural institutions are shown to have minimised, so far, the negative impacts of monetary valuation in terms of commercialisation of deaccessioning decisions and distorted accountability.

Originality/value

In applying the theoretical lens of paradox theory in the context of the financial reporting of heritage, as assets, the study enhances an understanding of the challenges and responses by major public cultural institutions in a country that has led this development globally, providing insights to accounting standard setters arising from the accounting practices observed.

中文翻译：

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文化遗产会计的悖论：对澳大利亚主要公共文化机构遗产资产财务报告的纵向研究（1992-2019年）

目的

在近三个十年（1992-2019年）的时间里，考察了澳大利亚16家主要的公共非营利性文化机构的文化遗产的货币估值，以了解它们如何应对文化遗产估值矛盾的矛盾。财务报告目的。

设计/方法/方法

对文化遗产的会计是一种内在的自相矛盾的做法。它涉及两种相反的价值分配方式的冲突：传统会计和遗产专业人士（或策展人）方法。在通过定性内容分析来分析年度报告和其他文献来源时，研究探索了不同的参与者如何应对“遗产资产”的货币估值（会计准则的会计措辞）所造成的概念和技术矛盾。

发现

对实证材料的分析分为四个阶段，每个阶段的特点是悖论的独特性质，可辨别的制度反应和结果。尽管在文化遗产核算的实践中存在着持续的异质性，但到目前为止，文化机构的回应已显示出最小化了货币估价对de回决定的商业化和问责制失真的负面影响。

创意/价值

在将遗产作为财产进行财务报告的背景下运用悖论理论的理论视角时，该研究可以增进对一个国家的主要公共文化机构所面临的挑战和对策的理解，而这个国家在全球范围内引领着这一发展，为会计界提供了见解。遵守会计惯例产生的标准制定者。