Abstract
The present research aims at clarifying the concept of heritage assets and their relationship to society from a historical, cultural and environmental perspective and determining the part it may play for the growth and development of societies and the degree of their impact on future generations. This explains also the differences in accounting treatments for heritage assets from other assets according to their different nature. Moreover, it sheds light on the significance of providing a local accounting standard for heritage assets compatible with the requirements of measurement and disclosure. The preponderance of this research comes from the importance of heritage assets and their economic and cultural value. It is worth mentioning that there is the need to define the most outstanding ways to preserve this cultural heritage from loss, theft and destruction, especially after the recent events in Iraq. This reflects the importance of accounting science to contribute effectively to the preservation of heritage assets and their accurate and efficient disclosure in addition to examining the practices which help preserve the archaeological sites and the environment and its natural resources. The researchers reached many conclusions, the most impressive one is that accounting plays a decisive part in protecting the resources of the country. The second conclusion is measuring the economic results that its outputs represented by the financial statements which are the final product of financial accounting. It takes part in the field pf quality of financial information which contributes to preserve the heritage assets and the history and heritage of the country. The researchers also recommended the necessity of designing an accounting manual at the Mosul Museum. This is due to the lack of an international accounting standard that specifies the nature of the treatments and accounting operations in this activity, and that any system that operates in light of these treatments that this directory contains.
