I'm filling out the 990-PF tax form  for a small private charitable
foundation. The assets consist of stocks and mutual funds. The balance
sheet on Page two (Part ll)columns A and B ask for book value of
assets at beginning and end of the year as well as fair market value
at year end. I know that the
book and fair market for a tangible asset like a car could easily be
different because depreciation would probably be different than market
value decline. My non accounting brain says that the book and fair
market for a listed stock should be the same- the market price at year
end- because no depreciation is incurred. But in all prior years the
accountant who did the return used different values for book and fair
market and I can see no relationship  between the book number he
used and the brokers account statement. So my question is- what is a
stock or mutual funds' book value and how would the accountant have
calculated it for this tax form?

Book value means historical cost. If you bought 100 shares of X at
$50/sh, your book value is $5000. If there was a transaction fee
involved in the purchase, that is included in book value.

Book value is not affected by stock splits, but it is affected by
stock spinoffs, re-invested dividends, etc.

Additional purchases (or sales of some, but not all of the stock) also
affect book value. Depending on the accounting method (FIFO, LIFO,
average cost), you will come up with different adjusted book values
after these transactions.

It's probably worth your time to pay someone to make sure these values
are calculated correctly.

So then I assume if I took the accountants' book value figure for end
of 2002 and subtracted the cost basis of securities sold, the result
should be the end of 2003 book value (assuming no securities were
bought and no spinoffs or reinvested dividends took place the past)?
But when I do this math it doesnt match what he reported for 2003.

To correct a typo and clarify....
So then I assume if I took the accountants' book value figure for end
of 2002 and subtracted the cost basis of securities sold during 2003, the result
should be the end of 2003 book value (assuming no securities were
bought and no spinoffs or reinvested dividends took place in 2003)?
But when I do this math it doesnt match what he reported for year end 2003.

Thanks to financeeco-ga- your comments were helpful. John