Ethics, Standards, and Professional Practices

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Direct Care of Collections

Image of the cover of Direct Care of Collections white paper, orange with white writing.

Direct Care of Collections: Ethics, Guidelines and Recommendations provides field-wide guidance on the use of proceeds from the sale of deaccessioned objects. It focuses specifically on direct care, a phrase that has caused confusion since it was first used in the AAM Code of Ethics for Museums in 1993.

Download your copy of the white paper.

Learn about the history and development of this paper.

Proposed change to accounting rule

NOTE: For 25 years the Code of Ethics for Museums and accounting standards have been out of alignment regarding the use of proceeds from the sale of deaccessioned collections. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently issued the exposure document that would bring the two into alignment: allowing for direct care as well as acquisition.

FASB received public comments on this proposed change in the summer of 2018. Read the Alliance’s letter in support of the proposed update. We will update this page when we learn more about the status of the proposed change.

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