when an entry to a reserve account is made an offsetting entry must be made to an expense account which will show up on the income statement 
if the asset decreases in value the revaluation reserve is credited on the balance sheet to decrease the carrying value of the asset and the expense is debited to increase the total revaluation expense if the asset increases in value the offsetting reserve expense would be decreased through credit and the revaluation reserve on the balance sheet would be increased through a debit book value vs fair valuefor most companies the carrying value of assets is the book value after netting out any accumulated depreciation the carrying value of an asset may be adjusted to the fair value after the depreciation period has ended generally the decision to record an asset s carrying value at book value rather than fair value is made when an asset is long term in nature shorter term assets are usually more liquid and therefore can easily be carried on the balance sheet at their fair market value 