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Accounting
Book Value
The value of an asset or the company shown on the balance sheet after subtracting accumulated depreciation or other reductions.
Book value is also called carrying value or net book value. For the whole company it's total assets minus total liabilities (which equals equity). It is not the same as market value.It's like the remaining balance on a library book after you subtract all the pages you've already read.
Real world: Equipment bought for $50,000 with $18,000 of accumulated depreciation has a book value of $32,000 on the balance sheet.
💡 Book value tells you what the accounting records say something is worth — the real market value can be much higher or lower.