write up
Write up means increasing the recorded value of an asset on a company's books, usually because it is now worth more than what the books currently show.
In plain English
"Why does this building show ₦20,000,000 when we all know Lekki land don cost pass that?" "Because nobody has written it up. The books still dey show what we paid in 2015."
That conversation happens in accounts departments across Nigeria more often than people admit. A company can be sitting on land, buildings, or shares that have grown fat in value while the books still whisper the old, humble purchase price. A write up is the entry that lets the books catch up to reality, raising the recorded value of an asset to reflect what it is genuinely worth now.
It usually happens after a proper valuation, not a guess over lunch. A company might hire a valuer to assess a factory in Ogun State bought years ago, and if the valuer says it is now worth far more, the accountant adjusts the balance sheet upward. The company has not sold anything or made new profit from trading. It has simply admitted, on paper, what was already true in the market.
This matters a great deal for anyone reading a balance sheet before investing or lending money. A UK based Nigerian comparing two similar companies might find one looks weaker only because it has never bothered to write up decades old property, while the other regularly updates its figures. The write up does not create wealth, it reveals wealth that was calmly sitting there in the asset the whole time.
Write ups are handled carefully because they can be misused to flatter a struggling business. Auditors and standards bodies watch this closely, since a company desperate to look healthier could be tempted to write up assets a little too generously rather than let the numbers tell an honest story.
A Lagos manufacturing firm bought a warehouse in 2010 for ₦15,000,000. A 2024 valuation puts it at ₦60,000,000. The accountant writes up the asset value on the balance sheet by ₦45,000,000, so the books now show ₦60,000,000, matching what an independent valuer says it is worth today.
Questions people ask
Does a write up mean the company made more profit?
Not from trading, no. It usually goes to a revaluation reserve rather than the profit line, because the gain came from the asset's market value rising, not from selling goods or services.
Can any asset be written up?
Mostly property, land, and certain investments that can be independently valued. Things like inventory or debtors are not typically written up this way, since accounting rules are strict about only recording what can be reliably measured.
Is a write up the opposite of a write down?
Yes. A write down lowers an asset's recorded value because it has lost worth or been impaired, while a write up raises it because it is now worth more than the books show.
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