GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) based financial statements show assets at their cost. Therefore, the only asset you`ll ever see for a patent is the expenses that went into securing the patent.

Companies may include Pro Forma information in the form of financial statements that shows a patent at it`s ``estimated value``, but this info would have to be clearly labeled as not being GAAP, and some kind of info as to how the value was derived at should be included so as not to make the information misleading.