论高质量会计准则

自1997年9月美国证券交易委员会(SEC)前主席Arthur Levitt发表了题为“高质量会计准则的重要性”的演讲之后,这一问题引起了美国会计界和证券监管部门的高度关注。随后在1997年12月由美国会计学会(AAA)及财务会计准则委员会(FASB)共同举行的年度财务报告研讨会上,又着重以高质量会计准则为主题展开了激烈的讨论。① 随着美国安然、世通等一系列财务舞弊案的爆发,人们深刻反思美国财务报告制度的缺陷,特别是引发了高质量会计准则的制定模式由规则导向(rule-based)走向原则导向(principle-based)。目前我国已加入WTO,贸易及资本流动的自…     

萨班斯法案404条款:后续进展

2002年萨班斯-奥克斯利法案 404条款发布之后, 美国证券交易委员会 (SEC) 通过制定规则, 为CEO和CFO对主体财务呈报内部控制和披露控制的报告提供指南; 公众公司会计监管委员会通过为注册会计师制定审计准则, 直接影响注册会计师该类审计合约的计划与实施; COSO委员会制定内部控制标准框架, 作为管理当局和注册会计师进行内部控制评价的基础。本文主要对SEC规则、第 2号审计准则和COSO委员会最新的内部控制框架 (即ERM) 作一介绍, 以期为我国监管机构在上市公司内部控制制度的强制性规定方面提供借鉴。     

对美国最新反舞弊审计准则的思考

2002年10月,美国注册会计师协会(AICPA)在综合理论界、实务界众多建议的基础上,颁布了《审计准则第99号--考虑财务报告中的舞弊》(SASNo.99,以下简称新准则)。取代了原有反舞弊审计准则SASNo.82(以下简称旧准则),以增强注册会计师执行财务报告审计时发现和揭露上市公司财务报告     

简析美国PCAOB第二号审计准则及其对审计的影响

2004年6月,美国上市公司会计监督委员会(PCAOB)对外公布其已获美国证券交易委员会(SEC)批准的第2号审计准则(AuditingStandardsNo.2,以下简称AS2)《对与财务报表审计相关联的财务报告内部控制制度的审计》。该准则不仅要求企业管理当局对其内部控制制度的有效性进行评价,还要求法定的外部审计师(注册会计师)对CEO和CFO关于内部控制制度有效性的评估进行审计,并就CEO和CFO评估的有效性和审计师列内部控制独立的有效性评估发表审     

美国会计准则制定:蕴涵着新的变革

人们也许还记得,2002年7月30日美国总统布什签署了一项旨在“重建”美国投资者信心的重要法案:《2002萨班斯—奥克斯利法案》。围绕怎样才能给美国投资者提供使其“中意”的财务报告。该法案至少从以下几个方面提出了要求:一是,要求财务报告的编制企业(也就是会计信息提供者)的CEO和CFO “书面表态”没有误导信息;二是,让董事会中的审计委员对外部审计师提供的服务有更多的话语权;三是,制定更为严格的独立审计准则;四是,通过建立公众公司会计监督委员会来强化对审计师的监管;五是,让会计准则的制定更具有独立性。该法案第108节第4条还特别提到,要求美国证券交易委员会在法案开始实施后1年内就美国财务报告体系如何采用以原则为导向的会计准则进行研究并向国会提供研究报告。今年7月30日是最后的时限了,美国证券交易委员会稍稍早一点完成了“作业”,于7月25日向国会提交了相关报     

如何按照国际财务报告准则发表审计意见

近日,国际会计师联合会发布了《国际审计实务公告第1014号—关于遵循国际财务报告准则的审计报告》(以下简称“1014号实务公告”)。1014号实务公告是对《国际审计准则第700号—财务报表审计报告》的补充,目的是在财务报表采用国际财务报告准则或参照国际财务报告准则编制时,通过提供《国际审计准则第700号》的应用指南,为审计人员提供帮助。 关于财务报表的编制 仅遵循国际财务报告准则的情形《国际会计准则第1号—财务报表的列报》(1997年修订)规定了企业的财务报表被视为遵循国际财务报告准则进行编制应达到的…     

美国注册会计师协会独立性规则最新修订评述

2003年底,美国证券交易委员会(SEC)根据《萨班斯法案》第208(a)条款的规定,重新修订发布了关于注册会计师独立性的规则,禁止注册会计师向审计客户提供某些形式的非审计服务,要求注册会计师在提供未被SEC规定禁止的非审计服务前取得审计委员会的批准,要求会计师事务所每五年轮换审计项目主管合伙人,并要求审计项目组成员在被审计客户雇用前有“冷却”期。与此同时,美国注册会计师协会(AICPA)也开始启动修订职业道德准则中的“独立性规则101”的计划。2003年9月,AICPA职业道德委员会完成了独立性规则的修订工作,发布了修订后的“独立性…     

美国公共公司监管委员会就审计业务中评估专家的作用提出建议

2004年8月10日,美国评估师协会(AsA)、评估学会(AI)等联名致函美国证券交易委员会(SEC),称赞公共公司会计监管委员会(PCAOB)提出的认可评估师为审计活动中专家的规则提案(proposed rude)。该提案针对第三号审计准则,指出:"委员会相信依赖专家是一个十分重     

会计准则国际趋同的报告

全球六家主要的国际会计师事务所在2003年2月12日发布了一份最新的国际财务报告准则(IFRS)调查报告:《会计准则的国际趋同报告——2002年全球调查》。该项调查的目的是评价世界各国采纳《国际财务报告准则》的情况和完备程度。调查背景介绍随着国际投资者越来越多地在全球范围内考虑其投资决策,对一个全球一致的财务会计框架的要求也越来越强烈。2001年4月,国际资本市场提出,改组后的国际会计准则委员会应该担负起制定全球统一的、高质量会计准则的使命。世界上主要的会计师事务所对国际会计准则委员会在制定全球统一的会计准则方面所作出…     

以财务报告为目的评估在美、英、德国的发展——普华永道国外有关专家专题讲座

一、美国以财务报告为目的评估相关准则的制定情况 2006年9月,美国的会计准则制定机构——财务会计准则委员会（FASB）发布了157号公告,统一了现有会计准则涉及公允价值的计量和披露工作,于2008年起生效。     

论改进我国政府会计与财务报告

政府会计与财务报告关系到政府向社会公众及其他各方提供的财务信息是否具有真实性、完整性和可靠性的问题。本文认为 ,政府会计作为反映政府财务活动的信息系统 ,应当根据我国政府的职能及政府财务活动的内容 ,全面、完整地反映政府财务活动情况及结果。随着我国预算管理体制改革、政府职能转换 ,政府会计与财务报告应当借鉴国际公共部门会计与财务报告的通常做法 ,吸收我国企业会计与财务报告改革的成功经验 ,进行改进和完善 ,并着重从政府会计名称、政府会计对象 (内容 )、政府会计模式、政府会计基础及政府财务报告等方面进行改革 ,真正建立具有中国特色、与国际公共部门会计可比的、科学规范的政府会计与财务报告体系 ,保证政府向社会公众提供的财务信息的真实性和完整性     

The impact of SEC investigations and accounting and auditing enforcement releases on firms’ cost of equity capital

I study the impact of an SEC investigation (as captured by accounting and auditing enforcement releases) on a firm’s cost of equity capital. AAERs are often used in accounting literature as a proxy for fraudulent financial reporting. Fraudulent financial reporting should lead to an increase in cost of equity capital as a firm’s future cash flows become less certain. Overall, this study provides evidence of changes in cost of equity capital for firms targeted by an SEC AAER on the date the investigation is first made public.     

The Effect on Financial Reporting Quality of an Exemption from the SEC Reporting Requirements for Foreign Private Issuers

We test for differences in financial reporting quality between companies that are required to file periodically with the SEC and those that are exempted from filing reports with the SEC under Rule 12g3-2(b). We examine three earnings quality measures: conservatism, abnormal accruals, and the predictability of earnings. Our results, for all three measures, show different financial reporting quality for companies that file with the SEC than for companies exempt from the filing requirements. This paper provides empirical evidence of a link between filing with the SEC and financial reporting quality for foreign firms.     

Spacek's Contributions to Accounting Thought Revisited

While he was managing partner and chair of Arthur Andersen in the l950s and 1960s, Leonard Spacek was an outspoken critic of public accounting, complaining about its failure to establish a coherent set of objectives for financial statements, its illogical principles and methods, and its principle-setting process. He was the conscience of the public accounting community during this time period, a critic from within. As far as Spacek was concerned, 'fairness' was the central objective of financial reporting, though he never specifically defined the term. In light of the recent high-profile corporate and accounting scandals, including Enron and World.com, both of which were audited by Arthur Andersen, it is useful to analyse Spacek's ideas on the public role of accounting from his speeches and writings with emphasis on the theme of fairness. Given the firm's long-term commitment to quality audits, it was ironic that Andersen fell victim to these scandals.     

Reporting Performance: Comprehensive Income and its Components

The underlying question raised in this article is: why is the accounting profession's conceptual framework (CF) so authoritative when it is conceptually incoherent? A supplementary question is how can ‘conceptually robust’ accounting standards be derived from an incoherent framework? This article draws on Page and Spira's (1999) contrasting framework metaphors to suggest that the appearance of conceptual robustness is more important than the reality, and illustrates the point with the International Accounting Standards Board's (IASB’s) progress report on its reporting performance project. Some inherent weaknesses in the move towards internationally enforceable financial regulations have been acknowledged, but this article suggests the IASB's project demonstrates two additional weaknesses: internal incoherence, and the potential for political ends to drive supposedly technical regulations.     

Financial Reporting Quality and Wage Differentials: Evidence from Worker-Level Data

We examine whether financial reporting quality affects worker wages using employer-employee matched data in the United States. We find that low financial reporting quality is associated with a compensating wage differential—that is, a risk premium—using three distinct approaches while controlling for worker characteristics by (1) regressing wages on firm-year–level and firm-level reporting quality, (2) documenting wage changes when workers switch firms, and (3) estimating a structural approach that separates reporting quality from performance-related volatility. We find evidence consistent with two channels: performance pay and turnover risk, where workers bear risks from noise in performance measurement and unemployment, respectively. To mitigate endogeneity concerns, we show that—after the accounting scandals in 2002 and after the announcements of an internal control weakness (ICW)—former Arthur Andersen clients and ICW firms pay wage premiums to employees, with magnitudes between 0.9% and 2.8% of annual wages.     

IFRS in the United States: If,When and How

This paper provides an overview of the convergence efforts of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. It begins with their 2002 Memorandum of Understanding and traces developments up to the December 2011 announcement by the IASB Chair that convergence has come to a close, and it is now time to incorporate IFRS into the US financial reporting system. The paper then assesses approaches being considered by the SEC for incorporating IFRS into the US financial reporting model. The conclusion calls on the SEC to ‘make a decision’ and set a date for US adoption of IFRS. Otherwise, the SEC effectively will have abandoned its goal of a single set of high quality global accounting standards.     

A sociological investigation of the U.S.A. mandate for replacement cost disclosures

A sociological framework is used to assess the role of corporate management in the process of establishing accounting policy. The mandate by the SEC in the U.S.A. for replacement cost disclosures is considered from this perspective. A content analysis of the general comments section of a sample of replacement cost footnotes is used to study empirically management's reaction to the disclosure requirement. Interpretation of the findings are made within the context of the sociological framework to gain insight into the process of obtaining acceptance of change in financial reporting practices.     

建立中国财务会计概念框架的总体设想

本文围绕在我国建立财务会计概念框架的基本问题,系统探讨了财务会计目标、财务报告信息的质量特征、财务报表的要素、要素的确认与计量、财务报告的列报等问题。本文在借鉴国外既有研究成果的基础上着重探讨了资产要素的定义,结合收入要素探讨了确认问题,在财务报告列报部分还具体探讨了财务报表确认、财务报表附注及其它财务报告的披露问题。     

Convergence between US GAAP and IFRS: Acceptance of IFRS by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Abstract

The world's capital markets stand to benefit significantly from widespread acceptance and use of global accounting standards that are high quality, comprehensive and rigorously applied. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in April 2007 a series of actions it intends to take relating to the acceptance of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). To implement this, the SEC proposed in July 2007 amendments to Form 20-F and conforming changes to SEC Regulation S-X to accept financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS without reconciliation to US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) when contained in the filings of foreign private issuers with the SEC. This paper analyses the forces driving convergence between US GAAP and IFRS and discusses the most recent activities by the SEC in relation to IFRS and international cooperation, including the SEC vote as of 15 November 2007, to allow foreign private issuers to prepare their financial statements using IFRS as issued by the IASB without reconciling to US GAAP.