Developments: Resource Accounting in Ireland

The advocates of resource accounting see it as improving financial management and thereby improving the accountability of the organization, while critics see it as making the whole process of accounting more complicated than it should be. The Department of Public Enterprise in Ireland has published resource accounts for the past two years. While it has encountered many difficulties in making the accounts meaningful, the end result is a set of accounts comparable in standard to those of the private sector. This article explores the issues encountered by the Department and how it overcame these difficulties.     

Reporting PFI in Annual Accounts: A User's Perspective

Deciding how to account for public sector financing provided under Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts has engendered considerable debate which revolves around whether they should be 'on balance sheet' or 'off balance sheet'. The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) provides the underpinning in FRS 5, interpreted through an ASB Application Note 'Private Finance Initiative and Similar Contracts' and the Treasury Technical Note 'How to Account for PFI Transactions'. This article illustrates the impact of the alternative accountings. It provides an analysis of the annual accounts of two NHS trusts whose assets are financed through PFI contracts, but which use different accounting approaches. There are considerable difficulties for the user of the accounts when attempting to interpret the comparative financial results of the two trusts in the light of these reporting differences and the financing of public services is less than adequately reflected in these resource accounting based financial statements.     

Accounting for Public Hospitals: A Case Study of Modified GAAP

Public hospitals in the U.K. apply GAAP as modified by the Treasury, the Financial Reporting Advisory Board (FRAB) and the Department of Health. Individual National Health Service (NHS) Trusts apply their interpretation of the accounting manuals with further guidance and scrutiny from oversight bodies such as the Audit Commission. This article uses a case study approach to investigate how GAAP is modified and to outline the consequences of the constructed reality. The modifications are layered and often opaque. The accounts are constructed according to accounting requirements stipulated by Government and the account preparers adapt the requirements at Trust level. The accounting statements play a part in constructing a reality ( Hines, 1988 ) that has consequences through the NHS control regime and in how the financial position is portrayed to the public. It appears that GAAP is used to legitimate the NHS as a modern organization applying commercial accounting practice, but the accounting statements provide a distorted view of GAAP compliant statements. The accounting, while not itself real, is real in its consequences and can lead to biased decision‐making, service closures and job losses. The planned compliance of NHS Trusts with international GAAP may provide further scope for modification and manipulation in constructing NHS accounting reality.     

Accounting for government guarantees: perspectives on fiscal transparency from four modes of accounting

Government guarantees are increasingly important as a policy instrument in public infrastructure investment and to assist the banking and financial sectors following the global financial crisis. This paper analyses how different modes of accounting characterize such guarantees in the contexts of public sector financial reporting, statistical accounting, budgeting and long-term fiscal projections. Guarantees are difficult to specify for accounting treatment and consistent conceptualization of liabilities. These difficulties make it attractive for governments to treat obligations as off-budget and off-balance sheet contingent liabilities, rather than recognize them in financial statements and statistical accounts. Miller and Power’s territorializing, mediating, adjudicating and subjectivizing roles of accounting are utilized to analyse the reporting of UK government guarantees. Provisioning for guarantees is complex in financial reporting statements and often absent in national accounts, a deficiency which Eurostat has attempted to address by devising the concept of standardized guarantees and by securing more disclosure of contingent liabilities. There is potential for future research especially where there is greater mediation between the four modes of government accounting.     

新旧企业会计准则的金融衍生工具比较研究

财政部新颁布的企业会计准则虽然突显复杂性,但更接近国际惯例,同时也创新了金融会计思维,在实施中存在不少难点.     

自然资源核算——从账户到资产负债表：演进与启示

通过梳理和分析自然资源核算的历史演进以及典型国家开展自然资源核算的实践经验,对自然资源核算账户、环境经济综合核算以及自然资源资产负债表的关系进行了辨析,指出作为生态文明建设中的一项重要制度创新,自然资源资产负债表与环境经济综合核算两种核算体系揭示和反映的重点不同,但两者都需要以自然资源核算账户为基础进行编制。自然资源资产负债表的构建有助于健全政府宏观会计体系,完善国家资产负债表的数据基础。     

资源开采企业超额收益率及其会计上的制度含义——基于2001—2005年度采掘类上市公司的实证研究

理论上认为,资源性资产具有收益能力,进而推知资源开采企业存在超额收益率。验证这一理论结论,可以计量评价资源开采企业的真实收益,会为资源会计准则、资源收益分配和资源税费改革制度的制订和完善提供坚实基础。本文在ElSerafy相关理论的基础上,提出了基本的研究假设,并使用我国采掘类上市公司2001-2005年的财务会计资料对上述问题进行了实证研究。经验数据表明:我国资源开采企业的收益率超过其他行业,存在超社会平均收益率;从配对样本的检验来看,其收益率仍然是偏高的,如总资产收益率要高出约4个百分点。根据这一结果,笔者提出了资源会计准则完善与创新的初步建议。     

Using Pacioli’s pedagogy and medieval text in today’s introductory accounting course

Students today see little relevance in learning double-entry bookkeeping and find it difficult to learn how to prepare journal entries correctly. In particular, they struggle with the first stage of the double-entry process: identifying which accounts are to be debited and which are to be credited for each transaction. This paper reports on an attempt to overcome this situation by using the first printed instructional text on the subject (Pacioli, 1494) as the principal textbook on a 20-hour component of the introductory financial accounting course in an undergraduate accounting degree program. Instruction followed the pedagogy presented by Pacioli and only minimal additional costs to faculty were incurred.     

Recent Evidence on Australian Current Value Accounting Practices: Is the Phoenix Rising from the Ashes?

There has been a perceptible movement in Australian accounting regulations towards various forms of current value accounting (CVA) in the past five years. These developments could reflect changing commercial attitudes to CVA in Australia. This paper presents evidence about the acceptance of CVA based on a survey of 176 public companies in Australia. It was found that the number of companies preparing comprehensive CVA accounts for external purposes has significantly increased since 1980. Furthermore, the majority of respondents rated a valuation basis other than historical cost as having more relevance to the resource allocation decisions of various users. While it is concluded that current value research is still an important topic for research and debate, the findings indicate that corporate acceptance of CVA will be continually hampered by a number of implementation obstacles.     

The State of Charity Accounting – Developments, Improvements and Continuing Problems

This paper is based on a survey of charity accounts undertaken for the Office for National Statistics during the period 1995–1996, and reviews current charity accounting practices of some of these charities in 1994/5 prior to the inception of the new accounting regime from 1996. We look at the accounting practices identified by Bird and provide a comparison between the original Bird analysis in 1981 and current practices in 1994/5. We also consider smaller surveys undertaken in 1989 and 1990. The paper concludes that whilst there has been some progress – particularly among larger charities – since the Bird study there are still major accounting anomalies and examples of poor practice. The paper calls upon auditing firms to be less tolerant of inadequate sets of accounts and points to their pivotal role in improving charity accounting pratices.     

新会计准则下寿险公司资产负债管理研究

资产负债管理是影响寿险公司经营成败的重要因素,其长期目标是经济价值最大化.在信息不对称的情况下,会计报表成为寿险公司实施资产负债管理的重要依据和管理内容.我国保险业实施新会计准则后,寿险公司资产与负债的计量方式发生重大变化,会计报表的波动性显著增加,对资产负债管理提出了严峻的挑战.本文研究了新会计准则对传统险、分红险和...     

会计信息失真现象的思考与探索

会计信息失真给社会的发展造成了极大的伤害,究其原因,有外部原因：政府监督的不到位,法律和会计监督体系的不健全;也有内部原因：会计从业人员个人和企业领导为个人利益和企业利益所驱动,以及会计人员的整体素质相对低下。本文在此基础上从完善法律体制、加强内外部监督力度、提高会计从业人员的整体素质等方面治理会计信息失真的措施,并提出实现会计信息化对治理会计信息失真是有着重大意义的。     

Psychometric methods in accounting education: a review,some comments and implications for accounting education researchers

Psychometric instruments are widely used in accounting education research (Herring et al., Issues in Accounting Education, 4(1), 48–57, 1989; Benke and Street, Accounting Education: an international journal, 1(1), 33–45, 1992). Problems with the reliability of scores produced by such instruments have led to difficulties in interpreting the results of applied research (Schriesheim et al., Journal of Management, 19, 385–417, 1993). This paper has three aims. The first is to present a rationale for including information about the measurement properties of research instruments used in published accounting education research. Information regarding the reliability and validity of item scores is useful to readers, journal editors and reviewers - especially when the research topic addresses changes in educational policy and processes. Second, problems encountered with questionnairebased research are presented and current practice in accounting education is reviewed. Third, construct validation is discussed in respect of measurement validity and factor analytic methods. The paper concludes with suggestions for improving contemporary practice in accounting education research.     

Assessments of the Expert Evidence of Accountants

The capacity of expert accounting witnesses to provide understandable evidence has been challenged by Australian judges. They have assessed expert accounting evidence as the most difficult evidence, from eight disciplinary areas, for them to evaluate adequately. This paper reports the responses of a sample of ten expert accounting witnesses to such assessment. We reveal the difficulties these accounting experts have experienced in presenting evidence. These include the unfamiliarity of judges and barristers with commercial principles; the intimidatory environment of courts; and outmoded attitudes to the use of modern communication aids. Several ways of improving expert accounting evidence are canvassed, including the provision of communications skills training for accountants and financial literacy training for judges and barristers.     

Accounting for Extractive Industries: Has IFRS 6 Harmonised Accounting Practices by Extractive Industries?

Accounting for extractive industries has historically been practiced by one of a number of methods: successful efforts, full costing, area of interest, appropriation and reserve recognition accounting. The choice of method adopted leads to different accounting figures. The difference in the treatment of the costs leads to different accounting figures being reported in the financial statements of extractive companies. This means that the ‘tell it like it is’ criteria of accounting functions differently, so that stakeholders find like‐with‐like comparisons for decision‐making purposes difficult. These difficulties have culminated in the release of IFRS 6 Exploration for and Evaluation of Mineral Resources, to help harmonise accounting practice. This paper, through content analysis of annual reports of 122 upstream oil and gas companies from around the world, investigates the role of IFRS 6 in harmonising extractive industries’ accounting practices. Our analysis identifies seven types of company, which differ in their compliance with IFRS 6. Hence, we conclude that IFRS 6 has had some success in harmonising accounting treatments of exploration and evaluation expense but that this success is limited and more needs to be done to achieve wider harmonisation for the extractive industries.     

Management accounting within world class manufacturing: a case study

This is a case study of a U.K. chemical company implementing World Class Manufacturing (WCM). In the late 1980s the company encountered serious problems due to the rapid contraction of major customers. It embarked on a programme of improving manufacturing introducing, inter alia, new quality programmes and computerized production controls including MRPII. Whilst these programmes were successful they failed to produce the turnaround sought. Faced with impending extinction, the managers sought external advice from consultants during a WCM workshop organized by government development agencies. Following this the company embarked on a benchmarking and strategic assessment exercise which diagnosed the company as unduly manufacturing oriented, poor on new product development and marketing, and insufficiently responsive to consumer needs. They adopted WCM principles embracing six broad objectives: customer responsiveness, employee involvement, quality, reduced lead-times, continuous improvement, and shop floor training for flexibility and problem solving skills. The implementation of WCM was successful: there was objective recorded evidence of improved performance against targets set in the WCM programme. Management accounting superficially appeared unaffected by WCM. The budgetary control system run by the accounting department remained intact. Product costing systems were not changed to incorporate Activity-Based drivers, as predicted in the literature. However, there was a marked decline in the influence of the accounting department, partly due to the cost module within MRPII. The accountant became dependent on production for cost data. Whilst his responsibilities continued to include the preparation of financial accounts and periodic budgets, cost management in terms of cost reduction, target setting, diagnosis and problem-solving came to lie with production. The suggestion of the case is that financial improvement may lie more with programmes of employee development and involvement, making the company more quality conscious, flexible and adaptive rather than in any redesign of costing systems. The implications of the research upon management accounting change debates are discussed in the concluding section.     

Reconciling conflict: The role of accounting in the American Indian Trust Fund debacle

In 1887, the United States Congress broke American Indian Tribal lands into allotments which it held and controlled “on behalf” of individual American Indians in trust funds. The following century has been marked by allegations of fraud, mismanagement and accounting failures prompting repeated calls for reform, none very successful. As a result, neither the federal government nor trust holders themselves are sure whether the account balances are $7 or $100 billion currently.In 1994, Congress passed yet another attempt to reconcile the American Indian Trusts. This time, legislation spelled out the responsibility of the Secretary of the Interior (the department in charge of the trust accounts) to provide a complete “historical” accounting including accurate reports of balances, and to ensure that future payments of principal and interest were accurate and timely. More than 10 years later, the Interior reported its progress in a 24-page brochure that defended the Interior's narrowed definition of “historical” and its decision to limit its reconciliation to accounts that were open on 1994 or later. In the brochure, the Interior argued that its limited definition of historical and any other shortcoming in the Interior's efforts were acceptable given the cost of a more complete accounting. Finally, the brochure argued that the Interior Department had fulfilled its role as trustee and, as such, is the good guy in the conflict over these accounts. It is the Interior's American Indian Trust holders who are unreasonable troublemakers.In this paper, we examine the Interior's brochure and locate it within the larger conflicted relations between American Indians and the federal government. We are interested in the Interior's narrow vision of historical accounting, and the role this narrowness might play in deepening or resolving centuries long conflicts. We argue that the brochure provides an example of how parties in dispute over economic resources may attempt to frame or control the accounting process itself as a way to control those conflicts and limit the possible meanings that could be accorded to accountability within a particular set of relations. This episode illustrates how the ability to frame accounting definitions, formulations, and boundaries becomes a powerful means of controlling the final allocation of both dollars and political privilege. We conclude by accentuating the limitations of accounting in restoring a sense of justice and “balance” to relationships that embody uneven access to power and long-standing conflicts over economic claims.     

Planning and Controlling UK Public Expenditure on a Resource Basis

The UK Government has, from 2003/04, completed the transition from planning and controlling public expenditure in cash to the full implementation of resource budgeting. Accounting had already switched to the resource basis, with effect from 2001/02. The 2002 Spending Review was the first biennial review of future spending levels and priorities to be conducted entirely on a resource basis. This article clarifies what was involved in this transition, paying attention to how it made the 2002 Spending Review different from its predecessors. Changes in both the fiscal framework and the accounting and budgeting systems have been designed to improve decision making at departmental level, and to improve information flows to Parliament and the public.     

EXPLORING AN ACCOUNTING PARADIGM: THE CASH ACCOUNT

This paper explores the possibility that practitioners' standards of accounting rationality are partly determined by a “cash account” paradigm, of which the method for preparing accounts from incomplete records is a major exemplar (an important part of the Kuhnian concept). Preparation of accounts from incomplete records forms part of many accountants' early practical experience, and often provides the setting in which elementary bookkeeping and accounting concepts start to become “second nature”. In addition to this, and partly as a result of it, accountants may tend to refer (perhaps not always explicitly) to the so-called “single entry method” when addressing much more complex and intractable problems. Practitioner paradigms get less attention in the literature than research paradigms, and one purpose of this paper is to redress this balance, and to show how articulation of a practitioner paradigm might suggest ways out of some conceptual difficulties     

审计独立性与会计信息质量

审计独立性对会计信息质量的影响间接却又十分重要。本文从独立性的界说出发,分别从代理理论、会计规则制定权合约安排以及国内外的相关案例分析了独立性与会计信息质量的关系,并结合我国现阶段的具体情况,提出了提高审计独立性的两点对策强化注册会计师民事法律责任的制度约束;逐步取消有限责任的事务所组织形式。