International Accounting Standards and Accounting Quality

We examine whether application of International Accounting Standards (IAS) is associated with higher accounting quality. The application of IAS reflects combined effects of features of the financial reporting system, including standards, their interpretation, enforcement, and litigation. We find that firms applying IAS from 21 countries generally evidence less earnings management, more timely loss recognition, and more value relevance of accounting amounts than do matched sample firms applying non‐U.S. domestic standards. Differences in accounting quality between the two groups of firms in the period before the IAS firms adopt IAS do not account for the postadoption differences. Firms applying IAS generally evidence an improvement in accounting quality between the pre‐ and postadoption periods. Although we cannot be sure our findings are attributable to the change in the financial reporting system rather than to changes in firms' incentives and the economic environment, we include research design features to mitigate effects of both.     

关于我国会计制度和会计准则的制定问题

本文包括三个主要部分。首先阐述会计规范的必要性。然后 ,立足于我国的实际情况 ,提出会计规范的目标是依存于不同的经济体制特点的、会计规范的内容和形式则取决于会计规范的目标 ;通过区分会计确认、计量、记录和报告在不同会计行为中的差别揭示了会计准则和会计制度两种规范形式在我国的并存性和各自的侧重点 ,即会计准则侧重于确认和计量 ,会计制度侧重于记录与报告。最后 ,对我国会计准则、会计制度的关系问题 ,未来会计规范问题提出作者的观点。     

The Setting Of Accounting Standards in Australia: An Evolving Structure

The evolution of the accounting standard-setting process in Australia will bring further significant changes as we move to introduce major features of the structures existing in the United States and the United Kingdom. Those features include an independent standard-setting body, full-time board members and broad-based funding of the process. Similar structural changes can be expected in other countries which have well developed standard-setting activities, and ultimately at the level of the International Accounting Standards Committee. These changes will result from the increasing demands on the standard-setting process and the increasing accountability required by those affected by the output of the process.     

会计准则的信息含量:中国会计准则与IFRS之比较

在我国 ,对如何实现中国会计准则国际化问题一直存在不同的认识。一种观点认为 ,不应过多地考虑“国家特色” ,主张尽快全面国际化 ;另一种观点则认为在会计国际化的同时 ,应当考虑并体现会计的国家特色 ,不应片面追求国际化。那么 ,究竟应当如何解决这些争端 ,把握好借鉴国际惯例和考虑中国国情的辨证关系 ,掌握好两者之间的结合“度” ?我们认为 ,会计准则信息含量的比较研究 ,可以帮助我们进行这方面的分析。本文采用实证研究的方法 ,通过中国会计准则与国际财务报告准则 (IFRS)信息含量的比较研究 ,为哪一种会计准则对信息用户更具决策相关性提供量化证据。研究结果表明 ,按照中国会计准则提供的会计盈余数据比按照国际财务报告准则提供的盈余数据更有信息含量。因而 ,当前我国的会计准则建设仍应考虑国情 ,不应当全盘照搬国际财务报告准则     

Accounting Standards and the Judiciary

The aim of this paper is to assess by means of a study of decided cases the evidential weight attached by the courts to Statements of Standard Accounting Practice (SSAPs) and the status of their provisions relative to statutory accounting rules. This issue is discussed with reference to the accounting requirements of both the Companies Act and the Taxes Act. The extent to which non-statutory accounting principles have acquired the status of binding precedents is also considered. The study reveals that SSAPs have considerable persuasive value as evidence of accounting practice but that expert evidence has not been rendered redundant. There is considerable evidence that the courts regard the determination of accounting principles as a question of fact rather than law where statutory provisions are not in point.     

我国会计标准与国际会计标准的差异分析及国际趋同的思考

本文从我国B股上市公司、金融类上市公司双重审计的制度背景出发 ,以B股和金融类上市公司的年度报告中的双重审计差异为基础 ,对我国会计标准和国际会计标准进行综合比较研究 ,对存在的差异做出了分析与评价 ,并提供了有关的政策建议。     

Domestic Accounting Standards, International Accounting Standards, and the Predictability of Earnings

We investigate (1) whether the variation in accounting standards across national boundaries relative to International Accounting Standards (IAS) has an impact on the ability of financial analysts to forecast non-U.S. firms' earnings accurately, and (2) whether analyst forecast accuracy changes after firms adopt IAS. IAS are a set of financial reporting policies that typically require increased disclosure and restrict management's choices of measurement methods relative to the accounting standards of our sample firms' countries of domicile. We develop indexes of differences in countries' accounting disclosure and measurement policies relative to IAS, and document that greater differences in accounting standards relative to IAS are significantly and positively associated with the absolute value of analyst earnings forecast errors. Further, we show that analyst forecast accuracy improves after firms adopt IAS. More specifically, after controlling for changes in the market value of equity, changes in analyst following, and changes in the number of news reports, we find that the convergence in firms' accounting policies brought about by adopting IAS is positively associated with the reduction in analyst forecast errors.     

深化会计改革 打造高质量会计准则制度——纪念《企业会计准则》实施十周年

1993年7月1日,<企业会计准则>以及十三个行业会计制度在我国全面施行,至今已经十年了.十年来,我国的会计改革,特别是会计准则制度的改革步入了快车道,并实现了重大突破.十年来的会计改革,为我国经济体制改革的进一步深化和对外开放的进一步扩大,为社会主义市场经济体制的建立与完善,发挥了积极的作用.十年来的改革实践,为我国会计改革积累了丰富的经验,也为我国下一步的会计改革提出许多新的启示.     

会计准则能提高会计信息质量吗——来自中国股市的初步证据

本文提出了一个关于会计信息质量影响因素的分析框架。按照该框架 ,会计信息质量受外部机会、会计准则、法律风险等因素的共同影响 ,并认为会计准则在其中的影响要低于法律风险。在此基础上 ,作者讨论了我国近年来相应制度环境的变化 ,认为法律风险缺失导致会计准则的改进并不能很好地反映到会计信息质量上来。 1995～ 2 0 0 2年我国资本市场的经验证据支持这种推测。     

Acceptance of Accounting Standards

When financial statements are audited, a client and auditor may disagree about an accounting disclosure. While the disclosure of such a disagreement may increase the information content of a statement it may also be socially undesirable in that it signals a difference in views about the state of the reporting enterprise. This in turn may increase agency costs and introduce uncertainty about the state of the firm. In this paper we focus on public policy implications concerning auditor-client disagreements and examine the ex ante probability that such cases will occur. We find that accounting standards that allow two accounting options may be optimal in reducing frequency of disagreements among auditors and between standard-setters and their constituencies, and possibly also between clients and their auditors. The New Zealand model of compliance with accounting standards may be preferable to that practiced in the US.     

Classifications Manipulation and Nash Accounting Standards

This paper studies a model of "classifications manipulation" in which accounting reports consist of one of two binary classifications, preparers of accounting reports prefer one classification over the other, an accounting standard designates the official requirements that have to be met to receive the preferred classification, and preparers may engage in "classifications manipulation" in order to receive their preferred accounting classification. The possibility of classifications manipulation creates a distinction between the official classification described in the statement of the accounting standard and the de facto classification, determined by the "shadow standard" actually adopted by preparers. The paper studies the selection and evolution of accounting standards in this context. Among other things, the paper evaluates "efficient" accounting standards, it determines when there will be "standards creep," it introduces and analyzes the notion of a Nash accounting standard, and it compares the standards set by sophisticated standard–setters to those set with less knowledge of firms' financial reporting environments.     

新会计准则与盈余管理

本文以狭义的盈余管理为出发点,结合今年开始实施的新会计准则体系,全面分析了会计准则与盈余管理的关系,澄清了理论与实务界对二者关系的模糊认识;深入分析了新会计准则对企业盈余管理的时空影响及新形势下企业盈余管理的新特点,从博弈、法治和德治等视角提出了治理盈余管理的若干合理化建议。     

从美国成本会计准则看我国军事采购成本会计准则的构建

美国联邦政府采购成本会计准则建立的根本原因在于美国联邦政府采购中成本类型合同的使用.其与我国军事采购过程中成本类型合同的使用相似.为加强我国军事采购合同成本的管理,有必要构建我国军事采购成本会计准则,而美国联邦政府采购成本会计准则涵盖的内容、豁免条款和范围层次的使用,以及披露报表的编报,对于建立我国军事采购成本会计准则具有积极的借鉴意义.     

Goodwill Accounting in Selected Countries and the Harmonization of International Accounting Standards

Economic and financial markets interpenetrate and national economies are increasingly interdependent. This results in a growing need for comparability of accounting procedures internationally. Accounting for goodwill illustrates this phenomenon. By specifying the recommended asset treatment for purchased, positive goodwill, and the five-year amortization period, IASC has taken a significant step towards harmonization of goodwill accounting. As noted in the article, however, the implications for consolidated income may be quite drastic. This is especially so with respect to the implications of the revised IAS 22 (following IAS ED 32) for potential leveraged corporate buy-outs.     

创造性会计与会计准则的互动关系研究

通过对创造性会计与会计准则内在的关系的研究可以发现,在会计准则的形成与完善过程中,创造性会计发挥着重要的先启作用;完善的会计准则体系有助于规范创造性会计活动.因此,现代财务会计的发展是会计准则和创造性会计共同推动的结果.