原则导向会计准则外文翻译文献(2)

原则导向会计准则外文翻译文献

主体的意图之间的相似性。然而，近年来指导量大幅增加。因此，美国财务会计准则委员会必须决定什么是适当的指导，指导和多少是太多了。

在接受商业周刊，赫兹表示，改变的原则导向的会计准则将是渐进的。不是一切从头开始，任何新的标准将按照现有的标准为基础，但不被取代的原则。财务会计准则委员会的目标是一个平稳过渡，而不是在会计准则的突然切换。

然而，运用原则导向的方法去设立会计准则并不是很容易的。它将要求财务会计信息的所有的组成部分在态度上的一个根本性的转变，包括准则制定者，SEC，投资者，编制，审计，和公众。

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原则导向会计准则外文翻译文献

Defining Principles-Based Accounting Standards

Mark Myring .Defining Principles-Based Accounting Standards .The CPA

Journal.2008,(8)

A key concern arising from the recent business scandals is that U.S. accounting standards have become “rules-based,” filled with specific details in an attempt to address as many potential contingencies as possible. This has made standards longer and more complex, and has led to arbitrary criteria for accounting treatments that allow companies to structure transactions to circumvent unfavorable reporting. In addition, the quest for bright-line accounting rules has shifted the goal of professional judgment from consideration of the best accounting treatment to concern for parsing the letter of the rule. Principles-Based versus Rules-Based Accounting

Simply stated, principles-based accounting provides a conceptual basis for accountants to follow instead of a list of detailed rules.

In a presentation to the Financial Executives International, Robert Herz, Chairman of FASB, explained it as follows:

Under a principles-based approach, one starts with laying out the key objectives of good reporting in the subject area and then provides guidance explaining the objective and relating it to some common examples. While rules are sometimes unavoidable, the intent is not to try

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原则导向会计准则外文翻译文献

to provide specific guidance or rules for every possible situation. Rather, if in doubt, the reader is directed back to the principles.

GAAP is a principles-based system—at least when standards are initially contemplated. Essentially, the Statements of Financial Accounting Concepts provide a roadmap to establishing standards. The problem arises when specific standards come up for consideration.

FASB member Katherine Schipper has explained that one of the overriding financial accounting concepts is the usefulness of accounting information to decision makers. This implies that the information should be relevant, reliable, and comparable across reporting periods and entities. If the only requirements were that information be relevant and reliable, entities would adopt reporting methods to best reflect the economic realities for their particular entity. But this would make comparison between companies and across reporting periods virtually impossible for investors.

The problem arises when standards setters approach the difficult task of determining the appropriate level of detailed guidance to achieve sufficient comparability and consistency in financial statements. A principles-based standard often becomes a rules-based standard in an effort to increase comparability and consistency. An example of this process is demonstrated by SFAS 133, Accounting for Derivative and Hedging Activities, which requires that all financial instruments be

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原则导向会计准则外文翻译文献

measured at fair value. A fundamental question addressed in this standard is the definition of a derivative. SFAS 133 provides three paragraphs to define a derivative. FASB received so many questions about the definition that the Derivatives Implementation Group has issued at least 22 statements to provide additional clarification. A further question is how to measure the fair value of an identified derivative. If no guidance is provided on this issue, numerous measures of fair value are potentially justifiable: the asking price, the bid price, or the average of the bid and ask prices. Thus, a rule was added to delineate exactly how fair value should be determined. Thus, a principle requiring financial instruments to be measured at fair value became a detailed rule with complex stipulations and exceptions that allow corporations to structure contracts to achieve favorable reporting.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Principles-Based Accounting

What are the advantages and disadvantages of principles-based accounting? Perhaps the primary benefit of principles-based accounting rests in its broad guidelines that can be applied to numerous situations. Broad principles avoid the pitfalls associated with precise requirements that allow contracts to be written specifically to manipulate their intent. A study sponsored by FASB found evidence that managers purposefully try to structure leases as operating leases to avoid incurring additional liabilities. Providing broad guidelines may improve the representational

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原则导向会计准则外文翻译文献

faithfulness of financial statements.

In addition, principles-based accounting standards allow accountants to apply professional judgment in assessing the substance of a transaction. This approach is substantially different from the underlying “box-ticking” approach common in rules-based accounting standards. FASB Chair Robert Herz has stated that he believes the professionalism of financial statements would be enhanced if accountants are required to utilize their judgment instead of relying on detailed rules.

Another advantage of a principles-based system is that it would result in simpler standards. Herz has claimed that a principles-based system would lead to standards that would be less than 12 pages long, instead of over 100 pages. Principles would be easier to comprehend and apply to a broad range of transactions. Harvey Pitt, former SEC chairman, explained this as follows: “Because standards are developed based on rules ... they are insufficiently flexible to accommodate future developments in the marketplace. This has resulted in accounting for unanticipated transactions that is less transparent.”

Finally, the use of principles-based accounting standards may provide accounting statements that more accurately reflect a company’s actual performance because, as Australian Securities and Investments Commission Chair David Knott has stated, an increase in principles-based accounting standards would reduce manipulations of the

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