4昆明理工大学论文的英文附录.docx

1、4昆明理工大学论文的英文附录附录（英译文献）【英文原文】The future of Accounting and Financial ReportingPart: The Colorized ApproachIn this sequel to an earlier Commentary on the Future of Accounting and FinancialReporting, the author first discusses the importance of accounting and financial reporting to (1) asset, capital an

2、d investment allocation, (2) contracting and expose settling up, and (3) corporate stewardship and monitoring. He then reviews several reasons for the concern that accounting and financial reporting are becoming increasingly less useful, including changing concepts of the traditional term, recogniti

3、on and measurement difficulties, issues related to the timeliness of financial reports, and limitations associated with current information distribution channels. A refinement to the current black and white accounting paradigm is suggested to begin to address certain of these concerns, and to quicke

4、n the debate on the need and benefits for change. By decreasing the emphasis currently devoted to determining whether a particular item should be recognized, and focusing greater attention on whether the item is relevant and the degree of attestation that may be associated with any related disclosur

5、e, a more finely textured colorized accounting model might be developed. The goal of such a system would be to provide more useful information in connection with accounting and financial reporting, while maintaining the current core disclosures. The author provides examples of how the colorized mode

6、l might operate, discusses limitations of the model, and suggests that greater attention be devoted to refining the current accounting paradigm to meet the needs of users of accounting and financial information better, regardless of whether such a colorized model is ever adopted.The Importance of Ac

7、counting and Financial ReportingFrom the most generalized perspective, the purpose of accounting and financial reporting is to provide information that is useful to investors, creditors, monitors and othersincreasingly including employees and major suppliers and customersin making investment, credit

8、, monitoring and other decisions. This general goal may be further defined and analyzed by describing three specific and distinct purposes and functions of financial reporting: (1) asset, capital and investment allocation; (2) contracting and ex post settling-up; and (3) corporate stewardship and mo

9、nitoring.Determining What to Value: Recognition and Measurement IssuesWe also should question exactly what it is we are measuring and reporting. As discussed above, historically, the assets and liabilities used to produce wealth were recognized in financial statements at cost and were hard or tangib

10、lelike plant and equipment. However, the shift to a knowledge-based economy has created or focused increased attention on entirely different categories of assets such as brand names and other soft assets previously mentioned. With certain limited exceptions, such as the purchase of a brand name, the

11、se soft assets are not recognized in the financial statements. The primary obstacles relate to valuation difficulties, the inherent uncertainty of any value ultimately determined, and the resulting potential for fraud. As a result of these concerns, we attribute no value in financial reports to some

12、thing as obviously significant as Disneys Mickey Mouse. This cannot be the correct result for the long-term utility of financial reporting, particularly given the increasing importance of firms with soft assets. Some suggest that the values of these assets are ultimately reflected, implicitly, in th

13、e statement of cash flows or in earnings, and therefore they need not be reflected elsewhere. Unfortunately, however, because it would make life very easy if such an answer were right, the same can be said for all other assets on the balance sheet. Our task then is either to improve the credibility

14、and reliability of soft asset valuations, or to find other creative solutions to the problemnot to ignore this fast growing segment of our economy.When to Report? The Timeliness of Financial ReportingThe rapid acceleration of events that may significantly affect share values has started to make our

15、system of annual audits and quarterly reports obsolete. Todays annual and even quarterly reportsrelying on recognized items as the core of the reportsdo not capture and communicate material developments in sufficient time to meet the markets information needs. Product cycles have shortened, risk man

16、agement practices have improved and are more prevalent, and products and whole companies become obsolete much more quickly now than ever before. It is hard to obtain a good picture of an3hing that is moving so quickly and changing so often when only snapshots are taken at relatively long intervals.

17、As I mentioned last year, I am not now suggesting a system of monthly, weekly, or daily audits and report filings with the Commission. I am suggesting, though, that overtime we will need to develop a system that fills the need for timelyand ultimately real-timefinancial information. Forward looking

18、information will obviously be an increasingly critical component of the disclosures.A Different Perspective: Color VS. Black And WhiteBackground is divided into four broad segments. At the first level we have the financial statements themselves, which focus on recognized items that pertain to the re

19、sources (assets) of an entity, the claims to such resources (liabilities and equity) and the results of operations. Within this system, the recognition of items in the financial statements assumes primary standing. To be recognized in financial statements an item must meet each of four criteria: Fir

20、st, the item must meet the definition of an element of those financial statements:It must be an asset, liability or component of equity; Second, the item must be measurable: It must be susceptible to quantification in monetary units with sufficient reliability; Third, the item must be relevant: It m

21、ust make a difference to the investment or credit decision; and Finally, the item must be reliable: It must have representational faithfulness, be verifiable and neutral.It is generally expected that the most useful information about assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses and other items of financi

22、al statements would be recognized. There is also an expectation that such information would have utility in making capital allocation decisions. That is, it can be used to help predict future cash flows and is comparable across entities. In addition, because such information is viewed as more reliab

23、le and is audited, it is viewed as having greater utility in contracting and monitoring. The second subset of financial reporting consists of the notes to the financial statements. The notes are designed to explain information in the financial statements. The final two categories are supplementary i

24、nformation (such as information related to changing prices) and other information supplied by a company (such as managements discussion and analysis). This information adds to the financial statements or the notes. It often includes information that may be relevant but that does not meet all criteri

25、a for recognition. It is frequently not subject to third party attestation.The current accounting and financial reporting model works reasonably well for many of the items that are recognized within financial statements. However, the model increasingly is subject to criticism. First, potentially rel

26、evant items are omitted because they do not meet recognition criteria (usually due to reliability concerns). Second, items that are less and less useful due to valuation or other concerns are nevertheless included. Finally, it is not always clear why soire information is included and other informati

27、on is excluded from financial reports. These concerns are exacerbated by the developments in the general business environment previously discussed. The Alternative ModelIn response to these concerns, I believe it is time to refine our perspective on financial reporting. We need, in particular, to mo

28、ve away from a model that primarily relies on black and white recognition in the financial statements. We need to move towards a model where financial statements and related disclosures are viewed more as different layers of informationjust as a finely textured color picture can provide more informa

29、tion than a black and white representation.The model that I am about to describe may be viewed as refining the current system by adding new sets or layers of information. It also refocuses our analysis to de-emphasize recognition and towards providing greater disclosure of useful information.In this

30、 model, the primary focus is on providing relevant information, with specification of both the items to be reported and the form and level of assurance of these items. The most relevant and reliably measured items would represent the core of the financial reportsthe clear black and white, with no sh

31、ades of gray or colorsimilar to the recognized content of the financial statement items in todays model. Successive outer layers of the financial reporting picture would consist of information that meet somebut not allof the requirements of recognition, or that are not as susceptible to verification

32、 procedures.Under this approach, instead of starting with the question of whether an item must be recognized in the financial statements, the first question would be whether an item should be part of the firms financial disclosure, with a progression then to a discussion of the appropriate layer in which the item should be reported. Such a frameworkwhere the different layers of information could reflect in essence, different levels of satisfaction of the traditional recognition criteria concepts(e.g., relevance, reliability, measurability),or could reflect entirely different concepts