Reflections On Constructing The Conceptual Framework Of Financial Accounting With Chinese Characteristics

After China's entry into WTO, market liberalization, non discrimination and the implementation of fair trade principles bring about high liberalization of economic and trade, making the environment facing accounting more free, open and complex. It is a general trend to guide and standardize China's accounting standards with a financial accounting conceptual framework with Chinese characteristics and international practice.

However, in terms of constructing the conceptual framework of financial accounting with Chinese characteristics, China has lagged behind other aspects of accounting reform.

I would like to make some comments here.

A historical review of the conceptual framework of financial accounting, Conceptual Framework of FinancialAccounting (CF), first appeared in the 3 papers issued by the financial accounting standards board (FASB) in December 2, 1976, namely, the provisional conclusions on the objectives of corporate financial statements, the conceptual structure of financial accounting and reporting: elements and measurement of financial statements, and the scope and implications of the conceptual framework research project.

According to FASB's explanation, CF is a statute, a system with inherent logic which is related to the basic principles and objectives. This system can form consistent accounting standards, and point out the nature, function and limitations of financial accounting and financial statements.

In 1930s, western countries, especially the United States, issued a series of accounting principles in order to regulate the accounting behavior of public companies and maintain the normal order of capital market. But afterwards, people found that there was lack of coordination and even contradiction between the various criteria in the application of concepts, procedures and methods. Therefore, it became increasingly necessary to formulate a conceptual framework to unify concepts, coordinate contradictions and guide directions.

In 1976, FASB first proposed the research plan of the scope and meaning of the conceptual framework research project, and released its research results in the form of "financial accounting concept announcement" (SFAC). By 2000, it has issued seven documents, namely, the target of enterprise financial reporting, the quality characteristics of accounting information, the elements of enterprise financial statements, the purpose of preparing financial reports for non-profit organizations, the confirmation and measurement of financial statements of enterprises, various elements of financial statements, and the use of cash flow information and current value in accounting measurement.

Subsequently, accounting professional groups and IASC in Britain, Australia, Canada and other countries also studied the conceptual framework of financial accounting and achieved a series of results, especially the report on the framework of compiling and reporting financial statements published by the international accounting standards board (IASC) in July 1989, which had a profound impact on the International Accounting community.

The widespread introduction and widespread controversy about accounting standards in China began in the late 1970s and early 80s.

Especially in the past ten years, the publication and implementation of the enterprise accounting standards, the enterprise accounting system and a series of specific accounting standards have basically made the accounting standards conform to or coordinate with the international accounting practices in terms of the definition of accounting elements, the confirmation and measurement of accounting elements, and the financial reporting system.

Nevertheless, the author thinks that the accounting standards or accounting systems that have been issued in China, especially the accounting standards for enterprises (1992) and the enterprise accounting system (2001), are not able to assume the functional responsibility of the conceptual framework of financial accounting because of their lack of rigorous theoretical basis, lack of strict logic system, lack of wide applicability, conceptual framework and function mixing of accounting standards, and also do not conform to the international common practice of formulating the conceptual framework separately.

Therefore, it is necessary for our country to separate the basic concepts of accounting from the criteria or systems, and independently formulate and publish the conceptual framework of financial accounting.

Two, to construct the conceptual framework of financial accounting with Chinese characteristics, we should deal with several relationships: 1, Chinese characteristics and internationalization. Accounting is rooted in a specific environment and has a specific "nationality", because accounting is not only a technical aspect, but also a social aspect.

As long as there are differences in the accounting environment of all countries, the characteristic of accounting is an objective necessity.

However, recognizing that the "Chinese characteristics" of accounting does not mean that we can ignore the general trend of economic globalization and accounting development. Rather, we must actively and steadily conduct international accounting coordination and international accounting coordination under the premise of fully considering the particularity of China's accounting environment, and finally achieve internationalization of accounting with other countries in the world.

The author believes that the construction of China's financial accounting conceptual framework must correctly handle the relationship between Chinese characteristics and accounting internationalization. If we grasp a reasonable degree, if we overemphasize "characteristics" or "internationalization", we may go to extremes, which will increase the cost of accounting reform in China.

2, the relationship between conceptual framework and accounting theoretical system. The conceptual framework should be conformed to the accounting theoretical system, but the two are not a category.

The goal of accounting theory is to explain and predict accounting practice. Interpretation is the reason for the observed practice. Prediction refers to the accounting phenomenon that accounting theory should be able to observe beforehand.

The conceptual framework mainly reflects the basic concepts of financial accounting, especially the establishment of financial reports, and the inherent consistency between them. The establishment of this regular connection is aimed at constantly improving accounting standards and financial reporting, that is, to guide guidelines and reports, and not just to explain and predict future accounting standards and financial reports.

Perhaps this is one reason why western scholars did not use the "knowledge system" but chose the "conceptual framework". The conceptual framework can at best be called "sub theory".

Therefore, in building the conceptual framework of financial accounting, we must emphasize reasoning and experience, and try to build the conceptual framework into a unified, coherent and unified knowledge system.

3, the relationship between conceptual framework and enterprise accounting standards. The accounting profession has many ideas on the construction of the conceptual framework, including making repairs or restarting a new business on the basis of enterprise accounting standards.

The author thinks that the implementation of enterprise accounting standards is an epoch-making reform of China's accounting system, which contains rich scientific ideas, and its theoretical core should not be abandoned. This inheritance should be emphasized. However, some inappropriate and even incorrect accounting elements must be corrected. Some problems such as accounting objectives, accounting environment, accounting research methods, accounting object theory, accounting recognition and measurement, accounting records theory should not be taken into consideration in the past. Therefore, it is imperative to revise the accounting standards for enterprises.

After revising, as for what is still known as "enterprise accounting standards" or the adoption of the international general concept of "financial accounting conceptual framework", it is only a formal problem, and the key issue is to keep pace with the times and to make a quick revision of the current accounting standard.

In the current accounting standard system of China, the specific accounting standards or the enterprise accounting system should belong to the second level (the first level is the basic accounting standards, the third level is the internal financial accounting system established by the spirit of the enterprise in accordance with the basic principles and specific criteria, combined with its own characteristics and management requirements), that is, under the guidance of the basic accounting standards, the requirements for the recognition, measurement, recording and reporting of certain pactions in the business pactions or accounting matters of enterprises are the specific behavior standards of the accounting work of enterprises. 4.

The conceptual framework is not a specific accounting standard or an enterprise accounting system. It does not establish accounting procedures and disclosure systems that specifically describe pactions or specific matters, but only guides the formulation of specific criteria.

In this sense, specific norms do not belong to the category of accounting theory system.

Besides, in the formulation of financial accounting conceptual framework, we should also pay attention to the consultation between government accounting institutions and non-governmental accounting bodies.

As a maker, the government should widely listen to the opinions and suggestions from all sectors of the industry in accordance with the scientific working procedures. In ensuring the authority of the conceptual framework, we should give full consideration to its wide acceptance.

In China, the latter seems more realistic.

According to the above analysis and learning from the experience of western countries, and combining the research results gained by our country, the author thinks that the conceptual framework of financial accounting with Chinese characteristics should include the following contents: three, 1, and the essence of financial accounting.

It mainly answers the question of the "Genus" and "species" of financial accounting, that is, what is the "what" and "what to do" in financial accounting.

Financial accounting is a system that can provide economic information that can be used to measure money. (of course, there is also a management activity which is not allowed to expand). Its original purpose is to provide useful accounting information and other economic information for decision-making, or to identify and discharge accountability, because the main or sole means of identifying and discharging responsibilities in information society is to provide useful information.

2, financial accounting environment.

It is generally constituted by factors related to the financial accounting system, including political, economic, legal, cultural, educational, scientific and technological factors.

There is a close interaction between the core content of financial accounting and the external environment. Its development is restricted by a series of environmental factors. The degree of civilization of the financial accounting environment determines to a certain extent the development of financial accounting and the degree of civilization.

3, financial accounting assumptions.

It refers to the prerequisites that need not be proved in accounting field, or some logical inference or hypothesis based on some known objective situations, which are not yet known in accounting field and can not be positively demonstrated at present.

It is a concept with axiomatic and hierarchical nature. Its basic assumptions (including accounting entity, continuous operation, accounting phasing and monetary measurement) are the basic prerequisites for financial accounting.

4, financial accounting objectives.

It refers to the provision of useful accounting information and other economic information for stakeholders, so that the entrusted responsibility of the trustee can be explained to the client.

It mainly includes three aspects: (1) who needs accounting information, that is, the users of accounting information; (2) what aspects of accounting information the users need; (3) what information can be provided by the financial accounting system, that is, to solve the problem of the quality characteristics of accounting information.

5, the quality characteristics of accounting information.

It is the fundamental guarantee for the realization of financial accounting objectives. First, accounting information should be helpful to the decision of stakeholders, and its usefulness is guaranteed by several quality characteristics such as relevance and reliability.

There are certain logicality and gradation between these specific quality characteristics. To what extent should they be studied and developed depends on the financial accounting environment and objectives, and is bound by the principle of cost-effectiveness.

6, financial accounting object.

It refers to the content that financial accounting should reflect and supervise, that is, the capital and its movement in the process of social production and reproduction.

To be sure, whether financial accounting objects should be included in the conceptual framework and how to define them still need further discussion.

The author believes that from the macro level, it should be included in the conceptual framework, which is more conducive to the definition of the so-called "accounting elements" concept.

7 elements of financial accounting objects.

The elements mentioned in the conceptual framework should refer to the elements of financial accounting objects, that is, the proper classification of the specific contents of financial accounting objects, which is the basis for accounting and compiling accounting statements.

There are international financial statement elements in the world. Taking into account the actual situation of our country, we call it the object of financial accounting.

At the same time, the formulation of "accounting elements" should be discarded in the accounting standards of enterprises, because elements are the main or necessary factors that constitute a certain thing or a whole. Without these factors, we can not call them the thing or the whole.

The meaning of accounting elements is very broad. Obviously, it is not only six aspects: assets, liabilities, owners' equity, income, expenses and profits.

8, financial accounting principles.

Generally speaking, it is the behavior norm of financial accounting, that is, recognition, measurement, recording and reporting.

There are both general and basic requirements for financial accounting work, as well as specific norms for the specific behavior of the work, and specific rules embodying accounting policies, accounting related subjects, usage and accounting treatment.

However, the financial accounting principles in the conceptual framework refer mainly to the meaning of the first level, that is, general requirements or basic requirements, rather than specific requirements for accounting for a specific element or specific matter.

9, financial accounting confirmation.

It is the process of determining whether a paction or accounting matters are measured, recorded and reported. It is the first step in financial accounting.

It mainly includes the economic number of the double entry bookkeeping system.