審視會計
Score a point for globalization. In a landmark vote on Wednesday August 27th America’s financial-markets watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), paved the way for its companies to switch from America’s Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to international accounting standards. In a field that is, by reputation, notoriously dull, this looks like something to get genuinely excited about.
美國的全球化進程又取得了新的進展。本周三(2008年8月27日),在一項具有里程碑意義的投票中,美國金融市場監管者——證券交易管理委員會為各企業在公認會計準則轉換到國際會計準則的過程中鋪平了道路。該領域一向以枯燥刻板而為人所知,這樣的結果看起來確實很值得高興。
GAAP was the beancounter’s gold standard for decades, but it is now widely seen as cumbersome. Most other countries have embraced the international rules, known as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The regulators' plan envisages American-based multinationals switching to the standards voluntarily in 2010. The SEC would then vote on whether to require all other companies to do the same, starting in 2014. The commission has already cleared the way for overseas firms to use IFRS when doing business or listing securities in America.
數十年來公認會計標準一直是該領域的黃金準則,然而現在大多數認為該標準尾大不掉,缺乏靈活性。其他很多國家都采用了國際標準——國際財務報告準則。美國監管部門計劃讓總部位于美國的跨國企業在2010年自愿轉換為國際財務報表準則。證券交易管理委員屆時將投票決定是否也需要規定其他公司從2014年開始采用國際財務報表準則。證券委員會已經為海外公司在美國營業或是上市時使用國際財務報表準則掃清了道路。
Christopher Cox, the SEC's chairman, hailed the move to an "international language of disclosure, transparency and comparability." Big companies have long been preparing for it with enthusiasm. It will bring each of them one-off costs in the tens of millions, but the savings over time will dwarf the initial outlay. It could also mean greater profits: one study found that the majority of American firms made more under the foreign rules. Investors, too, have reason to rejoice. It will make it easier to compare, say, a French drug company with an American rival. And the compliance costs of duplicate accounting, the bulk of which investors ultimately bear, will disappear.
證券交易委員會主席克里斯托弗·考克斯贊揚使用“更公開、透明和更具比較性的國際性語言”的變動。大企業早就開始熱情地準備著這一時刻的到來。這可能會使他們一次性消耗數千萬美元,但是隨著時間的流逝,前期投人同節省下來的資金相比簡直是小巫見大巫。而且還不僅如此:一項研究發現大多數美國公司按照國外標準會獲得更多利潤。投資者同樣也應該感到髙興。因為使用國際會計準則可以更好地進行比較,例如,將一家法國藥品公司同其美國的競爭對手相比較。并且由投資者最終承擔的因重復做賬而形成的合規成本也會消失。

Accountants point to other benefits. IFRS is less complex than GAAP, with fewer exceptions; America’s accounting rules, like its tax code, are creaking under bolted-on guidance. It is also more principles-based, granting auditors greater room to use judgment. This can be good or bad, of course, but most experts say more leeway is needed.
會計師也指出了實行此法的其他好處。國際財務報表準則比公認會計準則要簡單些,而且特例也比較少。美國的會計準則,像其稅法一樣,在刻板的準則下開始越來越不適用于現實。國際財務報表準則通常是以原則為基礎的,允許稽核員有更多的空間來作判斷。當然,這樣自然是有利有弊,但是大多數專家認為更多的靈活空間是很必要的。
For several years, the SEC and the London-based International Accounting Standards Board (IASB),which oversees the international rules, focused on steadily bringing the two sets of standards together. But it has been a struggle, largely thanks to the Byzantine nature of the American system. Mr. Cox embraced the more radical approach approved this week in the belief that it would boost the competitiveness of American firms by removing barriers to investment. The "roadmap" is the latest in a string of proposals under his leadership designed to bring American and foreign markets closer together.
多年來,證券交易管理委員會和總部位于倫敦負責監制國際會計準則的國際會計準則委員會一直致力于將兩套標準融為一體。但是過程非常艱辛,很大程度上是因為美國會計系統紛繁復雜的本質特點。庫克斯這周采納了較為激進的方案,因為他相信消除投資障礙會提升美國公司的競爭力。在他指導下提出的一系列建議所繪制的“發展藍圖”就是為了使得美國和國外市場能夠更緊密地聯系在一起。
Not everyone is happy. Some politicians, including the head of the congressional committee that oversees the SEC, worry about ceding standard-setting power to the IASB. Even though America has seats on its board, there is concern that it will be under-represented. Some want it to have influence commensurate with the size of America’s equity markets, which account for almost half of global market capitalization. Others worry about the IASB’s finances and its susceptibility to outside influence. One of the SEC’s commissioners said the plan should only be waved through once it is clear that secure, independent funding is in place.
但這樣做也并非皆大歡喜。包括監管SEC的國會委員會會長在內的一些政客擔心這會使制定標準的權力落人國際會計準則委員會手中。盡管美國在國際會計準則委員會中也有委員席位,但是他們仍擔心其代表名額不足。一些人則想使其影響力同占全球市場資本總額一半的美國股票市場不相上下。其他人則擔心國際會計準則委員會的財務狀況且害怕委員會容易受到外界影響。一個證券交易管理委員的委員表示,除非這個計劃有穩定獨立的資金籌備到位,否則是不會通過的。
There are worries overseas too, for instance that the SEC will try to interfere with IFRS and interpret it in a narrow, prescriptive way. Standards issued by the IASB are supposed to be endorsed without modification. It remains to be seen whether America will be able to accept this.
對此,國外的企業同樣也有他們的憂慮,例如證券交易委員會會干涉國際財務報表準則或者從狹義、慣例的角度來對其進行理解。國際會計準則委員會發布的標準應該在無改動的狀況下才能得到認可。美國是否能夠接受還是未知數。