評論
打印
Company accounts
公司賬目
Truthful top lines
真實的頭條
New global rules aim to make it harder for firms to fib about their revenues
新的國際規則致力于讓公司收入造假變得更加艱難
WHEN companies should recognise revenues on their books is one of the most contentious and consequential issues in the staid profession of accounting. For simple sales of goods the timing is usually straightforward, but in the areas of services and long-term contracts it gets murky fast. Companies may manipulate the “top line” of their accounts—their revenues—say, by booking sales they are not yet sure of (to boost their reported profits) or not booking sales that they are certain of.
公司應當認識到其報表上所列載的收入項在有著固定準則的專業會計上是最容易引起爭議以及一系列問題內容之一。就簡單的商品銷售而言，其時間的記錄是簡單的明了的，但是在服務以及長期合同領域，記錄的問題就變得模糊而復雜。公司有可能會巧妙的操縱他們賬目上的“頭條”—即收入—也就是說，將那些還未最終確定的訂單以及那些他們肯定不會有的訂單，列為收入項。
In Britain the controversy surfaced again after HP's takeover of Autonomy in 2011. The American firm later took a big write-down on its purchase, blaming it in part on the British software firm having pumped up its reported revenues by counting expected subscription fees as current sales .
在英國，在2011年惠普收購Autonomy之后，爭議再一次的浮出水面。美國公司隨后將收購的賬面價值故意調低，指責英國的軟件公司在一定程度上通過將預期的會員費用當成當期銷售收入入賬以達到通過虛增收入來美化其賬目的目的。
Revenue recognition is perhaps the biggest headache for investors trying to compare companies in different countries. The GAAP standard used in the United States is Byzantine, with more than 100 different protocols for various permutations of transactions and industries, whereas the IFRS rules applied in most of the rest of the world offer only broad guidance.
收入確認可能投資者試圖比較公司不同的賬目時最令他們頭疼的事情。在美國，一般公認會計準則是拜占庭式的，這項準則針對各行各業的不同事物的之間的穿插交易制定了100多項的錯綜復雜的條款，與此同時世界其他地方所用的國際財務報告準則卻僅僅是提供了廣泛的直到。
Following 12 years of consultation, on May 28th the boards that control the two accounting systems released a new joint standard they hope will put these issues to rest. Scheduled to take effect in 2017, it represents a neat middle ground, adopting the IFRS's principle of one size to fit all industries, but with GAAP-style clarity. It spells out how companies will have to break down sales contracts into their component obligations and allocate the total value among them, estimating the worth of any variable fees they expect, like performance bonuses. Firms will then recognise the revenue assigned to each individual element as it is completed.
經過十二年的協商之后，在5月28日控制兩個會計系統的委員會發布出了一個新的聯合標準他們希望可以用來解決這些問題。這個標準計劃將于2017年生效，它描繪了一個干凈的中間地帶，采納了國際財務報告準則的統一標準來適應各行各業，但是會像一般公認會計原則那樣清楚明了。它闡述了公司應當怎樣將銷售合同分解為義務的組成和并且如何將總值分配其間，如何預估他們所期望的各種可變費用諸如績效獎金等費用的價值。公司也將承認這些已經完成的被分配到每個單元的收入。
The biggest impact will be felt in industries that rely on bundled product-plus-service contracts, such as software and telecoms. In the 1990s Microsoft was accused of “cookie-jar accounting”, holding back revenue so as to recognise it during weak quarters, to smooth its reported earnings. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an administrative action against the company that was later settled. Some rival software firms took the opposite approach, booking all the proceeds from sales immediately, even if they were required to offer support or upgrades in the future.
這對于那些產品及服務捆綁的行業而言影響似乎是最大的，例如軟件以及電信行業。在二十世紀就是年代的時候微軟公司曾因“餅干罐會計”而被指控，即隱藏收入以供于在收入較弱的季度確認來美化其賬面上的收入。美國證券交易委員會對于這些曾被行政裁定但最終都得以解決的公司留有底案。一些敵對的軟件公司則選擇了相反的途徑，立即將所有的訂單轉化為收益，即使他們要在將來提供后續的支持或者升級。
Regulators responded by bringing in the highly prescriptive accounting standards that software firms rue to this day, which make it hard to offer customers tailored packages of discounts and upgrades without falling foul of the rules. The abolition of such industry-specific rules should give software firms more flexibility to negotiate contracts. Mobile-phone operators will henceforth book the stand-alone value of handsets upfront, even when they are providing these free as part of a bundled contract. Verizon, America's largest mobile operator, estimates that under the new model its wireless division's reported profit margin would have been six to nine percentage points higher in 2011.
監管機構的反應是將高度規范的會計準則引入這個行業，這使得軟件公司至今都追悔莫及，因為這使得公司很難裁定是否打包提供給客戶的折扣以及升級是否有觸犯規則。特定行業規則的廢除能夠給予軟件公司最大的靈活性來談判合同。電話運營商自此以后會將手機前期的預付費用入賬為一部分獨立的價值，即使當他們把這些作為免費的捆綁合同的一部分。威瑞森，美國最大的移動通信公司，估計到在新的模式下其無線業務的利潤率的報告將會比2011年時高出六到九個百分點。
For investors in America, the risk of switching from the rigid “rules-based” GAAP method to the IFRS's “principles-based” approach is that unscrupulous companies will enjoy more leeway to mislead them. The new system tries to compensate for this flexibility by beefing up disclosure requirements: footnotes to financial statements will have to give detailed information about sales arrangements, so that readers can assess any questionable judgment calls.
對于在美國的投資者而言，從嚴格的以“規則為導向”的一般公認會計原則方法而轉向國際財務報告準則的“原則為導向”的處理方法便是打開了風險的開關，并且這樣做是不道德的，因為公司會有更多發揮的余地來用以誤導投資者。新體制試圖通過增強披露彌要求來補這種靈活性，財務報表附注必須披露銷售安排的細節信息，以便于讀者可以評估任何可疑的問題。
The creation of a global rule on revenues is the biggest success yet in a decades-long effort to standardise company accounts worldwide. It may not prevent the next Enron, but it will make it easier for investors to judge companies, while helping multinationals cut compliance costs.
全球收入會計準則的創立是經過數十年的努力將世界范圍內的公司賬目標準化的最大的成功。這并不能阻止下一個安然公司（財務作家），但這會使得投資者更加容易的評判一個公司，同時也有助于幫助跨國公司減少合規成本。
