重要会计政策的报告【外文翻译】

1、本科毕业论文（设计）外 文 翻 译题 目 上市公司会计政策的选择研究 专 业 会 计 学 外文题目 reporting critical accounting policies 外文出处 the cpa journal 外文作者 mark p.holtzman 原文：reporting critical accounting policiesaccountants inevitably make many accounting estimates and policy decisions when preparing financial statements. they must select

2、 depreciable lives for long-lived assets. choose an inventory costing method, make assumptions about pensions, and make many more judgments. these accounting estimates are driven by an entitys accounting policy as it applies to the issues at hand. these decisions could significantly affect a company

3、s financial statements and how users understand a companys results and financial position.for this reason, the sec requires companies to report critical accounting policies (cap) as part of managements discussion and analysis (md&a). the sec has issued many comment letters about companies caps, indi

4、cating their importance. what follows is an overview of the secs requirements and proposed rule on caps, as well as a survey of current practices by large companies.the secs interpretationin december 2003, the sec released fr-72, interpretation: commission guidance regarding managements discussion a

5、nd analysis of financial condition and results of operations (/rules/interp/33-835o.htm). this covered many different areas of md&a, including critical accounting estimates. the interpretation defines critical accounting estimates as those estimates or assumptions where 1 the nature of th

6、e estimates or assumptions is material due to the levels of subjectivity and judgment necessary to account for highly uncertain matters or the susceptibility of such matters to change and 2 the impact of the estimates and assumptions on financial condition or operating performance is material.the ru

7、le states that critical accounting estimate disclosures in the md&a should supplement the description of significant accounting policies provided at the beginning of the notes to the financial statements required under accounting principles board (apb) opinion 22 and aicpa statement of position (sop

8、) 94-6. the md&a disclosure should provide more insight into the quality and variability of information on the balance sheet and income statement. furthermore, the disclosure should analyze the uncertainties involved in applying an accounting principle, or the variability likely to result from its a

9、pplication over time. accountants should explain why critical accounting estimates bear the risk of change. furthermore, they should explain how they arrived at the estimate, how accurate the estimate or assumption has been in the past, how much the estimate or assumption has changed in the past, an

10、d whether the estimate or assumption is reasonably likely to change in the future. when quantitative, material information is available, accountants should quantify the sensitivity to change based on reasonably likely outcomes.the secs proposed rulein may 2002, prior to the issuance of the above int

11、erpretation, the sec released a proposed rule. “disclosure in managements discussion and analysis about the application of critical accounting policies” this proposed rule provides more complete and direct guidance than the interpretation. the sec has yet to act upon this proposal; it has not issued

12、 any amended proposals or final rules on the matter. furthermore, the secs division of corporation finances most recent current accounting and disclosure issues (november 30, 2006) did not mention caps.the proposed rule would redefine the criteria for caps to focus on the following: 1) critical acco

13、unting estimates that require a company to draw assumptions about highly uncertain matters; and 2) alternate estimates in the current period, or changes in the estimate that are reasonably likely in future periods that would materially impact the presentation of the companys financial condition, cha

14、nges in financial condition, or results of operations.the proposed rule sets a number of additional disclosures for each estimate. companies would be required to explain the significance of each critical accounting estimate to the financial statements and, where material, to individual financial sta

15、tement line items. furthermore, the proposed rule would require quantifying financial statements sensitivity to changes made in each critical accounting estimate, and disclosing historical changes in a companys critical accounting estimates over the past three years (two years for small business iss

16、uers). companies would he required to explain the reasons for those changes.for initial adoptions of accounting policies, companies would be required to describe the following: 1) the events or transactions that gave rise to the initial adoption; 2) the accounting principle adopted, and the method o

17、f applying it; and 3) the qualitative impact of the adoption on the companys financial statements. if there is a choice among acceptable accounting principles, the company would have to identify the alternatives and describe why it made the choice that it did. in the absence of existing accounting l

18、iterature for unusual or novel transactions, a company would be required to explain its decision regarding the initial adoption.the proposed rule implicitly differentiates caps from estimates. policies are plans of action to guide future decisions, whereas estimates are individual decisions made whe

19、n preparing financial statement. companies must disclose information about initial adoptions of new policies. new estimates, however, may need to be reconsidered with every new set of financial statements.under the proposal, filers would be required to disclose whether they discussed a companys crit

20、ical accounting estimates with the audit committee. they would not be requited to disclose the nature of those discussions.companies operating with more than one segment would have to identify specific segments affected by a cap. in addition to company-wide critical accounting disclosures, companies

21、 would have to discuss caps for each identified segment.the proposed rule also put forward the idea of requiring an independent audit of md&a. it would require companies to provide quarterly updates of critical accounting estimates in their quarterly filings, including newly identified critical acco

22、unting estimates, and other material changes that would render previous disclosures out of date or misleading. the proposed rule would not require companies to update sensitivity analyses each quarter. foreign private issuers would be required to meet these same cap disclosure requirements. small bu

23、siness issuers would have substantially lower disclosure requirements. existing safe harbors would apply to forward-looking information.when preparing cap disclosures, accountants will find the secs interpretation (fr-72) lacking useful specifies. even though the sec has not acted upon it as of yet.

24、 accountants should read and consider using the proposed rule as a source of more specific guidance.current practicethe author reviewed annual reports of the largest 100 publicly traded companies from the fortune 500. the author analyzed 10-k filings with fiscal year-ends between december 31, 2005,

25、and december 30, 2006.three accounting issues dominate companies cap disclosures: impairments, pensions, and income taxes. as indicated in exhibit 1, 39 out of 100 companies reported caps for impairments of intangibles, 25 reported caps for impairments in general, and 14 reported impairments of tang

26、ible assets. another six reported caps for the valuation of residual costs of leased assets. with respect to postemployment benefits, 64 companies reported caps, and two of those companies reported additional caps just for other postemployment benefits. with respect to accounting for income taxes, 5

27、6 companies reported caps.the 100 companies reported many additional types of caps, as shown in exhibit 1. forty-four companies reported caps for contingencies, 32 for revenue recognition, and 32 for bad-debt reserves. valuation of investments and financial instruments was addressed by caps for 30 c

28、ompanies, and inventory for 24.several cap disclosures were industry-specific. insurance companies reported claims liabilities as a cap. most retailers and retail suppliers addressed purchase and sales allowances (21 caps). oil and gas companies reported oil and gas accounting (four caps). and enter

29、tainment companies reported capitalization of entertainment assets (three caps).the average company reported 5.6 caps in its md&a. by contrast, a previous study by the financial executives research foundation reported an average of 6.1 caps per company (this author, a review of 2002 md&a disclosures

30、: critical accounting policies). the fewest caps reported were two, by an investment bank, but this companys disclosures were very long and detailed. the highest number of caps reported was 11, by a grocery chain.many companies provided very detailed disclosures. for example, exhibit 2 shows the for

31、d motor companys disclosure about other postemployment benefits (10-k/a, fiscal year-end december 31,2005). this disclosure indicates that management believes that other postemployment benefits are a delicate area of accounting for the company, and that fords income and financial position are very s

32、ensitive to specific assumptions. ford explains, in detail, the need for estimates and the assumptions used. furthermore, the sensitivity analysis indicates, for example, that a one-point decrease in the discount rate would have increased the companys liabilities by $6,330 million and its expenses b

33、y $530 million.exhibit 2 also illustrates many important concepts about reporting such policies. first of all, accountants should write disclosures in plain english, using simple declarative sentences. use the active voice rather than the passive voice. avoid complex words when simple ones will suff

34、ice. use formatting tools, such as bullet points, to clarity the structure of ideas.ideally, cap disclosures should explain why estimates are necessary, emphasizing the necessary judgments and the inherent uncertainty in each area. for example, according to best buy; “our impairment loss calculation

35、s contain uncertainties because they require management to make assumptions and to apply judgment to estimate future cash flows and asset fair values, including forecasting useful lives of the assets and selecting the discount rate that reflects the risk inherent in future cash flows” (form 10-k, 2/

36、25/2006).according to united technologies:in assessing the need for a valuation allowance, we estimate future taxable income, considering the feasibility of ongoing tax planning strategies and the realizability of tax loss carryforwards. valuation allowances related to deferred tax assets can be aff

37、ected by changes to tax laws, changes to statutory tax rates and future taxable income levels. in the event we were to determine that we would not be able to realize all or a portion of our deferred tax assets in the future, we would reduce such amounts through a charge to income in the period in wh

38、ich that determination is made. conversely, if we were to determine that we would be able to realize our deferred tax assets in the future in excess of the net carrying amounts, we would decrease the recorded valuation allowance through an increase to income in the period in which that determination

39、 is made. subsequently recognized tax benefits associated with valuation allowances recorded in a business combination will be recorded as an adjustment to goodwill ().the disclosures should describe the companys accounting. for example, delphi corporation explains how it estimates future

40、 cash flows when testing long-lived assets for impairment: “we estimate cash flows using internal budgets based on recent sales data, independent automotive production volume estimates and customer commitment and consultation with and input from external valuation experts” (form 10-k. 12/31/2005).co

41、mpanies should provide sensitivity analysis for each critical accounting area, quantifying how different estimates could affect the financial statements. for example, lockheed martin issued the following disclosure about accounting for design, development and production contracts:products and servic

42、es provided under long-term design, development and production contracts make up the majority of our business. therefore, the amounts we record in our financial statements using contract accounting methods and cost accounting standards are material. because of the significance of the judgments and e

43、stimation processes, it is likely that materially different assumption could he recorded if we used different assumptions or if the underlying circumstances were to change. for example, if underlying assumptions were to change such that our estimated profit at completion for all design, development

44、and production contracts was higher or lower by 1%, our net earnings would increase or decrease by approximately $ 190 million. when adjustments in estimated contract revenues or costs are required, any changes from prior estimates are included in earnlings in the current period (form 10-k, 12/31/20

45、05).7postenmloyment benefitsincome taxesimpairment of intangiblesotherrevenue recognitionbad-debt reservesinvestments and financial instrumentsinsuranceimpairmentinventorysales and purchase allowancesstock-based compensationimpairment of tangiblesacquisition and consolidationderivatives and securiti

46、zationwarranty costsrestructuring costslong-term contractsdepreciation and amortizationinvestments in leasesenvironmentaldeferred policy acquisition costsoil and gasentertainmentother postemployment benefitsfrequent-flyer and membershipasset retirement obligationcritical accounting policies reported

47、source：mark p.holtzman. reporting critical accounting policiesj.the cpa journal,2007：42-4412译文：重要会计政策的报告当准备财政决算时，会计人员不可避免地做出许多会计估计和政策决策。他们必须选择长期资产的折旧年限，选择一个存货成本计算方法，做关于退休金的假定，并且做许多评断。当它运用于身边的问题时，这些会计评估将被实体的会计政策驱使。这些决定有可能严重影响公司的财务报表以及用户如何了解一个公司的业绩和财务状况。出于这个原因，美国证券交易委员会要求公司报告“重要会计政策”作为管理讨论与分析（mda）的一部分

48、。美国证券交易委员会已发出许多关于公司的重要会计政策的评论信件，表明他们的重要性。以下便是美国证券交易委员会的要求概述，并提出关于重要会计政策的规则，以及大型企业关于目前做法的调查。2003年12月，美国证券交易委员会公布的fr-72，“解释说，在委员会的指导下进行了对财务状况和经营业绩管理的讨论与分析”。这涉及许多不同领域的管理讨论与分析，其中包括重要的会计估计。美国证券交易委员会的解释对重要的会计估计的具体定义如下：“估计或假设，其中1估计或假设的实质是由于主观判断必须要考虑高度不确定性的事项或该事项的敏感性 2这个估计或假设对财务状况或经营业绩的影响是重大的。”该规则规定在财务报告开头的

49、注释中由md&a提供重要的会计估计的说明必须根据会计原则委员会（apb）的第22条意见和美国注册会计师协会的声明（sop）94-6。mda里披露的，应提供更深入的质量和在资产负债表和损益表信息变异的见解。此外，应分析披露会计原则在运用所涉及的不确定性，或变异可能导致其随着时间的推移的应用。会计师应解释为什么重要的会计估计会承担变更的风险。此外，他们还应解释怎样得出这个估计，过去怎样精确估计或怎样假设，过去的估计和假设发生了怎样的变化，这些估计和假设在未来是否可能会发生合理地变化。定量的信息是有效的，会计师应根据合理的结果来量化敏感度。美国证券交易委员会的规则提案在2002年5月，在上述解释发行

50、前，证券交易委员会发布了一项规则。“管理讨论的披露和关于重要的会计政策的应用的分析”。这项规则提供了比在最后定案的规则上发行任何修正的建议最后定案的规则的意见。而且，证券交易委员会对公司财务的最新的现行的会计披露问题(2006年11月30日)没有提到重要的会计政策。这项规则重新定义为重要会计政策的标准：1）至关重要的会计估计需要公司对高度不确定的事情做出假设；2）在当前的时间交替估计，估计的变化可能会在未来期间对公司提交的公司财务状况的介绍及其变化或经营成果产生实质性影响。这项规则设置一个额外的对每个估计数的信息披露。公司必须解释财务报表上每个重要会计估计的意义，个别财务报表项目也需要解释。此

51、外，这项规则要求量化财务报表，披露会计估计的变更和历史变迁，在过去三年里公司的重要会计估计（小企业为二年），公司还必须解释这些变化的原因。对于会计政策的初步应用，公司将被要求作出以下说明：1）引起政策采用的事件或交易； 2）采用的会计原则和方法；3）定性的分析采用的会计政策对财务报表的影响。如果有一个可以接受的会计原则可供选择，公司将不得不找出办法来说明它为什么做了这样的选择。在现有会计的不寻常处理情况下，公司必须解释其关于初次采用政策的决定。这项规则隐含地区别于重要的会计政策估计。政策是行动的计划，用来指导未来的决策，而估计是编制财务报表时作出的个别决定。公司必须披露有关新政策的初步采用信息

52、。但是，新的估计可能需要与每一套新的财务报表连起来考虑。根据建议，申报者将被要求披露是否与审核委员会讨论过公司的重要会计估计。他们不需要公开讨论的性质。公司设有多个部门，必须对重要会计政策的影响进行鉴定。除了整个公司的重要的会计信息披露，公司必须讨论每一个部门的重要会计政策。该规则还提出了一个要求独立审计管理讨论与分析的意见。这将要求公司提供季度的重要会计估计的资料，包括新发现的重要会计估计及其他重大变化，这样将会使过时或误导的披露得到补偿。该规则不会要求公司每季度更新敏感性分析。外国私人发行人必须满足这些相同的重要会计政策披露的要求。小企业将大大降低披露要求。现有的避风港将适用于有远见的信息。在准备重要会计政策披露时，会计师会发现美国证券交易委员会的解释（fr- 72）缺乏有用的说明。即使美国证券交易委员会还没有采取行动，会计师也应阅读并考虑使用一个更具体的规则来作为指导。目前的做法 笔者回顾了从财富500强中选取的前100家上市公司的年度报告。笔者分析了2005年12月31日到2006年12月30日期间的年度公开文件。 三个会计问题主导公司的重要的会计政策披露：减值，养老金和所得税。如图表1所示，100家公司中有39家报告关于无形资产减值的会计政策，有25家报告一般的减值的会计政策，14家报告有形资产的减值的会计政策。另外六家报告