On the International Accounting Again

摘要：International Accounting deals with accounting issues that are important to those directly involved with accounting and financial control in firms with international operation. These issues are an important concern to accounting， and financial executives in multinational corporations； those who import or export materials，services，and capital； international auditors；and international investors，financial analysis，and security analysis.

關鍵詞：再論；國際；會計

International Accounting can be defined in a number of different ways. In 1971， Professors Thomas R. Weirich， Clarence G. Avery， and Henry R. Anderson distinguished among there approaches： （1） a unixersal system， （2） a descriptive and informative approaches covering all the methods and standards of all counties， and （3） accounting practices of foreign subsidiaries and parent companies. They named and defined these definitional approaches， respectively， as follow：

Word Accounting.

In the framework of this concept， international accounting is considered to be a universal system that could be adopted in all countries. A worldwide set of generally accepted accounting principles， such as the set maintained in the United States， would be established. Practices and principles would be developed which were applicable to all countries. This concept would be the ultimate goal of an international accounting system.

International Accounting.

A second major concept of term international accounting ivolves a descriptive and informative approaches. Under this concept，international accounting includes all varieties of principles，methods and standards of accounting of all counties. This concept includes a set of generally accepted accounting principles established for each country， thereby requiring the accountant to be multiple principle conscious when studying international accounting…..No universal or perfect set of principles would be expected to be established. A collection of all principles， methods and standards of all countries would be considered as the international accounting systems. These variations result from differing geographic， social，economic，political and legal influences.

Accounting for Foreign Subsidiaries.

The third major concept that may be applied to” international accounting” refers to the accounting practices of a parent company and a foreign subsidiary. A reference to a particular country or domicile is needed under the concept for effective international financial reporting. The accountant is concerned mainly with the translation and adjustment of the subsidiary’s financial statements. Different accounting problems arise and different accounting principles are to be followed depending upon which country is used as a refinement purposes.

Although international accounting might sound mysterious and exotic， it is well-established area of specialty within accounting and has two major dimensions：

1.Comparative： examining how and why accounting principles differ from country to country.

2.Pragmatic： examining accounting issues encountered by individuals and firms in international business.

The comparative dimension of international accounting is oriedted toward

financial accounting， and the pragmatic one tends to be managerial.

The most important topics covered by international accounting include：

Financial accounting topics：

Accounting for foreign currency transactions， translation and consolidation of foreign subsidiary’s financial statements， inflation accounting， financial disclosure， auditing， taxation.

Managerial accounting topics：

Foreign exchange risk management， foreign investment analysis， accounting information systems， transfer pricing， budgeting， performance evaluation， financial control， operational auditing.

Comparative accounting topics：

Financial accounting principles and practices in foreign nations and how these established， different accounting systems and their major features.

From international standpoint， from one nation to another， there exist a great diversity in the accounting principles and practices. The problem of diversity in national accounting principles has had a long history. When national emerged as distinct political units because of divergent environment factors such as culture， language， and political and economic systems， the stage was set for each nation to establish its own accounting standards， which tended to reflect these diverse factors. This is not surprising， as nations also prefer their own currency， customs， and laws. A comparison of the accounting standards in the major nations today reveals that such differences continue to exist.

International diversity in national accounting principles has the potential to diminish the international flow of investment capital， and thus economic development and efficient international allocation of resources will be stymied as well. Consequently， great efforts have been made to harmonize accounting principles and practices in different nations.

There are a number of advantages that can be achieved through international accounting harmonization. The greatest benefit that would flow from harmonization would be the comparability of international financial information. Such comparability would eliminate the current mi8sunderstandings about the reliability of “ foreign ” financial statement and would remove one of the most important impediments to the flow of international investment.

A second advantage of harmonization would be the time and money saved that is currently spent consolidate divergent financial information when more than one set of reports is required to comply with different national laws or practice.

A third advantage from harmonization would be the tendency for accounting standards throughout the world to be raised to the highest possible level and to be consistent with local economic， legal and social conditions.

The major international accounting groups organizations that are either directly engaged in standard setting activities or actively sponsor and support standardization or harmonization can be categorized as follows：

（1）Political Organizations；

The European Economic Community （EEC）， the Organization for European Economic Cooperation and Development （OECD）， the United Nations， the African Accounting Council （AAC）.

（2）Private Professional Organizations：

The International Accounting Standard Committee （IASC）， the International Federation of Accountants （IFAC）， The Union Europeenne des Expertes Comptables Economiques et Accountants （AFA）.

（3）Regional Organizations：

The Asociacion Interamericana de Contbilidad （AIC）， the Federation of Asian and Pacific Accountants （CAPA）， the Nordic Federation of Accountants （NFA），the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa （ABWA）.

（4） Supportive Organizations：

The International Congress of Accountants， the International Conference on Accounting Education， the academic associations， the Financial Analystes’ Federation， he Financial Executives， professional institutes， stock exchanges， universities.

There exist many different approaches to the study of comparative accounting systems，among them the approach adopted by Choi and Mueller has been cited frequently. Choi and Mueller have classified world accounting systems into four basis types， based on the philosophies behind each approach. Their four frameworks are： （1）marcoeconomic，（2）microeconomic，（3）independent discipline，and （4）uniform accounting system.

The Macroeconomic Framework

The macroeconomic approach to accounting has been adopted by some countries， of which Sweden is perhaps the prototype. The underlying hypothesis is that the accounting system should facilitate government administrative direction of the economy， based on the following postulates：

---- The firm is the essential unit in the economic fabric of a nation.

----The firm best accomplishes its goals through close coordination of its activities with the national economic policies of its environment.

----Public interest is best served if enterprise accounting interrelates with economic policies.

On this basis the function of accounting and is primarily to measure in monetary terms economic transactions and business events of business.

作者簡介：丁敏（1975-），女，重慶九龍坡，畢業于西南財經大學，副教授，高級會計師，主要從事會計專業教學研究工作。