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有关会计的英语文章

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  经济越发展会计越重要,会计所提供的信息,为经济决策提供重要的参考数据。下面是学习啦小编带来的有关会计的英语文章,欢迎阅读!

  有关会计的英语文章1

  审视会计

  Score a point for globalization. In a landmark vote on Wednesday August 27th America’s finan-cial-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.

  美国的全球化进程又取得了新的进展。本周三(2008年8月27 日),在一项具有里程碑意义的投票中,美国金融市场监管者—— 证券交易管理委员会为各企业在公认会计准则转换到国际会计准 则的过程中铺平了道路。该领域一向以枯燥刻板而为人所知,这样 的结果看起来确实很值得高兴。

  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.

  数十年来公认会计标准一直是该领域的黄金准则,然而现在 大多数认为该标准尾大不掉,缺乏灵活性。其他很多国家都采用了 国际标准——国际财务报告准则。美国监管部门计划让总部位于 美国的跨国企业在2010年自愿转换为国际财务报表准则。证券交 易管理委员届时将投票决定是否也需要规定其他公司从2014年开 始采用国际财务报表准则。证券委员会已经为海外公司在美国营 业或是上市时使用国际财务报表准则扫清了道路。

  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.

  证券交易委员会主席克里斯托弗?考克斯赞扬使用“更公开. 透明和更具比较性的国际性语言”的变动。大企业早就开始热情地 准备着这一时刻的到来。这可能会使他们一次性消耗数千万美元, 但是随着时间的流逝,前期投人同节省下来的资金相比简直是小 巫见大巫。而且还不仅如此:一项研究发现大多数美国公司按照国 外标准会获得更多利润。投资者同样也应该感到髙兴。因为使用国 际会计准则可以更好地进行比较,例如,将一家法国药品公司同其 美国的竞争对手相比较。并且由投资者最终承担的因重复做账而形成的合规成本也会消失。

  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.

  会计师也指出了实行此法的其他好处。国际财务报表准则比公认会计准则要简单些,而且特 例也比较少。美国的会计准则,像其税法一样,在刻板的准则下开始越来越不适用于现实。国际财 务报表准则通常是以原则为基础的,允许稽核员有更多的空间来作判断。当然,这样自然是有利有 弊,但是大多数专家认为更多的灵活空间是很必要的。

  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.

  多年来,证券交易管理委员会和总部位于伦敦负责监制国际会计准则的国际会计准则委员会 一直致力于将两套标准融为一体。但是过程非常艰辛,很大程度上是因为美国会计系统纷繁复杂 的本质特点。库克斯这周采纳了较为激进的方案,因为他相信消除投资障碍会提升美国公司的竞 争力。在他指导下提出的一系列建议所绘制的“发展蓝图”就是为了使得美国和国外市场能够更加

  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.

  但这样做也并非皆大欢喜。包括监管SEC的国会委员会会长在内的一些政客担心这会使制定 标准的权力落人国际会计准则委员会手中。尽管美国在国际会计准则委员会中也有委员席位,但 是他们仍担心其代表名额不足。一些人则想使其影响力同占全球市场资本总额一半的美国股票市 场不相上下。其他人则担心国际会计准则委员会的财务状况且害怕委员会容易受到外界影响。一 个证券交易管理委员的委员表示,除非这个计划有稳定独立的资金筹备到位,否则是不会通过的。

  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.

  对此,国外的企业同样也有他们的忧虑,例如证券交易委员会会干涉国际财务报表准则或者 从狭义、惯例的角度来对其进行理解。国际会计准则委员会发布的标准应该在无改动的状况下才 能得到认可。美国是否能够接受还是未知数。

  有关会计的英语文章2

  Accounting Management Theory

  ABSTRACT

  This paper develops an approach to enhance the reliability and usefulness of financial statements. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) was fundamentally flawed by fair value accounting and asset-impairment accounting. According to legal theory and accounting theory, accounting data must have legal evidence as its source document. The conventional “mixed attribute” accounting system should be replaced by a “segregated” system with historical cost and fair value being kept strictly apart in financial statements. The proposed optimizing method will significantly enhance the reliability and usefulness of financial statements.

  I.. INTRODUCTION

  Based on international-accounting-convergence approach, the Ministry of Finance issued the Enterprise Accounting Standards in 2006 taking the International Financial Reporting Standards (hereinafter referred to as “the International Standards”) for reference. The Enterprise Accounting Standards carries out fair value accounting successfully, and spreads the sense that accounting should reflect market value objectively. The objective of accounting reformation following-up is to establish the accounting theory and methodology which not only use international advanced theory for reference, but also accord with the needs of China's socialist market economy construction. On the basis of a thorough evaluation of the achievements and limitations of International Standards, this paper puts forward a stand that to deepen accounting reformation and enhance the stability of accounting regulations.

  II. OPTIMIZATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS SYSTEM: PARALLELING LISTING OF LEGAL FACTS AND FINANCIAL EXPECTATION

  As an important management activity, accounting should make use of information systems based on classified statistics, and serve for both micro-economic management and macro-economic regulation at the same time. Optimization of financial statements system should try to take all aspects of the demands of the financial statements in both macro and micro level into account.

  Why do companies need to prepare financial statements? Whose demands should be considered while preparing financial statements? Those questions are basic issues we should consider on the optimization of financial statements. From the perspective of "public interests", reliability and legal evidence are required as qualitative characters, which is the origin of the traditional "historical cost accounting". From the perspective of "private interest", security investors and financial regulatory authorities hope that financial statements reflect changes of market prices timely recording "objective" market conditions. This is the origin of "fair value accounting". Whether one set of financial statements can be compatible with these two different views and balance the public interest and private interest? To solve this problem, we design a new balance sheet and an income statement.

  From 1992 to 2006, a lot of new ideas and new perspectives are introduced into China's accounting practices from international accounting standards in a gradual manner during the accounting reform in China. These ideas and perspectives enriched the understanding of the financial statements in China. These achievements deserve our full assessment and should be fully affirmed. However, academia and standard-setters are also aware that International Standards are still in the process of developing .The purpose of proposing new formats of financial statements in this paper is to push forward the accounting reform into a deeper level on the basis of international convergence.

  III. THE PRACTICABILITY OF IMPROVING THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS SYSTEM

  Whether the financial statements are able to maintain their stability? It is necessary to mobilize the initiatives of both supply-side and demand-side at the same time. We should consider whether financial statements could meet the demands of the macro-economic regulation and business administration, and whether they are popular with millions of accountants.Accountants are responsible for preparing financial statements and auditors are responsible for auditing. They will benefit from the implementation of the new financial statements.

  Firstly, for the accountants, under the isolated design of historical cost accounting and fair value accounting, their daily accounting practice is greatly simplified. Accounting process will not need assets impairment and fair value any longer. Accounting books will not record impairment and appreciation of assets any longer, for the historical cost accounting is comprehensively implemented. Fair value information will be recorded in accordance with assessment only at the balance sheet date and only in the annual financial statements. Historical cost accounting is more likely to be recognized by the tax authorities, which saves heavy workload of the tax adjustment. Accountants will not need to calculate the deferred income tax expense any longer, and the profit-after-tax in the solid line table is acknowledged by the Company Law, which solves the problem of determining the profit available for distribution.Accountants do not need to record the fair value information needed by security investors in the accounting books; instead, they only need to list the fair value information at the balance sheet date. In addition, because the data in the solid line table has legal credibility, so the legal risks of accountants can be well controlled. Secondly, the arbitrariness of the accounting process will be reduced, and the auditors’ review process will be greatly simplified. The independent auditors will not have to bear the considerable legal risk for the dotted-line table they audit, because the risk of fair value information has been prompted as "not supported by legal evidences". Accountants and auditors can quickly adapt to this financial   companies to improve management efficiency. Surveys show that the above design of financial statements is popular with accountants and auditors. Since the workloads of accounting and auditing have been substantially reduced, therefore, the total expenses for auditing and evaluation will not exceed current level as well.

  In short, from the perspectives of both supply-side and demand-side, the improved financial statements are expected to enhance the usefulness of financial statements, without increase the burden of the supply-side.

  IV. CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

  The current rule of mixed presentation of fair value data and historical cost data could be improved. The core concept of fair value is to make financial statements reflect the fair value of assets and liabilities, so that we can subtract the fair value of liabilities from assets to obtain the net fair value.

  However, the current International Standards do not implement this concept, but try to partly transform the historical cost accounting, which leads to mixed using of impairment accounting and fair value accounting. China's accounting academic research has followed up step by step since 1980s, and now has already introduced a mixed-attributes model into corporate financial statements.

  By distinguishing legal facts from financial expectations, we can balance public interests and private interests and can redesign the financial statements system with enhancing management efficiency and implementing higher-level laws as main objective. By presenting fair value and historical cost in one set of financial statements at the same time, the statements will not only meet the needs of keeping books according to domestic laws, but also meet the demand from financial regulatory authorities and security investors

  We hope that practitioners and theorists offer advices and suggestions on the problem of improving the financial statements to build a financial statements system which not only meets the domestic needs, but also converges with the International Standards.

  基于会计管理理论的财务报表的优化方法

  摘要

  本文提供了一个方法,以提高财务报表的可靠性和实用性。国际财务报告准则(IFRS)的根本缺陷是公平价值核算和资产减值核算。根据法律理论和会计理论,会计数据必须具有作为其源文件的法律证据。传统的“混合属性的“会计制度应改为一个“独立“的历史成本和公允价值被严格分开的财务报表系统。本文建议的优化方法将大大提高财务报表的可靠性和实用性。

  一.引言

  根据国际会计衔接办法,财政部发布2006年企业会计标准的情况,以供参考《国际财务报告准则》(以下简称《国际标准》)。在企业会计准则公平价值核算成功扩展的意义上,会计核算应当客观地反映市场价值。会计改革的目标是建立会计后续的理论与方法,使用国际先进理论的借鉴不仅是必要的,也符合我国社会主义市场经济建设的需要。在已获得的成果和国际标准的局限性进行全面评估的基础上,提出了一种立场,以深化会计改革和加强会计法规的稳定性。

  二.优化系统的财务报表:法律事实与财务展望并联上市

  作为一种重要的管理活动,会计上应根据分类统计信息系统的使用,全心全意为微观经济管理,并在同一时间宏观调控。财务报表的系统优化应尽量使自己考虑宏观和微观层面的财务报表的要求的所有方面。

  为什么企业需要编制财务报表?谁的要求应该考虑编制在财务报表内?这些问题是基本问题,我们应该考虑对财务报表的优化。从法律的角度考察“公共利益”、可靠性和法定证据中需要定性的特点,是传统的“历史成本会计“的由来。从“私人利益”来看,证券投资者和金融监管当局希望财务报表反映市场价格,及时记录“客观”的市场条件的变化。这是“公平价值会计“的由来。一套财务报表是否能够匹配这两种不同的观点和平衡公共利益与私人利益?为了解决这个问题,我们设计了一个新的资产负债表和损益表。

  从1992年到2006年,大量的新思路、新观点被引进到中国的会计实践,国际会计准则在中国的会计改革中渐变。这些思想和观点丰富了对中国的财务报表的理解。这些成就值得我们充分评估,并应予以充分肯定。然而,学术界和标准制定者也知道,国际标准仍然在发展中。文中提出的财务报表会计改革新格式的目的,是推进到一个关于国际趋同的更深层次的基础上。

  三.提高系统财务报表的实用性

  财务报表是否能够保持其稳定性呢?在同一时间要动员供应方和需求方的积极性。我们应该考虑是否能满足财务报表的宏观经济调控和企业管理的要求,并且是否受数以百万计的会计师的欢迎。会计师负责编制财务报表,审核员负责审核工作。他们将受益于新的财务报表的执行情况。

  首先,对于会计师来说,在这个孤立的历史成本会计和公允价值会计的设计下,他们的日常核算的做法大大简化。会计处理将不再需要资产减值准备和公允价值了。会计帐簿记录减值不会为历史成本会计和资产再增值,是全面落实。根据评价,公允价值的信息将被记录在资产负债表日,并且只能在年度财务报表。历史成本会计是更有可能被税务机关认可,从而节省了大量的纳税调整的工作量。会计师不需要计算递延所得税费用,获利后的实线表税被公司法认可,解决了决定可获得利润分配的问题。会计师不需要在会计账簿记录证券投资者需要的公允价值信息,相反,他们只需要列出在资产负债表日的公允价值的资料。此外,因为在实线表中的数据具有法律的公信力,所以会计师的法律风险可以得到很好的控制。

  其次,对会计处理的随意性将会减少,审计员的审查过程将大大简化。独立审计师在审计虚线表时就不必承担相当大的审计法律风险,因为来自于公允价值信息的风险已被认定为“不合法的证据支持“。会计师和审计师能尽快地适应这个财务报表系统,而不需要训练。这样,他们可以节省很多时间来帮助企业提高管理效率。调查表明,上述财务报表的设计在会计师和审计师中很受欢迎。由于会计和审计的工作量已大幅减少,因此,审计和评估的总开支将不会超过目前的水平。

  总之,从供应方和需求方的角度来看,改进后的财务报表没有增加预计,而且将加强财务报表的有用性,且不增加供给的负担。

  四.结论和政策建议

  当前混合了陈述公允价值和历史成本的数据可以被改善。公允价值的核心理念是使财务报表反映资产和负债的公允价值,因此我们可以从资产减去负债的公允价值来获得的净公允价值。

  然而,目前的国际标准不执行这个概念,而是要设法改造部分历史成本会计,从而导致减值核算和公允价值会计混淆使用。20世纪80年代以来,中国的会计学术研究一直是循序渐进的,现在已经引进了一种企业财务报表的混合属性模型。

  通过区分财务预期的法律事实,我们可以平衡公众利益和私人利益,可以重新设计以提高管理效率为主要目标的财务报表和实施更高层次的法律制度。通过展示一套在同一时的公允价值和历史成本的财务报表,不仅满足国内法律关于保管帐簿需要,也符合金融监管部门和证券投资者的需求。

  我们希望从业者和理论家在改善财务报表,从而建立一个财务报表系统的问题上提出建议,不仅满足了国内的需求,而且也与国际标准吻合。

  有关会计的英语文章3

  Accounting fraud

  会计造假

  Got'em, Gotham

  抓住他们!哥谭

  The company-accounts detectives collar another suspect

  公司财务侦探们抓到了另一位嫌疑犯

  JENARO GARCiA was an eloquent cheerleader for Gowex, helping to propel the Spanish Wi-Fi firm to European startup stardom. When investors asked detailed financial questions of its founder and boss, however, he would clam up. Short-sellers, who bet against companies by selling borrowed shares, in the hope of buying them back more cheaply later, began to act on this reticence early this year. But the killer blow was a report by an opaque outfit called Gotham City Research, alleging that Gowex had far fewer wireless hotspots than it claimed and that 90% of its sales were bogus. On July 6th, five days after the report's publication, the firm said it would file for bankruptcy and that Mr Garcia had resigned after admitting to fiddling the accounts for at least four years.

  赫那罗·加西亚,这位口才十分了得的Gowex掌舵人,正推动着这家西班牙Wi-Fi公司成为欧洲一颗冉冉升起的明星。然而,当投资者们想要对公司创始人以及老总的财务细节进行质询之时,他便开始沉默不语。“做空者”,指的是一批在金融投资领域中,由于不看好市场前景而向证券公司借股票先卖掉以后,接着在未来等股票价格跌倒一定水平再买回来的人,他们在今年早些时候就开始对上述的“沉默”做出反应。但其最致命的一击还是来自别的地方—一份来自隐秘机构Gotham City Research的报告,宣称Gowex公司旗下的无线热点远比自己公布的要少,并且该公司90%的销售额是伪造而成的。6月6号,正是这份报告公布的五天后,Gowex公司宣布自己将申请破产,并且加西亚先生在承认进行了至少四年的会计造假后,也随即辞职。

  Gowex's dramatic collapse marks one of the biggest victories for a relatively new breed of company-accounts “detectives”: small, independent research-and-investment outfits that revel in unearthing alleged book-cooking. Having focused largely on China's fraud-filled market until now, they are branching out. Gotham is a secretive group linked to Daniel Yu, a trader whose motto is, “It is not who we are underneath, but what we do that defines us.” Other firms with which it has locked horns include Quindell and Ebix, two software providers. Both deny wrongdoing.

  Gowex公司戏剧般的坍塌,标志着一次公司财务“侦探”相对来说的新生,标志着一次新生以来最大的胜利:小型、独立、调查与投资业务并存的机构,在搜索疑似财务造假案当中如鱼得水。现在,这些机构正扩展着自己的针对范围,此前他们一直都将大部分精力放置于充满着虚假财务数据的中国市场当中。Gotham是一个与交易员Daniel Yu相关联的秘密组织,而这位仁兄的座右铭是“我们到底是谁并不重要,而是我们所做的一切才真正定义了我们!”。还有一些别的公司也被Gotham锁定为嫌疑目标,其中包括两家软件供应商Quindell和Ebix。这两家公司均否认自己存在财务造假。

  Gotham's approach is to short and shout: it takes a negative investment position, then noisily publicises its findings. It is cut from the same cloth as Muddy Waters, which is run by Carson Block, a former self-storage entrepreneur. His biggest scalp to date is Sino-Forest, which went bust in 2012 after Muddy Waters accused it of overstating its forest holdings in China.

  Gotham手段就是制造舆论与关注,使得目标陷入混乱:它会对目标进行消极的投资,进而大张旗鼓地公布自己的所有发现。它与浑水公司是一路货色,而后者是由卡森·布洛克所运营的,一位之前专注于自助式仓储的企业家。布洛克迄今为止最大的战利品莫过于嘉汉林业,一家于2012年破产的企业,其缘由正是浑水公司指控这家企业夸大自己在中国森林资源的储量。

  Another such outfit is Citron Research, whose leader, Andrew Left, prides himself on never having been successfully sued for defamation. A few hedge funds like to kick up a similar stink—most notably Bill Ackman's Pershing Square, which is out to prove that Herbalife, a nutritional-supplements firm, is a pyramid scheme.Their lineage can be traced back to the successful shorting of Enron in 2001 by James Chanos, another hedge-fund manager.

  同种类的另外一家机构Citron Research,其领导人为安德鲁·莱福特,他有一点十分自豪,那就是别人从未成功地因诽谤而将他告上法庭。一些对冲基金也想加入到他们的队伍当中——其中最瞩目的莫过于比尔·阿克曼的潘兴广场,它将对营养补充品公司康宝莱进行调查,指控后者为金字塔式非法传销公司。这些基金公司的财务调查史可以追溯到2001年另一位对冲基金经理詹姆斯·查诺斯对安然公司造假案的成功揭露。

  Gotham spent eight months studying Gowex, amassing far better information than investment-bank analysts, most of whom were still recommending the shares when it buckled. Gotham spotted that Gowex used a little-known auditor (a classic red flag: see the Bernard Madoff case), whose fees were unusually low, as if they were based on revenue far smaller than Gowex's books stated. Often, the sleuths comb the books for ratios that are hard to manipulate. Gotham also noted, for instance, that Gowex's revenue per employee was implausible compared with rivals'—while the revenue could be inflated, it was harder to fake the headcount.

  Gotham耗费了8个月的时间来调查Gowex公司,收集了远比其他投行分析师更庞大的数据。事实上,大部分投行分析师在Gowex公司崩溃时,仍在推荐该公司的股票。Gotham发现了Gowex公司聘请了不太知名的审计师,审计费用也异常地低廉,就像是Gowex公司是在一个远比账面价值低的利润基础上经营。通常情况下,侦探们都会在账本里梳理出不容易操控的财务比率。例如,Gotham也发现了Gowex公司里每位员工的平均利润与竞争对手相比呈现不合理的情况—虽然利润容易被拉高,但职工总数是很难造假的。

  Legwork also helps. Muddy Waters' analysts visit target companies, their suppliers and clients to verify claims about production, staff levels and so on, sometimes posing as prospective business partners. Chinese firms with advance warning of visits by analysts have been known to rent workers and stock to deceive them.

  四处奔走调查也是一个好方法。浑水公司的分析师们会对一些公司进行拜访,其中包括目标公司的供应商和客户,以辨别该公司的产品反馈、员工水平之类的数据,有些时候还会冒充成潜在商业合作伙伴以进行探访调查。中国公司在得到事先预警的情况下,会在调查人员来临之时租借工人和存货,从而达到欺骗的目的。

  Courageous crusaders

  勇猛的征战者

  Gotham's declaration after Gowex's downfall—“May truth, justice, restoration and redemption prevail”—was somewhat bombastic. But a bit of bravado is justified: taking a big short position requires courage, especially in a rising stockmarket. Since shares have a floor but no ceiling, the upside for short-sellers is more limited than the downside.

  在Gowex公司破产后,Gotham发布了如下宣言—“愿真相、正义、恢复与救赎恒久于人间”,而这听起来挺浮夸的。但这种小小的虚张声势确实是合理的:做空头寸需要勇气,尤其是在这样一个行情看涨的股票市场里。由于股票有下限而没有上限,对于做空投资者来说,坏的一面会压过好的一面。

  There have been cases of short-sellers seeking to profit by spreading false alarms, but they probably detect real fraud more often than auditors, regulators and bankers combined. In catching fiddlers while they are still tiddlers, Gotham and its kind are sparing investors Enron-sized nightmares. Nevertheless, market regulators often eye them with suspicion: Spain's at first reacted to Gotham's report by investigating its publisher, not Gowex. China has cracked down on shorts, even imprisoning the writer of one negative report.

  虽然许多案子当中,都是做空投资者在对市场散播虚假警报以期获得利润,但他们也很有可能调查到真实存在的假账,且其数目要比审计师、监管者和银行家加起来所查出的总数都要多。在这场抓假账的游戏里,Gotham和同类的公司是小鱼,但他们确实免除了投资者要去面对像安然公司如此庞大造假噩梦的疑虑。尽管如此,监管者也在用怀疑的眼光密切留意着这些财务侦探们的动向:西班牙当局对近期Gotham报告的回应并不是着手调查Gowex公司,而是率先找出这篇报告的出版者。中国政府目前正全面封杀唱空者,甚至会把任何书写消极报告的作家扔进监狱里。

  Even so, China will remain fertile territory. Muddy Waters' latest quarry there is NQ Mobile, the head of whose audit committee resigned abruptly on July 4th. Mr Block is also said to be sniffing around in Africa, where investors are chucking money at little-known firms. Citron's Mr Left reckons corporate fraudsters “can't bullshit [investors] the way they used to,” because “there's so much more accessible information online, in public records, and so on,” with which to disprove their claims. True, but the temptation to give it a try, faced with so many naive punters hungry for fat returns, seems undiminished.

  尽管如此,中国依旧是一片充满“机遇”的土地。浑水公司最新的调查对象是秦网手机,后者的审计委员会主席在7月4号突然请辞。当市场投资者们对各类小知名度的企业掷下重金之时,布洛克先生在非洲观望着经济态势发展。Citron的莱福特先生认识到,企业行骗者已经不能像从前那样行事了,因为现在人们有更多的手段可以查到网络资讯以及公共记录等等的数据。上述资料都能用以揭穿投资者们的各种声明。诚然,但同时也充斥着太多天真的赌徒,总在期盼着天上能掉下来几块馅饼,而他们总会不厌其烦地想要给予风险家们一次机会。

  Gerard Zack, the author of “Financial Statement Fraud”, a textbook, reckons that perhaps two-thirds of cases involve improper revenue recognition. New global accounting rules announced in May seek to curb one common ruse, booking sales prematurely, for instance on long-term contracts. But sometimes the revenues are simply invented, often by getting a related party to pose as a customer. Sometimes very closely related: Gotham said in its report on Gowex that it had evidence the firm's biggest customer “was really itself.”

  据财务教材《Financial Statement Fraud》的作家Gerard Zack估计,或许在三分之二的财务造假案当中,都涉及到不恰当的利润确认的问题。五月,新颁布的国际会计准则设法限制一个常用的造假伎俩—提前确认的账面销售额,例如在长期合同里销售额。但一些时候利润也就是简单地凭空创造出来,比如公司往往会令关联企业伪装成自己的客户来增加销售额。还有些时候,则直接“关联”到自己身上去了:Gotham在报告里表示自己拥有证据,证明Gowex公司最大的客户其实就是“Gowex自己”。

  Such tricks can be used in any industry: think of the massive fake sales at Parmalat, an Italian dairy firm. But verifying that accounts match reality is often harder in technology businesses, making them “easier candidates for fraud”, says Michael Jones, editor of another book on “creative accounting”. In fast-growing tech industries there is a temptation to exaggerate revenues, to persuade the world that you are the “next big thing” and create enough momentum for truth to catch up with the hype. If this turned out to be the motive with Gowex, it would be no surprise.

  这样的把戏在各行各业中都能找得出:大家可以联想到意大利乳制品公司Parmalat的巨额虚假销售案。另一本“创意会计”方面的书籍编辑Michael Jones提到,在辨别出科技企业业务当中的会计猫腻要比别的行业困难得多,这也导致了科技企业更容易陷入“假账候选人名录”当中。在快速成长的科技领域,各家企业都在充满着夸大利润诱因的环境中经营,希望令世界相信自己的公司才是那“一下代巨人”,同时也为了创造出足够的社会信任度,与自己铺天盖地的宣传相得益彰。如果这真的是Gowex公司造假因由的话,想必也不会引起多大的震撼。

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