1、中文 3570 字 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 1 原文 ： Reporting Critical Accounting Policies Accountants inevitably make many accounting estimates and policy decisions when preparing financial statem
2、ents. They must select 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 signific
3、antly affect a companys 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 abo
4、ut companies CAPS, indicating 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 Interpretation In December 2003, the SEC released FR-72, Interpretation: Commission Guidance Regarding
5、 Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (www.sec.gov/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
6、 where 1 the nature of the 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 perfo
7、rmance is material. The rule 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
8、Statement of Position (SOP) 94-6. The MD&A disclosure should provide more insight into the quality and variability of 2 information on the balance sheet and income statement. Furthermore, the disclosure should analyze the uncertainties involved in applying an accounting principle, or the variability
9、 likely to result from its application 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
10、 has changed in the past, and 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 Rule In May 2002, prior to
11、 the issuance of the above interpretation, 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 th
12、is proposal； it has not issued 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
13、the following: 1) critical accounting 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 co
14、mpanys financial condition, changes 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 statement 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
