1、中文 4235 字 ， 2413 单词 Source: Raef Lawson.Strategic Finance:The Evolving Role Of The Finance And Accounting Function In China.2009 外文文献翻译 原文 : The Evolving Role Of The Finance And Accounting Function In China The economy of the Peoples Republic of China (China) has been growing at an explosive rate fo
2、r the last two decades.This growth has been fueled largely by exports to the West,especially the United States,which is experiencing a growing trade imbalance with China.But despite this emergence of China as a major player in the world market,little is known about the management accounting techniqu
3、es and costing methodologies that Chinese companies use to cost their products and manage their firms.Similarly,the role played by the finance and accounting function in these firms isnt well understood,although both areas can significantly impact operations and affect companies that work with or co
4、mpete against these firms.Whether you are looking to compete against,partner with,merge with,or in some other way do business with a Chinese company,understanding these factors can help determine whether that interaction results in success or failure. Management accounting has changed tremendously i
5、n China since 1979,when the country opened its doors to the West.Prior to that time,the country operated as a planned economy where the prices of each companys inputs and outputs,as well as their production targets,were set by the government.Strictly speaking,management accounting as a profession di
6、dnt exist in China before 1979 because the accounting function had a very different role in companies under the planned economy than in a market economy.Yet management accounting existed in the sense that the functions typically performed by management accountants were performed by various departmen
7、ts inside Chinese companies,such as the Planning Department. The role of the finance and accounting function can affect a companys ability to implement its strategy,plan its operations effectively,and achieve desired performance results.Examination of the difference in the roleplayed by the F&A func
8、tion in Chinese companies and in organizations elsewhere can also contribute to improvement in worldwide best practices.This article examines the reasons for the differences in the role played by the F&A function,how the role has changed,and the implications for Western organizations. The F&A Functi
9、on under the Planned Economy To understand the state of management accounting in China today,its helpful to know something about the countrys history.Under the planned economy,the F&A function was viewed solely as an accumulator and reporter offinancial data.Analysis of that data typically was done
10、by a separate Planning Department that was responsible for both operational and financial planning.This department reported not only to a companys management but,equally importantly,to a Planning Department in the region or sector in which it operated and that,in turn,reported to the central governm
11、ents Planning Department.It was in this way that the economic activity of the country was planned and controlled.Under this economic system,accountants were regarded as little more than bookkeepers,despite efforts by some to contribute to their companies in other ways.These efforts included the deve
12、lopment of various management accounting techniques,which are discussed in the next article in this series. F&A Today Chinas transition to a social market economy has had a tremendous impact on the way companies operate.They have had to evolve from an economic system in which the cost of their input
13、s and the price of their outputs were fixed by the central government and where the most important measure of performance was amount of out-put to one in which control of costs and profit maximization have become the primary concerns. This has radically changed the role that F&A departments need to
14、play.Survival in the changing environmentrequires companies to redesign their corporate planning and control systems,reexamine their performance evaluation systems,and reexamine the role the accounting function performs in meeting these and other challenges.As part ofthis transition,most companies h
15、ave eliminated their Planning Department and have expanded the role of heir F&A function to include some of these planning and control responsibilities. But Chinese companies in general still hold a very traditional view regarding the role of the F&A department.As we can see fully two-thirds of the
16、IMA survey respondents strongly disagreed that planning and control were responsibilities of equal importance to bookkeeping and financial reporting. IMAs study also explored the changing role of the F&A area by examining the perceived importance of various activities that function often performed.S
17、urvey respondents were asked the extent to which they agreed with a variety of statements. Its clear that the F&A functions of these companies are now viewed in a manner similar to that in the West.In both regions the emphasis of the function is on its traditional role as an accumulator and reporter
18、 of data,and the transition of the role of the management accountant to strategic partner is only beginning to occur,with much progress remaining to be accomplished. For example,the statement with the lowest level of agreement dealt with the proposition that the F&A function was primarily strategica
19、lly (vs.tactically) focused,indicating a focus on the traditional responsibilities of the area.Similarly,the greatest level of agreement was with the idea that the F&A function focuses on cost measurement.Survey respondents were also asked to indicate the importance (on the same scale) of various co
20、mmon responsibilities of F&A departments.Each activity was considered important,and the average response for each responsibility was at least “highly important”. As you can see,the most important activity listed is a traditional one-providing others with financial information.Cost management/control
21、 is close behind.Management decision making,preparing external financial reports,and preparing budgets are less important.Budgetings low rank is surprising,but it may be because this responsibility is being handled under the planned economy by Planning Departments.A lower ranking for external financ
22、ial reporting may be due to the inclusion of privately held companies in the sample.Interestingly,respondents perceived strategy formulation and planning and corporate investment as the least important responsibilities. The lack of importance attributed to the more value-added activities down the ac
23、counting information value chain is understandable given the relatively newly expanded role of the F&A function.Nevertheless,its a cause for concern and raises the possibility of Chinese companies wasting scarce capital resources because they dont adequately consider financial factors in the investm
24、ent decision-making process.Evidence of this possibility is provided in our study,which found that state-owned enterprises,which tended to have the most traditional view of F&A,also tended to have the lowest rate ofreturn on their capital.Our study results thus indicate that the role of the F&A func
25、tion in Chinese companies is evolving.As previously noted,these departments were formerly viewed primarily as the accumulator and reporter ofdata that would be analyzed by others.Their role is now evolving to include responsibility for cost management and control traditional responsibilities in the
26、West.Some leading Chinese companies are also seeing the strategic role management accountants can play,but they remain the exception rather than the rule. Size of F&A Departments To help their organizations become effective and efficient global competitors,F&A departments need to operate efficiently
27、.One way to measure their efficiency is to look at the size of an organizations F&A function staff(in full-time equivalents) relative to sales.This measure for the Chinese firms in our survey to those in the APQC database.(APQC is a member-based nonprofit organization that provides benchmarking and
28、best-practice research for approximately 500 organizations worldwide.) While keeping in mind that the typical APQC member organization tends to be relatively larger than the organizations participating in our study,you can see that theres room for substantial improvement in the efficiency of the Chi
29、nese companiesF&A departments. Another measure of the efficiency of an F&A department is the ratio of accounting and finance staffmembers to total company employees.This percentage varied widely in the sample companies,ranging from zero to 50% (for a very small organization),with a median percentage
30、 of 3.3%. You can gain additional insight by looking at this percentage by type of company ownership.Further analysis of the data collected indicated that,for state-owned enterprises (SOEs),the median percentage of staff in F&A was 8.4%；for publicly owned,listed companies,the median percentage was 3
31、.3%；and for privately owned,unlisted companies,it was 1.9%. Thus state-owned enterprises tend to be the furthest from having word-class finance and accounting functions in terms of their efficiency；they have vastly more staff(as a percentage of total employees) than other organizations.This may be a
32、 reflection of their history under the planned economy with its strong emphasis on control through the “original record system.”Additionally,it reflects current Chinese public policy of maintaining employment in order to ensure social stability in this period of transition.Privately owned,unlisted c
33、ompanies tended to have the fewest F&A staff, possibly because offewer reporting requirements (both to the government and external shareholders),and listed companies fell in between the state-owned enterprises and the privately owned,unlisted companies. Qualified Management Accountants Having an eff
34、ective F&A function requires having a staff thats appropriately trained.How effectively are Chinese companies meeting this challenge? To hold certain accounting positions in state-owned firms,employees must pass qualifying exams.Three levels of accounting examinations exist: 1.A basic test on bookkeeping and financial principles,which is required for accounting clerks and assistant qualified accountants；2.The Qualified Accountant (QA) exam for countingfinance department heads；and 3.The Senior Qualified Accountant (SQA) exam for CFOs of large and
