会计英语学习资料

ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN ACCOUNTING

rently involved.

“持续经营”惯例 现代会计假定一个单位将在可预见的未来继续经营，这种假定被称为“持续经营 的企业”或“持续经营”惯例。这一假定并不仅仅指企业将继续存在下去，它还假定单位将继续在它目前 所从事的行业内经营。

The assumption of continuity is made in the absence of evidence to the contrary. In other words, when it is clear that an assumption of continued existence would result in misleading fi- nancial reports, then the assumption is not made. A major problem facing the accounting profes- sion is in identifying the circumstances under which the continuity assumption should be aban- doned. Sometimes company failures occur with the accounting reports continuing to be based upon the going concern convention. These accounting reports are subsequently as misleading. And premature abandonment of the continuity assumption by accountants may cause liquidation if it results in demands by creditors for repayment of accounts outstanding. Authoritative guidelines are needed in this area if continuity is to remain a basic assumption of contemporary accounting.

只有在不存在的相反的证据的情况下，才能做出“持续经营”的假定。换句话说，在继续存在的假设 显然会引起财务报告具有误导作用这种情况下，就不能做出这种假定。会计行业所面临的一个主要问题是 要识别出应该放弃持续经营假设的情况。有时，出现了会计报告仍然基于继续经营惯例而企业破产倒闭的 情况，这些报告后来被批评为是误导性报告。会计师没有足够的根据就放弃继续经营假设，那么，一旦引 起债权人对未偿债务要求还款，就会导致破产清理。如果持续经营将继续作为当代会计的一个基本假设的 话，在这方面需要一个有权威性的指导文件。

THE MONETARY CONVENTION In contemporary accounting, an entity?s transactions are recorded in the accounts in the monetary unit of the country in which it is operating. However, in general, financial statements are presented in the currency of the country where the reports are published.

货币惯例 现代会计中，一个单位的交易要以其经营所在国的货币单位记账。但是，一般来说，财务 报表是用发布报表所在国的货币表示的。

The use of money as the unit of account is accepted today without question, but that has not always been the case. For example, such commodities as cattle, salt, shells, and tobacco are said to be employed as a unit of account.

使用货币作记账单位在当今无疑已被接受，但并非一直是这样。例如，有些商品如牛、盐、贝壳和烟 草据说曾用来做记账单位。

The use of money as a unit of account does create some difficulties. In the first place, trans- actions must be expressed in money before they can be recorded in the accounts. In some cases transactions or events may not have an obvious money amount. Transactions and events of this type are either ignored or assigned a subjective or arbitrary money amount.

使用货币做记账单位的确也带来了一些困难。首先，交易在记入账目之前，必须要用货币来表示。有 些情况下，交易或项目可能没有明显的货币价值。因此对这类交易和项目不是加以忽略，就是主观或武断 地确定一个货币价值。

The second difficulty associated with the monetary convention is that the value of money is not constant over time. Its purchasing power changes as a result of either inflation or deflation. Accountants conventionally choose to ignore the changes in the purchasing power of money in the accounts. And this will cause some deficiencies in accounting reports.

与货币惯例有关的第二个困难是货币的价值并不总是稳定不变的，货币的购买力会随着通货膨胀或通 货紧缩而产生变化。会计师习惯上对账面上货币购买力的变化不予理睬，但这样会造成会计报告的某些缺

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会计英语

陷。

THE CONSISTENCY CONVENTION Contemporary accounting assumes that accountants consistently apply accounting procedures from one period to the next. As a corollary, if accounting procedures are changed, the fact of the change and its effect on reported results are supposed to be disclosed in the financial statements. The purpose of this convention is to allow meaningful in- ter-period comparisons of results of an entity. Without consistency in accounting procedures, management could manipulate a firm?s reported results merely by changes in accounting proce- dures. Under these circumstances inter-period comparisons would have to be treated with skepti- cism.

一贯性惯例 现代会计假设会计师从一个阶段到下个阶段所使用的会计程序是一致的。作为推理，如 果会计程序改变了，其变化及其对财务报告的影响应该在财务报表中公布。这一惯例的目的是允许对一个 单位不同期间的财务结果进行有意义比较。如果会计程序没有一致性，管理人员可以用仅仅改变会计程序 的方法来篡改公司的财务报告。在这种情况下，只能以怀疑的态度看待不同期间的比较结果。

This convention differs from the others in an important respect. The others describe conven- tional practices actually used by accountants. The consistency convention, however, involves pre- scription. This convention is one that accountants ought to follow rather than that is necessary fol- lowed.

这一惯例与其它惯例在一个重要的方面有所不同。其它惯例描述了会计师实际已经采用的习惯做法， 这个惯例是会计师必须遵循而不只是有必要遵循的惯例。

The consistency convention does not mean that accounting methods cannot be changed. A change should be made if a new procedure would result in financial statements with improved “truth and fairness”. If a justifiable change is made, the fact and the effect of the changes should be disclosed. The convention only requires that capricious changes in procedure which can be jus- tified by reference to a “true and fair” view should not be made.

一贯性惯例并不意味会计方法是不能改变的。如果新的程序可以使财务报表的真实性和公允性有改 进，那么会计方法应该改变。如果证明是合理的改变，对改变的情况及其影响应当公布。一贯性惯例只对 那些没有证据证明能帮助真实公正地反映情况的程序的变动加以制止。

The convention does not require an inter-firm consistency in accounting procedures. Two similar firms in the same industry may record a similar transaction in different ways and still com- ply with the consistency convention. The convention applies only to the accounting practices of a particular entity from period to period. The lack of inter-firm consistency means that analyst needs to exercise a great deal of care in making inter-firm comparisons.

一贯性惯例对公司间的会计处理并未做出要求。同一行业的两个类似的公司可以用不同方法对类似交 易记账，但仍然是遵守了一贯性惯例。一贯性惯例只适用于某一单位一个期间到另一个期间的会计处理。 如果公司间的会计处理缺乏一致性，分析家在进行公司间对比时要格外注意。

Even, the convention does not mean that there must be an internal consistency in the use of accounting procedures. For example, the convention does not imply that a business depreciates all its assets on same basis or that all discounts allowed are treated as expense. Consistency would allow, for example, that plant and equipment be depreciated on a straight-line basis and that motor vehicles be depreciated on an accelerated basis. All that consistency implies is that the accounting procedures for a particular type of transactions are the same from period to the next.

进一步说，一贯性惯例并不意味在会计程序使用上一定要有一个内部一致性。例如：一贯性惯例并不 是指公司对所有资产的折旧依据同一基础或所有可允许的折扣都作为费用处理。例如，一贯性惯例可以允

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ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN ACCOUNTING

许厂房和设备按直线折旧方法计算，汽车按加速折旧法计算。一贯性惯例所指的是从一个期间到另一个期 间，同样的经济业务要使用相同的会计处理程序。

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会计英语

Unit Three

The Conventions of Contemporary Accounting (2)

第三单元

现代会计惯例（2）

THE CONVENTION OF CONSERVATISM It is a characteristic of contemporary accounting that accountants act conservatism or prudently in the measurement of profit. In general, this means that accountants use “reasonable pessimism” in measuring revenues and expenses. Revenues are not recorded until they are reasonably certain, but expenses are recorded as soon as they are be- come probable. Similarly, when accountants have a choice of measurements of cost for assets and liabilities, they will, other things being equal, choose the lowest for assets and the highest for li- abilities. The effect of this convention is that reported profits and net assets will be lower than un- der most alternative assumptions.

稳健性惯例 在现代会计中，会计人员在计量利润时表现得稳健谨慎，这是很典型的。一般来说，这 意味着会计人员在计量收入和支出时持有“合理的悲观主义”。除非他们相当肯定，他们才会把收入入账， 但是只要支出是有可能的，他们就把它记入账目。同样，当会计人员在考虑如何计量资产和负债的成本时， 在其它因素一致的情况下，他们将选择最低的资产成本，最高的负债成本。这种稳健性惯例的作用是所报 告的利润和净资产要低于其它可供选择的假定下的结果。

There are several possible explanations for the convention of conservatism. One is that it is the traditional role of accountants to curb the optimism of management. Accountants are seen as a sobering influence, forcing management to assess proposals and expectations in a realistic way to minimize errors arising from over-optimism.

对稳健性惯例有几种可能的解释。一种是抑制管理部门的乐观态度，这是会计人员的传统作用，会计 人员被看成是一种起清醒作用的人，迫使管理人员以现实的态度评估计划和期望值，以期最大限度地降低 由于过分乐观而产生的错误。

A second explanation is that all conservatism is a natural reaction to uncertainly. As students will behave conservatively and publicly choose a modest expectation of an exam result even through they may think that they have a good chance for a high grade, accountants faced with un- certainty about futures events also behave conservatively.

关于稳健性惯例的第二种解释是对不肯定性的自然反映。就像一个学生，即使他认为自己得高分的机 会很大，但一般是表现得很谨慎，对考试结果公开选择一种比较保守的预测。

A third explanation is that statements users may prefer conservatism to any alternative policy. Given that profit measurement depends upon estimates, conservatism ensures that the actual profit must be at least as high as the reported profit. Conservatism allows confidence in published re- ports. Whatever profits and net assets may be, they will not be less than those disclosed in the published accounts.

第三种解释是同其它可供选择的政策相比报表的用户可能更喜欢稳健的政策。在根据估计的情况来计 量利润的时候，稳健政策可以确保利润至少同所报告的利润一样。稳健政策使得人们对公共发表的报告有 信心，不管利润和净资产的数额到底是多少，它们至少不小于在公开的账目所公布的数字。

THE OBJECTIVITY CONVENTION Where an accountant has a choice of measurements the most objective will be preferred, other things equal. As far as possible, an accountant will avoid incorporating guesses or estimates in the accounting records and reports. In practical terms, objectivity means that an accountant requires evidence of the existence and the amount of a trans-

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