北美财教材务报告.ppt

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING IN NORTH AMERICA Presented at School of Management, UESTC By George Lan, PhD Associate Professor of Accounting University Of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada March 19, 2003 Outline of Presentation -1 Roles of standard setting bodies (FASB, CICA), Managers, Auditors and Suppliers of Capital (Investors and Creditors or lenders) [See Diagram] Information Economics Approach and Efficiency of capital markets WorldCom, Enron and Arthur Andersen Incentives of Management to Manage Earnings Outline of Presentation -2 Steps to prevent scandals from occurring in the future? Some Ethical Principles An Ethical Case Questions regarding presentation or any other (accounting) questions. Information Economics Approach Information Asymmetry exists between the parties in business transactions. The managers ( agents) have more information than the investors (principals). Managers may attempt to select policies or to release biased information that benefit themselves to the expense of the owners . Role of Accounting: to provide information useful for rational decision-making. Decision Usefulness Approach Section 1000 of CICA Handbook (par. 1000.15): The objective of financial statements is to communicate information that is useful to investors, members, contributors, creditors and other users…in making their resource allocation decisions and/or assessing management stewardship. Objectives of Financial Statements Statements of Financial Accounting Concepts (1978) (SFAC 1): To provide information that is useful to present and potential investors and creditors and other users in making rational investment, credit, and similar decisions. To provide information to help present and potential investors and creditors in assessing the amounts , timing and uncertainty of prospective cash receipts from dividends or interest. Relevance and Reliability To be useful, accounting information should provide an informative information system that links