Presentation by Mr. Liu Yuting at EAALR
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Good Morning!
It is great honor for me to attend East-Asia Accounting Leadership Retreat, as representative of
the People’s Republic of China. According to the arrangements of the Sponsor, I would like to
take this opportunity to introduce you to the accounting system of China and accounting issues
facing my country.
In P.R. China, the government has significant influence in the administration of accounting
affairs. According to the Accounting Act of P.R. China, Ministry of Finance, shall be
responsible for the administration of accounting affairs in the nation. The major national
accounting organizations in PRC include the Accounting Society of China and China Institute of
Certified Public Accountants.
According to the Law requirements of PRC, Accounting Standards and Accounting Systems in
China are government regulations, which should be issued by the Ministry of Finance and shall
be mandatory rules for enterprises. Ministry of Finance Department of Accounting is the key
department that takes the responsibility to administer accounting affairs in PRC. The DirectorGeneral
of the Department of Accounting is Madam Feng Shuping, who is a famous accounting
expert in PRC. The primary function of Department of Accounting is to formulate accounting
standards, accounting systems, and other accounting regulations. All these accounting standards,
accounting systems, and regulations shall be issued by Ministry of Finance after they are
approved by the Minister of Ministry of Finance.
China Accounting Standards Committee is an advisory body to the Ministry of Finance on issues
relating to promulgation of accounting standards. This Committee consists of representatives
from accounting professionals, government organizations, security market supervisors, and
accounting academics. The Secretary division of this committee is set up as an internal
department of Ministry of Finance Department of Accounting. Madam Feng Shuping, the
Director-general of the Department of Accounting, also takes the position of Secretary-general of
China Accounting Standards Committee. The Staff members of China Accounting Standards
Committee also participate in the drafting work of accounting standards.
China accounting standards system consists of two levels: basic accounting standard and specific
accounting standards. The basic accounting standard (Accounting Standards for Business
Enterprises) was published in 1992 and was implemented formally on July 1, 1993. Basic
accounting standard deals with the basic concepts and basic principles of accounting, the
fundamental requirements for recognition, measurement and reporting of the accounting
elements. In addition to basic accounting standards, China is planning to formulate about 40
specific accounting standards within about 5 years. By now, China has issued and implemented
9 specific accounting standards. The formulation and implementation of these accounting
standards has contributed greatly to standardizing the financial reporting behavior of enterprises
and security markets, and improvements of quality accounting information.
Accounting Society of China (ASC) is the most important accounting academic organization in
PRC. It was established in 1980. ASC now has over 200 group members. All most all the
Accounting Departments of universities in PRC and accounting divisions of big industry firms or
finance institutes are group members of ASC. ASC is developing individual members now.
ASC has set up a Board of Directors, Standing Board of Directors, and Secretary Division. The
secretary-general of ASC takes the responsibility for the daily running of ASC. Mr. Liu Yuting,
Deputy Director-general of the Department of Accounting, also takes the position of secretarygeneral
of ASC. ASC also established 6 sub-academic committees, which concentrate
individually on the following academic issues: accounting theory meeting with specific situations
of China, accounting and finance system reform, accounting standards, managerial accounting,
human resource accounting and environmental accounting and accounting history. ASC also has
an editing department that is responsible for editing and publishing an accounting academic
journal–Accounting Research enjoys the highest reputation of China’s accounting academic
journals. ASC also published a lot of academic research results and applying accounting books.
China Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA) is a self-regulatory organization of
CPAs of China. CICPA has set up a Board of Directors, Standing Board of Directors, and
Secretary Division. The secretary-general of CICPA takes the responsibility for the daily running
of CICPA. The primary function of CICPA is to formulate practicing rules for CPA, organize
and implement national uniform CPA examination, and supervise the practice of CPA and
qualify the CPA.
By now, the major issues facing accounting academics of China are issues arising from the
transformation from central planned economy system to market economy system, including:
capital market and the disclosure of accounting information, accounting issues relating to merger,
acquisition and reorganization, improving financial reporting quality of enterprises, evaluating
operating results of enterprises, internal control, accounting issues relating to preventing finance
crisis, recognition, measurement and reporting of human resources. China is reforming its
administrative mechanism of CPAs, with the general purpose to further improve independence,
objectivity, and fairness of auditing.
The Chinese government, academics, and professionals have always attached great importance to
accounting works and accounting information. Objective, true, and comparable information can
sensitively reflect the reality of enterprise and national economy, can guide the sound allocation
of resources, and assist in international economic cooperation and communication. The recent
finance crisis clearly shows that healthy economic activity in a country or region would be
inconceivable without reliable accounting information. Now, China is establishing and
developing a socialist market economy system and accounting standards system, an academics
research system and professional system, which are consistent with international practices. The
completion of this task depends on cooperation, communication, and support from the
international accounting community, and depends on consistency with international practice. I
sincerely hope that all representatives, academics, and professionals in your countries, by the way
of seminars, exchanging scholars and information, can further improve understanding and
communication with Ministry of Finance Department of Accounting, Accounting Standards
Committee, Accounting Society of China, and Chinese accounting professionals. We also would
have support from you in the process of constructing a new accounting system that will meet
with China socialist market economy.
Thank you all.