有關會計的英語文章
經濟越發展會計越重要,會計所提供的資訊,為經濟決策提供重要的參考資料。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!
1
審視會計
Score a point for globalization. In a landmark vote on Wednesday August 27th America’s finan-cial-markets watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC, paved the way for its companies to switch from America’s Generally Accepted Accounting Principles GAAP to international accounting standards. In a field that is, by reputation, notoriously dull, this looks like something to get genuinely excited about.
美國的全球化程序又取得了新的進展。本週三2008年8月27 日，在一項具有里程碑意義的投票中，美國金融市場監管者—— 證券交易管理委員會為各企業在公認會計准則轉換到國際會計準 則的過程中鋪平了道路。該領域一向以枯燥刻板而為人所知,這樣 的結果看起來確實很值得高興。
GAAP was the beancounter’s gold standard for decades, but it is now widely seen as cumbersome. Most other countries have embraced the international rules, known as International Financial Reporting Standards IFRS. The regulators’ plan envisages American-based multinationals switching to the standards voluntarily in 2010. The SEC would then vote on whether to require all other companies to do the same, starting in 2014. The commission has already cleared the way for overseas firms to use IFRS when doing business or listing securities in America.
數十年來公認會計標準一直是該領域的黃金準則，然而現在 大多數認為該標準尾大不掉，缺乏靈活性。其他很多國家都採用了 國際標準——國際財務報告準則。美國監管部門計劃讓總部位於 美國的跨國企業在2010年自願轉換為國際財務報表準則。證券交 易管理委員屆時將投票決定是否也需要規定其他公司從2014年開 始採用國際財務報表準則。證券委員會已經為海外公司在美國營 業或是上市時使用國際財務報表準則掃清了道路。
Christopher Cox, the SEC's chairman, hailed the move to an “international language of disclosure, transparency and comparability.” Big companies have long been preparing for it with enthusiasm. It will bring each of them one-off costs in the tens of millions, but the savings over time will dwarf the initial outlay. It could also mean greater profits: one study found that the majority of American firms made more under the foreign rules. Investors, too, have reason to rejoice. It will make it easier to compare, say, a French drug company with an American rival. And the compliance costs of duplicate accounting, the bulk of which investors ultimately bear, will disappear.
證券交易委員會主席克里斯托弗?考克斯讚揚使用“更公開. 透明和更具比較性的國際性語言”的變動。大企業早就開始熱情地 準備著這一時刻的到來。這可能會使他們一次性消耗數千萬美元， 但是隨著時間的流逝，前期投人同節省下來的資金相比簡直是小 巫見大巫。而且還不僅如此:一項研究發現大多數美國公司按照國 外標準會獲得更多利潤。投資者同樣也應該感到髙興。因為使用國 際會計準則可以更好地進行比較,例如,將一家法國藥品公司同其 美國的競爭對手相比較。並且由投資者最終承擔的因重複做賬而形成的合規成本也會消失。
Accountants point to other benefits. IFRS is less complex than GAAP, with fewer exceptions; America’s accounting rules, like its tax code, are creaking under bolted-on guidance. It is also more principles-based, granting auditors greater room to use judgment. This can be good or bad, of course, but most experts say more leeway is needed.
會計師也指出了實行此法的其他好處。國際財務報表準則比公認會計准則要簡單些，而且特 例也比較少。美國的會計準則，像其稅法一樣,在刻板的準則下開始越來越不適用於現實。國際財 務報表準則通常是以原則為基礎的,允許稽核員有更多的空間來作判斷。當然,這樣自然是有利有 弊,但是大多數專家認為更多的靈活空間是很必要的。
For several years, the SEC and the London-based International Accounting Standards Board IASB，which oversees the international rules, focused on steadily bringing the two sets of standards together. But it has been a struggle, largely thanks to the Byzantine nature of the American system. Mr. Cox embraced the more radical approach approved this week in the belief that it would boost the competitiveness of American firms by removing barriers to investment. The “roadmap” is the latest in a string of proposals under his leadership designed to bring American and foreign markets closer together.
多年來，證券交易管理委員會和總部位於倫敦負責監製國際會計準則的國際會計準則委員會 一直致力於將兩套標準融為一體。但是過程非常艱辛,很大程度上是因為美國會計系統紛繁複雜 的本質特點。庫克斯這周採納了較為激進的方案，因為他相信消除投資障礙會提升美國公司的競 爭力。在他指導下提出的一系列建議所繪製的“發展藍圖”就是為了使得美國和國外市場能夠更加
Not everyone is happy. Some politicians, including the head of the congressional committee that oversees the SEC, worry about ceding standard-setting power to the IASB. Even though America has seats on its board, there is concern that it will be under-represented. Some want it to have influence commensurate with the size of America’s equity markets, which account for almost half of global market capitalization. Others worry about the IASB’s finances and its susceptibility to outside influence. One of the SEC’s commissioners said the plan should only be waved through once it is clear that secure, independent funding is in place.
但這樣做也並非皆大歡喜。包括監管SEC的國會委員會會長在內的一些政客擔心這會使制定 標準的權力落人國際會計準則委員會手中。儘管美國在國際會計準則委員會中也有委員席位，但 是他們仍擔心其代表名額不足。一些人則想使其影響力同佔全球市場資本總額一半的美國股票市 場不相上下。其他人則擔心國際會計準則委員會的財務狀況且害怕委員會容易受到外界影響。一 個證券交易管理委員的委員表示，除非這個計劃有穩定獨立的資金籌備到位,否則是不會通過的。
There are worries overseas too, for instance that the SEC will try to interfere with IFRS and interpret it in a narrow, prescriptive way. Standards issued by the IASB are supposed to be endorsed without modification. It remains to be seen whether America will be able to accept this.
對此，國外的企業同樣也有他們的憂慮，例如證券交易委員會會干涉國際財務報表準則或者 從狹義、慣例的角度來對其進行理解。國際會計準則委員會發布的標準應該在無改動的狀況下才 能得到認可。美國是否能夠接受還是未知數。
2
Accounting Management Theory
ABSTRACT
This paper develops an approach to enhance the reliability and usefulness of financial statements. International Financial Reporting Standards IFRS was fundamentally flawed by fair value accounting and asset-impairment accounting. According to legal theory and accounting theory, accounting data must have legal evidence as its source document. The conventional “mixed attribute” accounting system should be replaced by a “segregated” system with historical cost and fair value being kept strictly apart in financial statements. The proposed optimizing method will significantly enhance the reliability and usefulness of financial statements.
I.. INTRODUCTION
Based on international-accounting-convergence approach, the Ministry of Finance issued the Enterprise Accounting Standards in 2006 taking the International Financial Reporting Standards hereinafter referred to as “the International Standards” for reference. The Enterprise Accounting Standards carries out fair value accounting successfully, and spreads the sense that accounting should reflect market value objectively. The objective of accounting reformation following-up is to establish the accounting theory and methodology which not only use international advanced theory for reference, but also accord with the needs of China's socialist market economy construction. On the basis of a thorough evaluation of the achievements and limitations of International Standards, this paper puts forward a stand that to deepen accounting reformation and enhance the stability of accounting regulations.
II. OPTIMIZATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS SYSTEM: PARALLELING LISTING OF LEGAL FACTS AND FINANCIAL EXPECTATION
As an important management activity, accounting should make use of information systems based on classified statistics, and serve for both micro-economic management and macro-economic regulation at the same time. Optimization of financial statements system should try to take all aspects of the demands of the financial statements in both macro and micro level into account.
Why do companies need to prepare financial statements? Whose demands should be considered while preparing financial statements? Those questions are basic issues we should consider on the optimization of financial statements. From the perspective of "public interests", reliability and legal evidence are required as qualitative characters, which is the origin of the traditional "historical cost accounting". From the perspective of "private interest", security investors and financial regulatory authorities hope that financial statements reflect changes of market prices timely recording "objective" market conditions. This is the origin of "fair value accounting". Whether one set of financial statements can be compatible with these two different views and balance the public interest and private interest? To solve this problem, we design a new balance sheet and an income statement.
From 1992 to 2006, a lot of new ideas and new perspectives are introduced into China's accounting practices from international accounting standards in a gradual manner during the accounting reform in China. These ideas and perspectives enriched the understanding of the financial statements in China. These achievements deserve our full assessment and should be fully affirmed. However, academia and standard-setters are also aware that International Standards are still in the process of developing .The purpose of proposing new formats of financial statements in this paper is to push forward the accounting reform into a deeper level on the basis of international convergence.
III. THE PRACTICABILITY OF IMPROVING THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS SYSTEM
Whether the financial statements are able to maintain their stability? It is necessary to mobilize the initiatives of both supply-side and demand-side at the same time. We should consider whether financial statements could meet the demands of the macro-economic regulation and business administration, and whether they are popular with millions of accountants.Accountants are responsible for preparing financial statements and auditors are responsible for auditing. They will benefit from the implementation of the new financial statements.
Firstly, for the accountants, under the isolated design of historical cost accounting and fair value accounting, their daily accounting practice is greatly simplified. Accounting process will not need assets impairment and fair value any longer. Accounting books will not record impairment and appreciation of assets any longer, for the historical cost accounting is comprehensively implemented. Fair value information will be recorded in accordance with assessment only at the balance sheet date and only in the annual financial statements. Historical cost accounting is more likely to be recognized by the tax authorities, which saves heavy workload of the tax adjustment. Accountants will not need to calculate the deferred income tax expense any longer, and the profit-after-tax in the solid line table is acknowledged by the Company Law, which solves the problem of determining the profit available for distribution.Accountants do not need to record the fair value information needed by security investors in the accounting books; instead, they only need to list the fair value information at the balance sheet date. In addition, because the data in the solid line table has legal credibility, so the legal risks of accountants can be well controlled. Secondly, the arbitrariness of the accounting process will be reduced, and the auditors’ review process will be greatly simplified. The independent auditors will not have to bear the considerable legal risk for the dotted-line table they audit, because the risk of fair value information has been prompted as "not supported by legal evidences". Accountants and auditors can quickly adapt to this financial companies to improve management efficiency. Surveys show that the above design of financial statements is popular with accountants and auditors. Since the workloads of accounting and auditing have been substantially reduced, therefore, the total expenses for auditing and evaluation will not exceed current level as well.
In short, from the perspectives of both supply-side and demand-side, the improved financial statements are expected to enhance the usefulness of financial statements, without increase the burden of the supply-side.
IV. CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
The current rule of mixed presentation of fair value data and historical cost data could be improved. The core concept of fair value is to make financial statements reflect the fair value of assets and liabilities, so that we can subtract the fair value of liabilities from assets to obtain the net fair value.
However, the current International Standards do not implement this concept, but try to partly transform the historical cost accounting, which leads to mixed using of impairment accounting and fair value accounting. China's accounting academic research has followed up step by step since 1980s, and now has already introduced a mixed-attributes model into corporate financial statements.
By distinguishing legal facts from financial expectations, we can balance public interests and private interests and can redesign the financial statements system with enhancing management efficiency and implementing higher-level laws as main objective. By presenting fair value and historical cost in one set of financial statements at the same time, the statements will not only meet the needs of keeping books according to domestic laws, but also meet the demand from financial regulatory authorities and security investors
We hope that practitioners and theorists offer advices and suggestions on the problem of improving the financial statements to build a financial statements system which not only meets the domestic needs, but also converges with the International Standards.
基於會計管理理論的財務報表的優化方法
摘要
本文提供了一個方法，以提高財務報表的可靠性和實用性。國際財務報告準則IFRS的根本缺陷是公平價值核算和資產減值核算。根據法律理論和會計理論，會計資料必須具有作為其原始檔的法律證據。傳統的“混合屬性的“會計制度應改為一個“獨立“的歷史成本和公允價值被嚴格分開的財務報表系統。本文建議的優化方法將大大提高財務報表的可靠性和實用性。
一.引言
根據國際會計銜接辦法，財政部發布2006年企業會計標準的情況，以供參考《國際財務報告準則》以下簡稱《國際標準》。在企業會計準則公平價值核算成功擴充套件的意義上，會計核算應當客觀地反映市場價值。會計改革的目標是建立會計後續的理論與方法,使用國際先進理論的借鑑不僅是必要的,也符合我國社會主義市場經濟建設的需要。在已獲得的成果和國際標準的侷限性進行全面評估的基礎上，提出了一種立場，以深化會計改革和加強會計法規的穩定性。
二.優化系統的財務報表：法律事實與財務展望並聯上市
作為一種重要的管理活動，會計上應根據分類統計資訊系統的使用，全心全意為微觀經濟管理，並在同一時間巨集觀調控。財務報表的系統優化應儘量使自己考慮巨集觀和微觀層面的財務報表的要求的所有方面。
為什麼企業需要編制財務報表?誰的要求應該考慮編制在財務報表內?這些問題是基本問題，我們應該考慮對財務報表的優化。從法律的角度考察“公共利益”、可靠性和法定證據中需要定性的特點，是傳統的“歷史成本會計“的由來。從“私人利益”來看，證券投資者和金融監管當局希望財務報表反映市場價格，及時記錄“客觀”的市場條件的變化。這是“公平價值會計“的由來。一套財務報表是否能夠匹配這兩種不同的觀點和平衡公共利益與私人利益?為了解決這個問題，我們設計了一個新的資產負債表和損益表。
從1992年到2006年,大量的新思路、新觀點被引進到中國的會計實踐,國際會計準則在中國的會計改革中漸變。這些思想和觀點豐富了對中國的財務報表的理解。這些成就值得我們充分評估，並應予以充分肯定。然而，學術界和標準制定者也知道，國際標準仍然在發展中。文中提出的財務報表會計改革新格式的目的，是推進到一個關於國際趨同的更深層次的基礎上。
三.提高系統財務報表的實用性
財務報表是否能夠保持其穩定性呢?在同一時間要動員供應方和需求方的積極性。我們應該考慮是否能滿足財務報表的巨集觀經濟調控和企業管理的要求，並且是否受數以百萬計的會計師的歡迎。會計師負責編制財務報表，稽核員負責稽核工作。他們將受益於新的財務報表的執行情況。
首先，對於會計師來說，在這個孤立的歷史成本會計和公允價值會計的設計下，他們的日常核算的做法大大簡化。會計處理將不再需要資產減值準備和公允價值了。會計帳簿記錄減值不會為歷史成本會計和資產再增值，是全面落實。根據評價，公允價值的資訊將被記錄在資產負債表日，並且只能在年度財務報表。歷史成本會計是更有可能被稅務機關認可，從而節省了大量的納稅調整的工作量。會計師不需要計算遞延所得稅費用，獲利後的實線表稅被公司法認可，解決了決定可獲得利潤分配的問題。會計師不需要在會計賬簿記錄證券投資者需要的公允價值資訊，相反，他們只需要列出在資產負債表日的公允價值的資料。此外，因為在實線表中的資料具有法律的公信力，所以會計師的法律風險可以得到很好的控制。
其次，對會計處理的隨意性將會減少，審計員的審查過程將大大簡化。獨立審計師在審計虛線表時就不必承擔相當大的審計法律風險，因為來自於公允價值資訊的風險已被認定為“不合法的證據支援“。會計師和審計師能儘快地適應這個財務報表系統,而不需要訓練。這樣，他們可以節省很多時間來幫助企業提高管理效率。調查表明，上述財務報表的設計在會計師和審計師中很受歡迎。由於會計和審計的工作量已大幅減少，因此，審計和評估的總開支將不會超過目前的水平。
總之，從供應方和需求方的角度來看，改進後的財務報表沒有增加預計，而且將加強財務報表的有用性，且不增加供給的負擔。
四.結論和政策建議
當前混合了陳述公允價值和歷史成本的資料可以被改善。公允價值的核心理念是使財務報表反映資產和負債的公允價值，因此我們可以從資產減去負債的公允價值來獲得的淨公允價值。
然而，目前的國際標準不執行這個概念，而是要設法改造部分歷史成本會計，從而導致減值核算和公允價值會計混淆使用。20世紀80年代以來，中國的會計學術研究一直是循序漸進的，現在已經引進了一種企業財務報表的混合屬性模型。
通過區分財務預期的法律事實，我們可以平衡公眾利益和私人利益，可以重新設計以提高管理效率為主要目標的財務報表和實施更高層次的法律制度。通過展示一套在同一時的公允價值和歷史成本的財務報表，不僅滿足國內法律關於保管帳簿需要，也符合金融監管部門和證券投資者的需求。
我們希望從業者和理論家在改善財務報表，從而建立一個財務報表系統的問題上提出建議，不僅滿足了國內的需求，而且也與國際標準吻合。
3
Accounting fraud
會計造假
Got'em, Gotham
抓住他們!哥譚
The company-accounts detectives collar another suspect
公司財務偵探們抓到了另一位嫌疑犯
JENARO GARCiA was an eloquent cheerleader for Gowex, helping to propel the Spanish Wi-Fi firm to European startup stardom. When investors asked detailed financial questions of its founder and boss, however, he would clam up. Short-sellers, who bet against companies by selling borrowed shares, in the hope of buying them back more cheaply later, began to act on this reticence early this year. But the killer blow was a report by an opaque outfit called Gotham City Research, alleging that Gowex had far fewer wireless hotspots than it claimed and that 90% of its sales were bogus. On July 6th, five days after the report's publication, the firm said it would file for bankruptcy and that Mr Garcia had resigned after admitting to fiddling the accounts for at least four years.
赫那羅·加西亞，這位口才十分了得的Gowex掌舵人，正推動著這家西班牙Wi-Fi公司成為歐洲一顆冉冉升起的明星。然而，當投資者們想要對公司創始人以及老總的財務細節進行質詢之時，他便開始沉默不語。“做空者”，指的是一批在金融投資領域中，由於不看好市場前景而向證券公司借股票先賣掉以後，接著在未來等股票價格跌倒一定水平再買回來的人，他們在今年早些時候就開始對上述的“沉默”做出反應。但其最致命的一擊還是來自別的地方—一份來自隱祕機構Gotham City Research的報告，宣稱Gowex公司旗下的無線熱點遠比自己公佈的要少，並且該公司90%的銷售額是偽造而成的。6月6號，正是這份報告公佈的五天後，Gowex公司宣佈自己將申請破產，並且加西亞先生在承認進行了至少四年的會計造假後，也隨即辭職。
Gowex's dramatic collapse marks one of the biggest victories for a relatively new breed of company-accounts “detectives”: small, independent research-and-investment outfits that revel in unearthing alleged book-cooking. Having focused largely on China's fraud-filled market until now, they are branching out. Gotham is a secretive group linked to Daniel Yu, a trader whose motto is, “It is not who we are underneath, but what we do that defines us.” Other firms with which it has locked horns include Quindell and Ebix, two software providers. Both deny wrongdoing.
Gowex公司戲劇般的坍塌，標誌著一次公司財務“偵探”相對來說的新生，標誌著一次新生以來最大的勝利：小型、獨立、調查與投資業務並存的機構，在搜尋疑似財務造假案當中如魚得水。現在，這些機構正擴充套件著自己的針對範圍，此前他們一直都將大部分精力放置於充滿著虛假財務資料的中國市場當中。Gotham是一個與交易員Daniel Yu相關聯的祕密組織，而這位仁兄的座右銘是“我們到底是誰並不重要，而是我們所做的一切才真正定義了我們!”。還有一些別的公司也被Gotham鎖定為嫌疑目標，其中包括兩家軟體供應商Quindell和Ebix。這兩家公司均否認自己存在財務造假。
Gotham's approach is to short and shout: it takes a negative investment position, then noisily publicises its findings. It is cut from the same cloth as Muddy Waters, which is run by Carson Block, a former self-storage entrepreneur. His biggest scalp to date is Sino-Forest, which went bust in 2012 after Muddy Waters accused it of overstating its forest holdings in China.
Gotham手段就是製造輿論與關注，使得目標陷入混亂：它會對目標進行消極的投資，進而大張旗鼓地公佈自己的所有發現。它與渾水公司是一路貨色，而後者是由卡森·布洛克所運營的，一位之前專注於自助式倉儲的企業家。布洛克迄今為止最大的戰利品莫過於嘉漢林業，一家於2012年破產的企業，其緣由正是渾水公司指控這家企業誇大自己在中國森林資源的儲量。
Another such outfit is Citron Research, whose leader, Andrew Left, prides himself on never having been successfully sued for defamation. A few hedge funds like to kick up a similar stink—most notably Bill Ackman's Pershing Square, which is out to prove that Herbalife, a nutritional-supplements firm, is a pyramid scheme.Their lineage can be traced back to the successful shorting of Enron in 2001 by James Chanos, another hedge-fund manager.
同種類的另外一家機構Citron Research，其領導人為安德魯·萊福特，他有一點十分自豪，那就是別人從未成功地因誹謗而將他告上法庭。一些對衝基金也想加入到他們的隊伍當中——其中最矚目的莫過於比爾·阿克曼的潘興廣場，它將對營養補充品公司康寶萊進行調查，指控後者為金字塔式非法傳銷公司。這些基金公司的財務調查史可以追溯到2001年另一位對衝基金經理詹姆斯·查諾斯對安然公司造假案的成功揭露。
Gotham spent eight months studying Gowex, amassing far better information than investment-bank analysts, most of whom were still recommending the shares when it buckled. Gotham spotted that Gowex used a little-known auditor a classic red flag: see the Bernard Madoff case, whose fees were unusually low, as if they were based on revenue far smaller than Gowex's books stated. Often, the sleuths comb the books for ratios that are hard to manipulate. Gotham also noted, for instance, that Gowex's revenue per employee was implausible compared with rivals'—while the revenue could be inflated, it was harder to fake the headcount.
Gotham耗費了8個月的時間來調查Gowex公司，收集了遠比其他投行分析師更龐大的資料。事實上，大部分投行分析師在Gowex公司崩潰時，仍在推薦該公司的股票。Gotham發現了Gowex公司聘請了不太知名的審計師，審計費用也異常地低廉，就像是Gowex公司是在一個遠比賬面價值低的利潤基礎上經營。通常情況下，偵探們都會在賬本里梳理出不容易操控的財務比率。例如，Gotham也發現了Gowex公司裡每位員工的平均利潤與競爭對手相比呈現不合理的情況—雖然利潤容易被拉高，但職工總數是很難造假的。
Legwork also helps. Muddy Waters' analysts visit target companies, their suppliers and clients to verify claims about production, staff levels and so on, sometimes posing as prospective business partners. Chinese firms with advance warning of visits by analysts have been known to rent workers and stock to deceive them.
四處奔走調查也是一個好方法。渾水公司的分析師們會對一些公司進行拜訪，其中包括目標公司的供應商和客戶，以辨別該公司的產品反饋、員工水平之類的資料，有些時候還會冒充成潛在商業合作伙伴以進行探訪調查。中國公司在得到事先預警的情況下，會在調查人員來臨之時租借工人和存貨，從而達到欺騙的目的。
Courageous crusaders
勇猛的征戰者
Gotham's declaration after Gowex's downfall—“May truth, justice, restoration and redemption prevail”—was somewhat bombastic. But a bit of bravado is justified: taking a big short position requires courage, especially in a rising stockmarket. Since shares have a floor but no ceiling, the upside for short-sellers is more limited than the downside.
在Gowex公司破產後，Gotham釋出瞭如下宣言—“願真相、正義、恢復與救贖恆久於人間”，而這聽起來挺浮誇的。但這種小小的虛張聲勢確實是合理的：做空頭寸需要勇氣，尤其是在這樣一個行情看漲的股票市場裡。由於股票有下限而沒有上限，對於做空投資者來說，壞的一面會壓過好的一面。
There have been cases of short-sellers seeking to profit by spreading false alarms, but they probably detect real fraud more often than auditors, regulators and bankers combined. In catching fiddlers while they are still tiddlers, Gotham and its kind are sparing investors Enron-sized nightmares. Nevertheless, market regulators often eye them with suspicion: Spain's at first reacted to Gotham's report by investigating its publisher, not Gowex. China has cracked down on shorts, even imprisoning the writer of one negative report.
雖然許多案子當中，都是做空投資者在對市場散播虛假警報以期獲得利潤，但他們也很有可能調查到真實存在的假賬，且其數目要比審計師、監管者和銀行家加起來所查出的總數都要多。在這場抓假賬的遊戲裡，Gotham和同類的公司是小魚，但他們確實免除了投資者要去面對像安然公司如此龐大造假噩夢的疑慮。儘管如此，監管者也在用懷疑的眼光密切留意著這些財務偵探們的動向：西班牙當局對近期Gotham報告的迴應並不是著手調查Gowex公司，而是率先找出這篇報告的出版者。中國政府目前正全面封殺唱空者，甚至會把任何書寫消極報告的作家扔進監獄裡。
Even so, China will remain fertile territory. Muddy Waters' latest quarry there is NQ Mobile, the head of whose audit committee resigned abruptly on July 4th. Mr Block is also said to be sniffing around in Africa, where investors are chucking money at little-known firms. Citron's Mr Left reckons corporate fraudsters “can't bullshit [investors] the way they used to,” because “there's so much more accessible information online, in public records, and so on,” with which to disprove their claims. True, but the temptation to give it a try, faced with so many naive punters hungry for fat returns, seems undiminished.
儘管如此，中國依舊是一片充滿“機遇”的土地。渾水公司最新的調查物件是秦網手機，後者的審計委員會主席在7月4號突然請辭。當市場投資者們對各類小知名度的企業擲下重金之時，布洛克先生在非洲觀望著經濟態勢發展。Citron的萊福特先生認識到，企業行騙者已經不能像從前那樣行事了，因為現在人們有更多的手段可以查到網路資訊以及公共記錄等等的資料。上述資料都能用以揭穿投資者們的各種宣告。誠然，但同時也充斥著太多天真的賭徒，總在期盼著天上能掉下來幾塊餡餅，而他們總會不厭其煩地想要給予風險家們一次機會。
Gerard Zack, the author of “Financial Statement Fraud”, a textbook, reckons that perhaps two-thirds of cases involve improper revenue recognition. New global accounting rules announced in May seek to curb one common ruse, booking sales prematurely, for instance on long-term contracts. But sometimes the revenues are simply invented, often by getting a related party to pose as a customer. Sometimes very closely related: Gotham said in its report on Gowex that it had evidence the firm's biggest customer “was really itself.”
據財務教材《Financial Statement Fraud》的作家Gerard Zack估計，或許在三分之二的財務造假案當中，都涉及到不恰當的利潤確認的問題。五月，新頒佈的國際會計準則設法限制一個常用的造假伎倆—提前確認的賬面銷售額，例如在長期合同裡銷售額。但一些時候利潤也就是簡單地憑空創造出來，比如公司往往會令關聯企業偽裝成自己的客戶來增加銷售額。還有些時候，則直接“關聯”到自己身上去了：Gotham在報告裡表示自己擁有證據，證明Gowex公司最大的客戶其實就是“Gowex自己”。
Such tricks can be used in any industry: think of the massive fake sales at Parmalat, an Italian dairy firm. But verifying that accounts match reality is often harder in technology businesses, making them “easier candidates for fraud”, says Michael Jones, editor of another book on “creative accounting”. In fast-growing tech industries there is a temptation to exaggerate revenues, to persuade the world that you are the “next big thing” and create enough momentum for truth to catch up with the hype. If this turned out to be the motive with Gowex, it would be no surprise.
這樣的把戲在各行各業中都能找得出：大家可以聯想到義大利乳製品公司Parmalat的鉅額虛假銷售案。另一本“創意會計”方面的書籍編輯Michael Jones提到，在辨別出科技企業業務當中的會計貓膩要比別的行業困難得多，這也導致了科技企業更容易陷入“假賬候選人名錄”當中。在快速成長的科技領域，各家企業都在充滿著誇大利潤誘因的環境中經營，希望令世界相信自己的公司才是那“一下代巨人”，同時也為了創造出足夠的社會信任度，與自己鋪天蓋地的宣傳相得益彰。如果這真的是Gowex公司造假因由的話，想必也不會引起多大的震撼。