Audits
审计
Accounting for concern
稽核财报 阐释利害
Nov 20th 2008
From The Economist print edition
Can auditors be sure a firm will survive the next 12 months?
审计师可以确定一个公司能在未来的12个月幸存下来吗？
A FEW months before XL Leisure Group, Britain’s third-largest tour operator, filed for bankruptcy in September, leaving thousands of holidaymakers stranded, it issued a set of accounts, signed off by its auditors, that gave no hint it was about to go bust. Such experiences haunt auditors as they grapple with year-end accounts in the cruellest economic climate most have ever experienced. “Companies and their auditors have got to get used to the idea that nothing is as it used to be,” comments Will Rainey, a partner at Ernst & Young, one of the big-four accounting firms.
今年九月，英国第三大旅游运营商XL休闲集团申请破产，致使数千名度假者深陷窘境，进退两难。而在数月之前，此集团还发布一系列经审计师签署的财报，其中没有任何要倒闭的迹象。这样的事情现在正困扰着那些开始审计年终报表的审计人员，因为他们正身处从未经历过的经济寒冬。”公司和其审计师必须习惯于和以往完全不同的概念与方法。”四大会计师事务所之一安永的一位合伙人Will Rainey如是评论。
The problem is that year-end accounts are prepared on the basis that a business is a “going concern”, ie, that it will operate for the foreseeable future, or at least 12 months after the reporting period. That judgment is made by the board of directors, and auditors have to agree with it.
但问题是这样的：年终报表是为一个会”持续经营”的企业准备的，这意味着这家企业将会在可预见的未来继续经营，或者至少在年报发布后的十二个月内继续经营。这是由董事会做出的判断，审计人员不得不同意。
The difficulty they face is that most companies fund their operations in part through borrowing, which can stretch from simple overdrafts to huge syndicated loans. Each year, auditors will often seek letters from their clients’ bankers reassuring them that they will renew lending facilities in the ordinary course of business. But this year many banks may well refuse to write those letters because they do not want to commit to new lending. It will lead to some difficult judgment calls on the availability of funding next year, Mr Rainey says.
但他们面临的困难是，绝大多数企业都在某种程度上依靠借款来度日，其借贷的来源从简单的透支到巨大的银团贷款。每年，审计人员都会寻找其客户借贷的银行给客户这样的信件：银行让其放心，并确保会在正常业务范围内继续放贷。但是今年许多银行拒绝发出这样的信件，因为它们不愿承诺再发放新的贷款。Rainey先生表示，这会增加审计人员判断这家公司下一年可获得融资数目的难度。
According to international standards, directors and auditors usually have three options with accounts: they can prepare them on a going-concern basis, which is standard but might expose them to charges of negligence if they are wrong; if they do not believe the business is a going concern, they must prepare the accounts on a break-up basis; or they can express some doubts about the company’s future, but still prepare the accounts on the going-concern basis. (Britain’s Financial Reporting Council has suggested a fourth alternative, that would express “serious doubt” about the ability of the company to continue as a going concern. But auditors say this may add to confusion.)
根据国际准则，公司董事和审计师对财务报表通常有三个选择：可以基于持续运营的情况准备，这是标准的但是可能会因其错误而承受疏忽失察的责任；如果它们相信公司不会持续经营，那么可以基于破产的情况来准备财务报表；或者它们可以在表达对于公司失败的一些怀疑后，仍按公司持续运营的情况来准备财务报表。（英国财务报表委员会还建议有第四种选择：”严重怀疑”公司持续运营的能力。但是审计师认为这会增加混淆困惑。）
The temptation this year will be to express some doubts about funding uncertainties, but auditors realise that if they do that too widely, the caveat will become meaningless. Steve Priddy, of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, says that the onus will be on directors to be frank about any worries, even when they consider the firm a going concern. But if banks do not want their most creditworthy clients to suffer, they should be a bit bolder, too. After all, many now have the explicit backing of their governments. So they can afford to be a bit more public-spirited in these peculiar times.
今年的考验是这样的：对融资的不确定性表达一些疑虑，但是审计师认为，如果这样的词句广泛使用的话，那么也就没有任何意义了。特许注册会计师协会（ACCA）的Steve Priddy表示，责任在公司的董事是否能够坦诚表露任何疑虑和困难，即使他们认为公司可以持续运营的时候也应如此。如果银行不像让其信誉最好的客户遭受损失，它也应该有点大胆的行为。毕竟这些银行明显得到其政府的大力支持。因此，在这个特殊的时刻，这些家伙应该有些公德心。
译者：rushor http://www.ecocn.org/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=15523&extra=page%3D1