外文翻译--财务会计概念的声明会计信息质量特征

外文翻译-财务会计概念的声明会计信息质量特征 本科毕业论文（设计）外 文 翻 译外文出处 Journal of Accountancy;Aug80, Vol.150 Issue 2, P105-120,16p 外文作者 Miller, Paul B. W. 原文：Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No.2Qualitative Characteristics of Accounting InformationPrimary Decision-Specific QualitiesRelevance and reliability are the two primary qualities that make accounting information useful for decision making. Subject to constraints imposed by cost and materiality, increased relevance and increased reliability are the characteristics that make information a more desirable commodity-that is, one useful in making decisions. If either of those qualities is completely missing, the information will not be useful. Though, ideally, the choice of an accounting alternative should produce information that is both more reliable and more relevant it may be necessary to sacrifice some of one quality for a gain in another.To be relevant, information must be timely and it must have predictive value or feedback value or both. To be reliable, information must have representational faithfulness and it must be verifiable and neutral. Comparability, which includes consistency, is a secondary quality that interacts with relevance and reliability to contribute to the usefulness of information. Two constraints are include in the hierarchy, both primarily quantitative in character. Information can be useful and yet be too costly to justify providing it. To be useful and worth providing, the benefits of information should exceed its cost. All of the qualities of information shown are subject to a materiality threshold, and that is also shown as a constraint.Relevance Relevant accounting information is capable of making a difference in a decision by helping users to form predictions about the outcomes of past, present and future events or to confirm or correct prior expectations. Information can make a difference to decisions by improving decision makers capacities to predict or by providing feedback on earlier expectations. Usually, information does both at once, because knowledge about the outcomes of actions already taken will generally improve decision makers abilities to predict the results of similar future actions. Without a knowledge of the past, the basis for a prediction will usually be lacking. Without an interest in the future, knowledge of the past is sterile.Timeliness, that is, having information available to decision makers before it loses its capacity to influence decisions, is an ancillary aspect of relevance. If information is not available when it is needed or becomes available so long after the reported events that it has no value for future action, it lacks relevance and is of little or no use. Timeliness alone cannot make information relevant, but a lack of timeliness can rob information of relevance it might otherwise have had.ReliabilityThe reliability of a measure rests on the faithfulness with which it represents what it purports to represent, coupled with an assurance for the user that it has that representational quality. To be useful, information must be reliable as well as relevant. Degrees of reliability must be recognized. It is hardly ever a question of black or white, but rather of more reliability or less. Reliability rests upon the extent to which the accounting description or measurement is verifiable and representational faithful. Neutrality of information also interacts with those two components of reliability to affect the usefulness of the information.Verifiability is a quality that may be demonstrated by securing a high degree of consensus among independent measures using the same measurement methods. Representational faithfulness, on the other hand, refers to the correspondence or events those numbers purport to represent. A high degree of correspondence, however, does not guarantee that an accounting measurement will be relevant to the users needs if the resources or events represented by the measurement are inappropriate to the purpose at hand.Neutrality means that, in formulating or implementing standards, the primary concern should be the relevance and reliability of the information that results, not the effect that the new rule may have on a particular interest. A neutral choice between accounting alternatives is free from bias towards a predetermined result. The objectives of financial reporting serve many different information users who have diverse interests, and no one predetermined result is likely to suit all interests.Comparability and ConsistencyInformation about a particular enterprise gains greatly in usefulness, if it can be com pared with similar information about other enterprises and with similar information about the same enterprise for some other period or some other point in time. Comparability between enterprises and consistency in the application of methods over time increases the informational value of comparisons of relative economic opportunities or performance. The significance of information, especially quantitative information, depends to a great extent on the users ability to relate it to some benchmark.MaterialityMateriality is a pervasive concept that relates to the qualitative characteristics, especially relevance and reliability. Materiality and relevance are both defined in terms of what influences or makes a difference to a decision maker, but the two terms can be distinguished. A decision not to disclose certain information may be made, say, because investors have no need for that kind of information it is nit relevant or because the amounts involved are too small to make a difference they are not material . Magnitude by itself, without regard to the nature of the item and the circumstances in which the judgment has to be made, will not generally be a sufficient basis for a materiality judgment. The Boards present position is that no general standards of materiality ban be formulated to take into account all the considerations that enter into an experienced human judgment. Quantitative materiality criteria may be given by the Board in specific standards in the future, as in the past, as appropriate.Source: Journal of Accountancy;Aug80, Vol.150 Issue 2, P105-120,16p译文：财务会计概念的声明会计信息质量特征制定具体决策的主要特征相关性和可靠性是使会计信息对于制定决策有用的最主要的两个特征。受限制的条件有成本和重要性，增加关联和提高可靠性是使信息成为一个更好商品的特征，也就是对制定决策有用的特征。如果两者之中任何一个特征不满足，那么会计信息就没用了。虽然，理想的情况是，提供既是更可靠又是更相关的会计信息，但是也许有必要牺牲一个特征而满足另外一个特征的。相关性的要求是，会计信息必需是及时的，而且必需具有预测价值或者回馈价值，要么二者兼备。可靠性的要求是，会计信息必需是反映真实性的，而且必需具备可验证性和中立性。可比较性，也包括一致性，是会计信息的第二重要特征，它们与相关性和可靠性相互作用使会计信息对使用者有用。两个限制条件都包含在层次结构里，即也都符合定量性。会计信息是可以非常有用的，但是如果因为不符合标准而去调整它，要付出的代价也就太高了。为了有用和值得提供，会计信息取得的效益应该高于它的成本。所有会计信息质量特征的展现都受限制于重要性的特征，也就是一个约束条件。相关性相关的会计信息能够对制定决策产生影响，帮助会计信息使用者对过去，现在和将来发生事件的结构进行预测，或者帮助他们证实或者纠正之前的预期。会计信息也可以通过提高决策制定者的预测能力或者通过提供对之前预测的反馈信息来影响决策的制定。通常，会计信息都会立即同时起到这两个作用，因为行为结果的认识一般都会提高决策制定者预测相似未来行为的结果的能力。没有对过去的认识，就会缺乏对未来进行预测的基础。没有对未来预测的兴趣，对过去的认识也是没有任何意义的。及时性就是在会计信息失去它影响制定决策的能力前使它对决策制定者有用，它是从属于相关性的。如果会计信息当需要它的时候它没有效力，或者是在报道的事情发生后它变动有效力，那么它对于未来的行动也是没有价值的，也就是说它缺乏相关性或者说它是没有用的。单单只有及时性的会计信息不一定具备相关性，但是缺乏及时性会计信息也不会具备相关性，所有及时性是不可缺少的。可靠性可靠性的评估属性是体现着它反映真实性上面的，再加上它的对会计信息使用者的保证特征，这两者的结合代表了可靠性这一特征的最终目的。会计信息为了达到它的效用，就必需同时具备可靠性和相关性。可靠性的重要性是要被认知的。它代表的不仅仅是可靠性程度的多或者少，它更大的甚至代表了一个问题的黑白面。可靠性的程度依赖于会计类型和测量的可验证和真实反映程度。会计信息的中立性也与可靠性的这两个特点相互作用来影响会计信息的有用性。可验证性也是可靠性的一个特征，它的作用可能是在会计信息的独立测量中运用同样的测量方法来保卫它的保持一致程度。另一方面，反映真实性指的是一致性和发生事件的代表性。但是，如果会计信息的来源和事件的测量描述与手头的目标不相符，高的一致性也并不能保证会计测量满足会计信息使用者的要求。中立性的意思是，在公式化和实施的标准中，最主要关注的应该是会计信息的相关性和可靠性，而不是某个新的规则将会多大程度影响特别的利润的问题。中立性的选择也不会受已经事先所做选择结果的影响。编制财务报表的目的就是满足很多不同会计信息使用者的要求，他们都有着不同的利益需求，而且没有哪一种标准是可能满足所有利益需求的。可比性和一致性如果某个企业提供的会计信息与其它的企业提供的相似的会计信息具有可比性，或与此企业提供的不同时间段或者同一时段不同角度的会计信息具有可比性，那么这个企业的会计信息就会发挥它很大的作用。企业之间的可比性和会计方法运用的一致性增加了相关经济机会和表现的会计信息可比较性价值。会计信息的意义，特别是定量的会计信息，很大程度上都是依赖于使用者把相关信息与基准联系起来的能力。重要性重要性是一个与定性特征有关的普遍的概念，特别是与相关性和可靠性联系紧密。重要性和相关性两者都是站在对决策制定者产生影响的角度下定义的，但是这两个术语又可以相互区别开。某些不揭露会计信息的决策也会被制定出来，也就是说，因为投资者不需要此种会计信息（相关性小）或者是因为数量涉及的太小而不致于产生影响（不具重要性）。重要性本身一般不具有作出重要决策的基础，因为它不涉及到条款的本质，而且在此种情形下也必需作出决策。委员会现在对重要性的采用没有明确详细的表述出一致全方位考虑的标准，基本上都不能满足有经验的决策制定者的需求。委员会以后也许会在特定的标准中对重要性作出定量的标准，当然，这要视情况而定。 来源：.米勒?保罗，会计学期刊，2008（8），P105-120.1