外幣折算會計簡史[文獻翻譯]

1、本科畢業(yè)論文（設計）外 文 翻 譯題 目 外幣報表折算方法分析及中國的選擇初探 專 業(yè) 會 計 學 外文題目 a brief history of accounting for the translation of foreign currencies 外文出處 journal of management history 外文作者 todd jackson, doris m. cook 原文：a brief history of accounting for the translation of foreign currenciesaccounting for the translation

2、of foreign currency is a topic that has received a great deal of attention from the various accounting standard-setting bodies this century. the attention given to this topic is a natural result of the phenomenal increase in international trade that has taken place.trade among enterprises domiciled

3、in different countries can be traced back to ancient times. the phoenicians are remembered as the great barterers of the ancient world. during the latter part of the middle ages, enterprising individuals saw that the establishment of foreign branches could facilitate international trade. the importa

4、nce of international commerce to the economic well-being of nations has increased ever since.accounting for foreign operations and transactions has taken many forms throughout history. this paper primarily discusses the evolution of accounting for foreign currency translation in the usa in the twent

5、ieth century. however, some of the evidence of foreign currency accounting practices from the ancient greeks to the colonial americans are discussed first.some early foreign currency accounting practicesthe existence of foreign currency transactions can be traced back to the earliest civilization kn

6、own to have used coined money, the ancient greeks. the invention of coined money is believed to have taken place in this civilization about bc 630 (chatfield, 1977, p. 21). although the use of coinage spread rather slowly, in time a number of the greek city-states issued their own coins. these greek

7、 city-states engaged in trade with each other, thus resulting in essentially foreign currency transactions. the ancient greeks often translated to the local coinage transactions denominated in a foreign coinage, but this treatment was not consistent (littleton and yamey, 1956, p. 21). they also were

8、 inclined to record quantities of commodities and units of a foreign currency in the accounts.during the middle ages (400 to 1400 ad), international trade expanded significantly as a result of the crusades which stimulated european demand for foreign goods. toward the end of this period foreign trad

9、e had become quite prevalent and the establishment of foreign business branches was a natural result. in the datini archives is a balance sheet for the barcelona branch dated january 31, 1399, and an income statement covering the period from 11 july 1397 to 31 january 1399. the income statement is i

10、nteresting because it contains an account entitled pro di cambio (profits on foreign exchange (littleton and yamey, 1956, p. 145). the barcelona branch kept the accounts with the foreign correspondents, the nostro accounts, in terms of both the foreign currencies and the local currency. at a point i

11、n time, the exchange profit or loss was calculated by taking the difference between the balances stated in the foreign currencies and the balances stated in the local currency (littleton and yamey, 1956, p. 145).a similar accounting technique was used by colonial american merchants during the 15 yea

12、rs between 1795 and 1810 when businesses were making the transition from english pounds to us dollars. the accounts of these merchants were often kept in terms of both currencies (littleton and yamey, 1956, p. 287).early twentieth century foreign currency accountinga 1900 textbook by george lisle, a

13、n english chartered accountant, describes accounting for foreign currencies at that time in england (lisle, 1900). lisle wrote that domestic companies that have branches in foreign countries “should convert the transactions which take place in the various local currencies into pounds sterling on a c

14、orrect basis, with the view of these transactions being recorded in the home book and being submitted in the annual abstract of accounts to the proprietors of the business” (lisle, 1900, p . 285). he noted that a number of erroneous principles were being used by companies at that time for converting

15、 their foreign transactions.according to lisle, when the trial balance of a foreign branch is sent home, the first thing to be done is to convert each item to pounds sterling (lisle, 1900, p. 288). he stated that various exchange rates should be used to translate the items in the trial balance. he e

16、ssentially advocated what later came to be known as the monetary-nonmonetary method.the impact of the first world war on foreign currency accountingbefore the first world war, exchange rates were fairly stable and the volume of trade between usa and european nations was not so great as to make the t

17、opic of foreign currency translation a major issue in the usa. a number of accounting texts were written after lisles which contain no discussion on the topic. the stability of exchange rates prior to the first world war can be attributed largely to the fact that most nations had established a fixed

18、 relationship between their currencies and the gold standard (roberts, 1920, p. 321).one of the effects of the first world war was to make the shipping of gold practically impossible. as a result, when the usa entered the war in 1917, it chose to go off the gold standard (gray, 1983, p. 261). by the

19、 end of the war, most other nations had also gone off the gold standard (finney, 1923, p. 451).however, the stability of exchange rates is also dependent on a stable set of trade relations. the first world war upset that stability. the european industries became disorganized and were desperately in

20、need of raw materials that could only be obtained from the usa. roberts described the situation by stating that “we have seen the european exchange sinking lower and lower from month to month” (roberts, 1920, p. 325).the exchange rate instability prompted renewed interest in accounting for foreign c

21、urrency translation in the usa. in 1921, h.a. finney wrote that accountants would now “have to understand the principles involved in the accounting for foreign commerce and the conversion of foreign balances” (finney, 1923, p. 451).in his discussion of the appropriate methodology for translating the

22、 accounts of a foreign branch, finney advocated the monetary-nonmonetary method that was prescribed by lisle in 1900 for balance sheet items. however, for nominal accounts, he felt that end of the period exchange rates were preferable to average exchange rates (finney, 1923, p. 458).the impact of th

23、e great depressionby 1925, most nations had gone back to the gold standard and the foreign exchange stabilized (gray, 1983, p. 261). the worldwide great depression of the 1930s, however, proved to be too much for the gold standard. according to mcconnell, each nation became afraid that “its economic

24、 recovery would be aborted by a balance of payments deficit which would lead to an outflow of gold and consequent contractionary effects” (mcconnell, 1981, p. 855). in an attempt to bolster exports and reduce imports, several nations began to devalue their currencies in terms of gold (mcconnell, 198

25、1, p. 855). the result of these devaluations was a breakdown of the gold standard system.during this time, the number of writings on foreign currency accounting increased. an early article by cecil s. ashdown described the current-noncurrent method (ashdown, 1922, p. 262). the most notable publicati

26、on was a recommendation made in 1931 by a special committee on accounting procedure of the american institute of accountants (now aicpa) that the current-noncurrent method be used (aia, 1931). this was the first official pronouncement on the subject in the usa. this method essentially involves: the

27、translation of current assets and current liabilities at end of year exchange rates; and noncurrent assets and noncurrent liabilities at historical exchange rates. the nominal accounts were to be translated at average exchange rates (the same as monetary-nonmonetary method). the committee reiterated

28、 their position in another bulletin in 1934 (aia, 1934).foreign currency provisions of arb 4the special committee was disbanded in 1938 and the new committee on accounting procedures (cap) took over. in december 1939, the cap issued accounting research bulletin no. 4 (arb 4) entitled “foreign operat

29、ions and foreign exchange”. in 1953, arb 4 was incorporated into arb 43 as chapter 12 (aicpa, 1953). this bulletin essentially repeated the special committees endorsement of the current-noncurrent method but also stressed the desirability of conservatism when reporting foreign earnings and consolida

30、ting foreign subsidiaries. arb 4 also required that both realized and unrealized losses in foreign exchange be charged against operations and that realized gains be credited to operations (aicpa, 1953). the bulletin stated that unrealized gains should only be recognized to the extent of unrealized l

31、osses charged to income in prior periods (aicpa, 1953).impact of the second world warwith the stimulus of additional economic turmoil created by the second world war, leaders of the major industrial nations set out to create an economic system that would not be susceptible to the risk of another dep

32、ression. one significant result of their efforts was a fixed exchange rate system established in a conference at bretton woods, new hampshire, in 1944 (gordon, 1987, p. 544).for some years, the bretton woods system worked well. but, economic pressures soon came to bear again and nations began to dep

33、art from the agreement by devaluing their currencies in relation to the us dollar. the resulting instability created new interest in foreign currency accounting. in 1948, a.b. hecker, an english chartered accountant, described the reporting situation of the time as follows: “increasing chaos in fore

34、ign currency rates makes impossible general rules for handling statements of foreign subsidiaries” (hecker, 1948).the economic situation raised many questions about the appropriateness of the current-noncurrent method. one of the critics was samuel r. hepworth who is usually given primary credit for

35、 developing the monetary-nonmonetary method of translation (hepworth, 1956, p. 8). monetary assets and liabilities are those which are fixed in terms of a number of units of a foreign currency. nonmonetary assets and liabilities are not so fixed.the current-noncurrent method, however, prevailed as t

36、he only acceptable method until october 1965 when the accounting principles board (apb) opinion no. 6, in substance, permitted the use of the monetary-nonmonetary method. the opinion stated that it might often be appropriate to translate long-term receivables and long-term payables, which are essent

37、ially monetary assets and liabilities, at current exchange rates (apb, 1965). at this time, both methods were used in practice and accepted by the authoritative bodies.the exchange rate effects of the vietnam warthe problems with the bretton woods system became more acute in the 1960s owing to an ac

38、celeration of inflation in the usa, relative to the inflation rates of other countries because of the heavy spending by the us government on the vietnam war and an easy monetary policy. this change in relative inflation rates caused a decline in us exports and an increase in us imports (gordon, 1987

39、, p. 545). this change in trade structure made it impossible to maintain a system of fixed exchange rates between the usa and other countries. by 1971, it was clear that a more equitable system had to be devised. that year, the smithsonian agreement was made which essentially put the world in a flex

40、ible exchange rate system by 1973 (gordon, 1987, p. 546).accounting research study no. 12in june 1972, the accounting research division issued accounting research study no. 12, “reporting foreign operations of us companies in us dollars”, by leonard lorensen. this ars reviewed the current-noncurrent

41、 and monetary-nonmonetary methods then in practice in the usa, as well as the current rate method which had been recommended by standard setting bodies in england and scotland (lorensen, 1972, p. 8). this latter method translates all assets and liabilities at the exchange rate effective on the balan

42、ce sheet date.the fasbs efforts to standardize accounting for foreign currency translationthe fasb statement no. 8 was one of the most heavily criticized pronouncements issued by the fasb. the chief objection to the statement was the required recognition of all exchange gains and losses, whether rea

43、lized or not, in the income statement. hence, in 1981, fasb statement no. 52, “foreign currency translation”, replaced the controversial statement no. 8. it was adopted by a four to three vote. the primary changes relate to translation of foreign currency statements.the major objectives of statement

44、 no. 52 are to: provide information that is generally compatible with the expected economic effects of a rate change on an enterprises cash flows and equity; and reflect in consolidated statements the financial results and relationships of the individual consolidated entities as measured in their fu

45、nctional currencies in conformity with usa generally accepted accounting principles (fasb, 1981). conclusionproblems in accounting for the translation of foreign currencies are as old as money itself, but in the usa these problems have been of primary concern in the twentieth century. interest in ac

46、counting for foreign currency translation seems to have varied directly with the instability of exchange rates, of particular notability is the interest created by the unsettling economic effects of the major wars this century including the first and second world wars, and the vietnam war.the cap, t

47、he apb, and particularly the fasb have devoted significant efforts to the development of accounting principles in this area. although no pronouncement has been without criticism, statement no. 52 appears to be have weathered the storm quite well since its issuance in 1981.source: journal of manageme

48、nt history ,todd jackson, doris m. cook譯文：外幣折算會計簡史外幣折算會計在本世紀受到了各類會計準則委員會的關注。這一關注的產生來源于當今國際貿易的興起。跨國交易的歷史可追溯到古時候。腓尼基人是史上有名的大商人。在中世紀的后半葉，商人們意識到在國外建立企業(yè)分支可促進國際貿易，自那時起，國際貿易對于國民經濟的重要性與日俱增。外幣折算會計在歷史上經歷了多種形式的轉變。本文主要闡述二十世紀以來美國的外幣折算會計的演變過程。但在此之前會先討論從古希臘人到殖民地美國人時期的外幣折算會計實踐。一些早期的外幣折算會計外幣交易的產生最早可追溯到古希臘人開始使用鑄幣的時候。

49、鑄幣發(fā)明于公元前630年，但是鑄幣的傳播相當緩慢，古希臘的一些城邦發(fā)行了自己的鑄幣。這些古希臘城邦彼此之間有貿易往來，因此形成了最早的國際貿易。古希臘人也會在交易時用外國貨幣直接兌換成本地貨幣，但這一現(xiàn)象并不常見，他們更傾向于在帳面上記錄通過交易收到的外國貨幣數量和商品數。在中世紀，隨著十字軍遠征至歐洲并大大刺激了歐洲的貨物需求，國際貿易得到大力發(fā)展。直至世紀末，國際貿易得到普及并自然帶來了很多跨國組織。在datini 檔案館保存有1399年1月31日一家企業(yè)設在巴塞羅那的分公司的資產負債表，以及1397年6月31日至1399年1月31日的利潤表。這份利潤表很有意思，它包括了一個名為pro d

50、i cambio（國外交易利潤）的帳目。這家巴塞羅那分公司一直記錄著有關外幣和本幣交易的往來賬，其匯兌差額由外幣期末余額和本幣期末余額的換算差異產生。在1795年到 1805年的十五年間，美國殖民地時期的商人也使用該方法來記錄美元和英鎊的交易。這些商人往往會用兩種貨幣進行記賬。二十世紀初的外幣折算會計在喬治賴爾（一位英國注冊會計師）于1900年編寫的一本書中，他描述了英國當時的外幣折算會計。喬治寫道：那些在國外擁有分支機構的本國公司，以總公司報表的角度來說，應當將所有用各種貨幣進行的交易最終轉換成以英鎊為計量單位入賬，并在年報中進行確認，最終上交給企業(yè)的所有者。他提到當時的企業(yè)在進行外幣交易折

51、算時使用了一些錯誤的準則。根據喬治的說法，當一家在國外的分公司將他的交易記錄傳回本部時，首先應進行的步驟是將外幣項目全部折算成英鎊。他認為不同的項目應使用不同的匯率進行折算，這在后來演變成為了“貨幣項目-非貨幣項目法”。第一次世界大戰(zhàn)對外幣折算會計的影響在第一次世界大戰(zhàn)以前，各國貨幣匯率基本保持穩(wěn)定，并且英美兩國的貿易量并沒有龐大到使外幣折算成為美國會計界的一大問題。許多在喬治賴爾之后出版的會計教材中并沒有對外幣折算進行討論。一戰(zhàn)前的穩(wěn)定匯率很大程度上取決于各國已經建立了平衡的貨幣-金本位制關系。但是穩(wěn)定的匯率同時也依賴于穩(wěn)定的貿易關系。第一次世界大戰(zhàn)打破了這種穩(wěn)定關系。歐洲的工業(yè)陷入混亂并且急需只能在美國才能獲取的原材料。羅伯特描述道：我們眼見著英鎊匯率一個月接一個月地下降。匯率的不穩(wěn)定引發(fā)了美國對于外幣折算會計的新興趣。1921年，h.a芬尼寫道：現(xiàn)在的會計師不得不去學習和理解有關外幣折算和國外貿易平衡的準則知識。在談到用適當的方法對國外分支機構的賬戶進行折算處理時，芬尼提倡的是賴爾在1900年提出的“貨幣項目-非貨幣項目”法。但是他認為在損益類賬戶的折算匯率選擇上，選擇期末匯率比期間平均匯率更優(yōu)。大蕭條的影響到了1925年，大部分國家回歸到金本位制度，外匯匯率也逐漸穩(wěn)定下來。但1930年代發(fā)生的大蕭條說明金本位制度實行過了頭。各國均擔心由于國際收支逆差會帶來資金