财务报表舞弊的原因,后果和威胁外文翻译

财务报表舞弊的原因，后果和威胁财务报表舞弊是一种由企业蓄意欺骗或通过编制和传播重大误报的财务报表来误导财 务报表使用者的行为， 尤其是投资者和债权人， 严重威胁市场参与者对已公布的经审计的财 务报表信心。由于大公司舞弊行为大量被报道，如朗讯、施乐、来德爱、胜腾、安然公司、 环球电讯、世界通讯公司、阿德尔菲亚公司和泰科，财务报表欺诈（FSF）引起了公众、新 闻媒体、投资者、金融界和监管机构的关注。 过去几年，财务报表舞弊使投资者损失超过 5000 亿美元。2002 年 10 月，美国总审计 局（GAO）发布了一份关于在过去数年由于会计违规行为引起重述的数量显着增加的报告， 总结了最近引人注目的财务报表样本涉嫌欺诈案件，包括安然、世通和环球电讯公司。本文 通过对 5 个互相影响的因素进行解释和说明， 分析进行财务报表舞弊行为的原因和财务报表 欺诈的后果，并提出防范的建议。而财务报表舞弊是因为公司治理不善和监管不严，会计准 则的不健全；动机是为企业获得更多资金。 在“犯罪”单词中的第一个字母是“C” ，这是“捏造”的意思。2002 年总审计局报告 表明，从 2001 年 1 月至 2002 年 2 月，与会计相关的 SEC 案件共 150 件，其中将近 75%的是 针对上市公司或其董事、职员和雇员，以及 25%涉及到会计师事务所和注册会计师。第二个 字母是“R” ，代表着“方法” 的意思。财务报表舞弊有各种不同的方式，从最频繁发生的， 如收入诈骗，到最不经常出现的，如应付账款诈骗。财务报表欺诈的方法可以从夸大收入和 资产到低估负债和费用， 通常开始与谎报临时的财务报表及持续到年度的报表。 财务报表欺 诈的方法可能由下列几种： （1）伪造、 篡改或操纵财务记录材料、证明文件或商业交易;（2） 故意误报、漏报材料、交易、账户或其他重要信息的真实情况;（3）故意曲解会计准则和政 策，错误的执行方法来衡量，认识和报告经济活动和商业交易;（4）积极通过管理会计方法 的非法收益的使用;（5）会计实务操作，公司隐瞒其经济实质表现。 “犯罪”单词中的第三个字母是“I” ，代表着“动机”的意思，并解释了公司及对其财 务报表粉饰的最常见的动机。 即使有其他类型的动机如精神上的、 自我中心的或意识形态的 动机可以在财务报表舞弊中发挥作用， 但经济是财务报表欺诈案件的共同动机。 为达到华尔 街的经济预测的压力和诱惑， 是上市公司从事财务报表舞弊行为的根本动机。 当公司具有强 烈的动机和经济理由来报告那些更优于被会计原则 （GAAP） 规定所接受的普通报告的财务业 绩时，财务报表舞弊行为更有可能发生。第四个字母是“M” ，是“监测”的意思。上市公司 财务报告的过程包括监测机制。这监测机制又包括⑴对董事会、审计委员会、外部审计师和 监管机构的直接监督作用，⑵按照该公司的所有者或投资者，中介人如分析师、机构投资者 和投资银行家进行间接监督。最后一个字母是“E” ，是“最后结果”的意思。由于企业的成 本是非常重要的，所以这必然是公司进行财务报表欺诈的罪行的一个强大动机。1991 年弗 洛兹等研究了 188 家被 SEC 制裁的公司， 发现对即使不成功的财务报告欺诈行为的罚则也是 重要的。1994 年，戴维森等人发现资本市场并不认为所有公司的违法行为同样严重，因此，市场对公司违规的严重程度有着不同的反应。戴维森等人还发现没有证据显示股市对因逃 税、盗窃商业秘密、对客户收取回扣被起诉的公司的市场效应，同时，他们发现显着的负股 票的受贿指控，操纵价格，或起诉的公司的市场效应欺诈性财务报告。1996 年德肖等人发 现财务报表欺诈行为大大增加了企业的资本成本。 由于与财务报表舞弊甚至是失败的欺诈活 动相关的财务报表的成本高， 使公司有正当的理由和强烈的动机来决定进行这类活动， 强迫 企业进行非法的行为。 财务报表舞弊行为严重威胁市场参与者对财务信息的信心； 估计花费公司重大资金； 以 及这一行为被认为是不可接受的、非法的企业行为。进行财务报表舞弊行为的机会增加，使 公司的控制结构削弱，公司的治理变得不那么有效，也恶化了其审计职能的质量。 要防范财务报表舞弊行为， 就应完善公司治理； 加强公司的财务报告和提供可靠和有关 资料， 公司的条件和结果披露质量; 确保在提高审计人员的客观， 独立的会计师事务所更有 效的监督其审计质量; 避免审计人员从事的活动可能造成潜在的利益冲突 （如内部审计， 信 息技术）和创建一个新的会计监管体系、改善审计效果，此外，还要鼓励上市公司参与建立 防欺诈和检测战略，防止方面发挥积极作用并发现财务报表欺诈行为。 这篇文章表明， 财务报表舞弊可以等同于犯罪一词， 其单词中的“C”是代表伪造， “R” 是代表方法，“I”是代表动机，“M”是代表监测或是缺乏监测，以及“E”是代表最后结 果。 从文中也得出一个信息， 财务报表舞弊是一种严重威胁投资者对财务信息的信心的行为。 财务报表舞弊对经审计的财务报表的诚信， 质量和可靠性产生不利的影响。 无论是企业还是 政府部门都需要调整。 企业需要完善公司治理， 加强公司的财务报告和提供可靠、 有关资料。 财务报告程序的可靠性、透明度和一致性，使投资者作出明智的决定。对政府部门而言，完 善会计准则和其他相关制度，建立一个健全的会计监管体系是防范财务报表欺诈的重要措 施。除此之外，政府部门还应加强监督。Causes, consequences and deterence of financial statement fraud Zabihollah Rezaee(2005)Critical Perspectives on Accounting 277-298Financial statement fraud is a deliberate attempt by corporations to deceive or mislead investors and creditors of published financial statements, especially investors and creditors, by preparing and disseminating materially misstated financial statements，and it is a serious threat to market participants’ confidence in published audited financial statements. Financial statement fraud (FSF) has received considerable attention from the public, press, investors, the financial community, and regulators because of high profile reported fraud at large companies such as Lucent, Xerox, Rite Aid, Cendant, Enron Corporation, Global Crossing, World Com, Adelphia, and Tyco. Financial statement fraud has cost investors more than $500 billion during the past several years. The US General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report in October 2002,which indicates that the number of restatements due to accounting irregularities has grown significantly during the past several years, and it summarizes a sample of the most recent high profile alleged financial statement fraud cases, including Enron, WorldCom, and Global Crossing. This paper analysis the causes and consequences of financial statement fraud by explaining and justifying the five interactive factors， brings up the recommendations for the prevention. The motivations of and financial statement fraud are irresponsible and ineffective monitoring by corporate governance, imperfect accounting standards, companies to obtain more funds and so on. The first letter in the word “CRIME” is “C”, which stands for “COOKS”. The GAO report (2002) indicates that almost 75% of the total 150 accounting-related SEC cases brought from January 2001 to February 2002 were against public companies or their directors, officers, and employees where as the other 25% involved accounting firms and CPAs. The second letter in the word “CRIME” is “R”, which stands for “RECIPES”. Financial statement fraud can be committed in a variety of ways, ranging from most frequently occurring such as revenue frauds to least commonly occurring such as accounts payable frauds. Recipes of financial statement fraud can range from overstating revenues and assets to understating liabilities and expenses, which typically began with misstatement of interim financial statements and continue into annual financial statements. Financial statement fraud may involve the following schemes (1) falsification, alteration, or manipulation of material financial records, supporting documents, or businesstransactions; (2) material intentional misstatements, omissions, or misrepresentations of events, transactions, accounts or other significant information from which financial statements are prepared; (3) deliberate misapplication, intentional misinterpretation, and wrongful execution of accounting standards, principles, policies and methods used to measure, recognize, and report economic events and business transactions; (4) the use of aggressive accounting techniques through illegitimate earnings management; and (5) manipulation of accounting practices under the existing rules-based accounting standards which have become too detailed and too easy to circumvent and contain loopholes that allow companies to hide the economic substance of their performance. The third letter in the word “CRIME” is “I”, which stands for “INCENTIVES”, and ex-plains the most common motivations for companies and their cooks to perpetrate financial statement fraud. Economic incentives are common in financial statement fraud cases, even though other types of motives such as psychotic, egocentric, or ideological motives can play a role in financial statement fraud. Economic pressure and incentives to meet Wall Street forecasts are the fundamental motives for publicly traded companies to engage in financial statement fraud. Financial statement fraud is more likely to occur when a company has a strong motive and economic reason to report more favorable financial performance than otherwise would be reported by complying with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) requirements. The fourth letter in the word “CRIME” is “M”, which stands for “MONITORING”. The financial reporting process of publicly traded companies includes a monitoring mechanism. The monitoring mechanism consists of (1) a direct oversight function of the board of directors, the audit committee, external auditors, and regulatory agencies and (2) an indirect overseeing function by those who follow the company in the role of owner/investor as an intermediary such as analysts, institutional investors, and investment bankers. The last letter in the word “CRIME” is “E”, which stands for “END RESULTS”. There must be a strong motivation for corporations to engage in financial statement fraud because the costs of corporate offenses can be very significant. Davidson et al. (1994) find that the capital markets did not view all corporate offenses as equally severe and thus, the market reacted differently to the seriousness of violations by corporations. Feroz et al. (1991) studied 188 firms that were sanctioned by the SEC and find that penalties for even unsuccessful financial statement fraud are significant. Davidson et al. （1994） detect no evidence of a stock market effect for firms indicted for tax evasion, theft of trade secrets, kickbacks, and over charging customers while they detected significant negative stock market effects for firms indicted on charges of bribery, price-fixing, or fraudulent financial reporting. Dechow et al. (1996) find that the cost of capital for firms convicted of financial statement fraud significantly increased. Given the high cost associated with financial statement fraud and even unsuccessful fraudulentfinancial reporting activities, the decision by corporations to engage in such activities must be justified by strong motives that compel firms to behave illegally. Financial statement fraud is a serious threat to market participants’ confidence in financial information; estimated to cost corporations substantial money; and viewed as unacceptable, illegal corporate conduct. The opportunity to engage in financial statement fraud increases as the firm’s control structure weakens, its corporate governance becomes less effective, and the quality of its audit functions deteriorates. To prevent fraud the financial statements, it should be improve corporate governance; enhance the quality of corporate financial reporting and disclosures in providing reliable and relevant information regarding companies’ conditions and results; ensure a more effective oversight of public accounting firms in enhancing auditors’ objectivity, independence, and quality of their audits; refrain auditors to engage in activities that may create potential conflicts of interest (e.g. internal audit outsourcing, information technology); and create a new accounting regulatory system, improve efficacy of audits, what’s more , the commission of financial statement fraud by high profile corporations encourages publicly traded companies to take proactive roles by establishing fraud prevention and detection strategies to prevent and detect financial statement fraud. This article demonstrates that financial statement fraud can be equated to the term CRIME when “C” stands for Cooks, “R” for Recipes, “I” for Incentives, “M” for Monitoring or lack of it, and “E” for End Results. One message from this article is that financial statement fraud is a serious threat to investors’ confidence in financial information. Financial statement fraud adversely affects the integrity, quality, and reliability of published audited financial statements. Both corporations and government need to make adjustments. Corporations need to improve corporate governance and enhance the quality of corporate financial reporting and disclosures in providing reliable and relevant information. The reliability, transparency, and uniformity of the financial reporting process allow investors to make intelligent decisions. As for government improving accounting standards and other related systems, and creating a sound accounting regulatory system are important measures of preventing financial statements fraud. What’s more , government also should strengthen supervision.