Basic accounting work is the basic link of accounting work and an important foundation of economic management. With the deepening of reform and opening up and the development of socialist market economy, many units have realized the importance of basic accounting work, and combined it with improving management and establishing modern enterprise system, and actively took measures to improve and strengthen basic accounting work, whether it was the Accounting Law promulgated and implemented by 1985 or the Accounting Basic Work Standard formulated by 1996. The basic accounting work has been paid due attention to and is playing an increasingly important role in the management of the unit. This paper discusses the scope, present situation, reasons and the necessity of strengthening the basic accounting work.
First, the scope of basic accounting work
In order to understand the basic accounting work, we must define the scope of the basic accounting work. Basic accounting work is the general name of basic accounting work and accounting management services. It mainly includes: the format design, compilation, filling, review, transmission and storage of accounting vouchers, the setting, format, registration, inspection and closing of accounting books, the type setting, format design, compilation and audit requirements of accounting statements, the filing requirements, storage period, transmission procedures and destruction procedures of accounting files, and the hardware and software requirements of accounting computerization. The basic procedures and requirements of accounting supervision, the staffing and management requirements of accounting personnel, the establishment of accounting post responsibility system and the division of responsibilities, the establishment and implementation of the internal accounting management system of the unit, etc. It should be said that basic accounting work is a relatively broad concept, and some even include work directly or indirectly related to accounting work, such as quota management and measurement management. This fully shows the extensive scope of basic accounting work.
Second, the status quo of basic accounting work
In recent years, China has attached great importance to the basic accounting work, and accordingly formulated a series of rules and regulations to standardize the basic accounting work. At the same time, by strengthening the training of on-the-job accountants, the basic business skills of the majority of accountants have been continuously improved, which has promoted the improvement and improvement of the basic accounting work. However, there are still many weak links in the basic accounting work, mainly in:
1. The subject setting is not in compliance with the regulations, the attribute is false, and the data is distorted.
For example, some companies don't set up "cash" and "bank deposit" in the general ledger, but they have "cash" and "bank deposit" journals without "profit distribution". Article 36 of the Standards stipulates: "All units shall set up accounting books and conduct accounting in accordance with the Accounting Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) and the unified national accounting system, and shall not arbitrarily or even misuse accounting subjects. The Accounting System for Industrial Enterprises clearly stipulates the accounting subjects used, including bank deposits, cash and profit distribution, but excluding monetary funds and undistributed profits. Obviously, some companies do not set up such subjects as "bank deposit", "cash" and "profit distribution" in the general ledger, which does not meet the requirements of subject setting, and it is easy to cause false enterprise property and distorted data.
2. Fill in accounting vouchers at will.
Regarding the filling of accounting vouchers, the standards clearly point out: "Accounting vouchers are a kind of vouchers used to determine the nature and classification of economic business, that is, accounting entries, and accountants must fill in accounting vouchers according to the original vouchers that have been verified without error." Except for accounting vouchers for closing accounts and correcting errors, other accounting vouchers must be accompanied by original vouchers, and some unit accountants can fill in accounting vouchers at will. It is extremely wrong to debit "fixed assets" and credit "raw materials" without any original documents.
3. Accounting and closing do not meet the requirements, the procedures are unclear and the mistakes are serious.
Some companies do not record the amount when recording the general ledger, but only the balance; Some units use pencils to keep accounts; Some units did not register subsidiary ledger and general ledger respectively according to "accounting voucher" and "account summary table", which made subsidiary ledger and general ledger inconsistent. The Standard clearly stipulates that accountants should keep accounts according to the audited accounting vouchers, and record the date, number, business summary, amount and other related information of the accounting vouchers item by item. On the one hand, each accounting item should be recorded in the relevant general ledger, on the other hand, it should be recorded in the subsidiary ledger to which the general ledger belongs. Accounting should be written in blue-black or carbon ink, not ballpoint pens or pencils. The amount of occurrence is extremely important information and must be registered in time and accurately. Some accountants use pencils to keep accounts, not because they don't know the rules, but because they don't strictly follow the rules. The discrepancy between general ledger and subsidiary ledger is also caused by irregular accounting. Failure to meet the requirements of account closing includes two aspects: first, it is not standardized for each account page to be carried forward to the next page after registration, and some accountants do not mark it in the first line of the next page and directly record it in the new economic business; Some only put the words "previous page" and "previous page carry-over", without any digital carry-over. Second, the year-end closing is not standardized, and some accounting year-end closing is not done at all, which can not clearly reflect the accumulated amount of the whole year from the books; Some unit accountants gild the lily when closing the accounts at the end of the year, transferring the balance of the account with balance from the debit or credit of the account respectively, making the balance zero, which is particularly easy to be confused with the account without balance. According to the Standard, when the accounts are closed at the end of the year, all general ledger accounts should have the year-end balance of the annual amount, and the accounts with the balance should carry forward the balance to the next year. The practice of the above units is easy to confuse the difference between a balance account and a non-balance account.
4. The financial report data is untrue
With regard to the preparation of financial reports, it is clearly pointed out in the guidelines that they should be prepared according to the records of registered and checked complete accounting books and other relevant materials, so that the figures are true, the calculations are accurate, the contents are complete and the explanations are clear. However, in order to cover up the real financial situation and operating results, some units arbitrarily tamper with or forge false accounting vouchers, accounting books and accounting statements; Some accountants violate accounting professional ethics, do not exercise their accounting supervision functions seriously, participate in illegal and disciplinary activities, and even make suggestions for illegal and disciplinary activities, and so on. There are still many accounting items that do not meet the requirements. These problems not only weaken the basic work of accounting, affect the normal operation of accounting work order and the effective play of accounting functions, but also interfere with the social and economic order to a certain extent, which has a very serious negative impact on the operation and management of various units.
Third, the accounting basic work is not standardized reasons
There are four reasons why the basic accounting work is not standardized.
1. Insufficient understanding of basic accounting.
The influence of basic accounting work on accounting management is often indirect. Because of this, some unit leaders think that it doesn't matter if they don't pay attention to the basic accounting work, and only regard the accounting department as the window of payment. They think that accounting work is just income and expenditure, and it's nothing. All the work is in the hands of the leaders, and there is no need to learn business and update knowledge, which leads to some accountants' lack of understanding of the basic accounting work, which leads to the inconsistency between all aspects of accounting work and the system requirements, thus affecting the improvement of the whole accounting work level and management level.
2. The quality of accounting personnel is not high, ignoring learning.
Some accountants have a low level of academic education, do not pay attention to further study, and can't figure out the corresponding relationship between subjects, account books and statements. There are also some accountants who have a certain level of business, but have long neglected to learn new business knowledge and new accounting laws and regulations, and always handle accounts according to their own habits. So they don't understand some new accounting systems and accounting requirements. In addition, there are some accountants who are familiar with some basic accounting rules. However, due to the lack of proper professional ethics, they do not seriously implement the system, do not follow the regulations, covet simplicity, and lower their working standards, resulting in irregular accounting work.
3. Intentional violation of discipline caused confusion in basic accounting work.
In order to cover up the real financial situation and operating results and achieve illegal purposes such as tax evasion, transfer of assets and establishment of "small treasury", some units deliberately fail to keep accounts, settle accounts and submit accounts in accordance with the unified national accounting system, and take the opportunity to "fish in troubled waters".
4. The supervision and inspection of the competent department is not enough.
The higher authorities of some grass-roots units have not taken the responsibility of supervision and inspection, so the accounting work of these units is actually in a state of long-term unsupervised and inspection. Whether the basic accounting work is standardized, whether the accounting procedures meet the requirements, and whether the financial accounting system is sound, no one has asked, or although there are some inspections, most of them are special inspections, lacking comprehensive inspection, supervision and guidance on the basic accounting work of grass-roots units. Therefore, the basic accounting work of these units depends entirely on the professional ethics and professional level of accountants.
Fourth, the necessity of strengthening the basic accounting work
From the above analysis, we can see that there are some weak links in the basic accounting work of many units. With the development of socialist market economy, the necessity of strengthening basic accounting work has attracted more and more attention from all walks of life.
First of all, strengthening the basic accounting work is the need to improve the level of accounting work. Basic accounting work is the basic link of accounting work. Without this basic link, accounting work would be impossible. Accounting is an important economic management activity, which accounts for and supervises economic activities by collecting, processing, utilizing and providing accounting information, thus serving for improving and strengthening management. If there is no sound basic accounting work, the collection, processing, utilization and provision of accounting information will lose its reliable guarantee, and the level of accounting work will not be improved. From the reality, some units have unclear and chaotic accounts, so it is difficult for accounting work to play its due role in unit management.
Secondly, strengthening the basic work of accounting is the need to standardize the order of accounting work. Standardized basic accounting work is the guarantee of normal and orderly accounting work. In recent years, especially after the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the state attaches great importance to the standardization of basic accounting work. With the transformation of public ownership, the reorganization of assets of state-owned enterprises and the implementation of joint-stock system, more and more people pay attention to enterprise statements. Whether it is a state-controlled shareholder or a part-owned shareholder, it is required to obtain the true and reliable financial data of the enterprise, and objectively require the accounting work to conform to the basic accounting work norms.
Third, strengthening the basic work of accounting is the need to improve the quality of accounting personnel. Accountants are the protagonists of accounting work, and basic accounting work is the most direct object of accounting work. Strengthening the basic work of accounting, urging accountants to start with the most basic aspects of accounting work, constantly improving and strengthening accounting work, and improving the level of accounting work will play a direct role in improving the professional quality of accountants. Accountants should clearly understand the situation, seriously study and implement the standards, and make their work meet the requirements of the standards. They should have a sense of crisis and a sense of responsibility. They should learn and implement the code, and constantly improve their professional level, regardless of their own interests or the interests of state enterprises.
Fourth, strengthening the basic accounting work is the need to improve management, strengthen macro-control and maintain the market economic order. Accounting work serves to improve management, strengthen macro-control and maintain market economic order by generating and providing accounting information. When providing the above services, accounting work must be guaranteed by sound accounting basic work. In practical work, the basic accounting work in some units is relatively weak, resulting in false property, unclear family background, inaccurate data and useless information, which not only has a negative impact on the internal management of units, but also easily leads to national macro-economic mistakes by providing false accounting information. At the same time, the disorder of accounting basic work will also aggravate the disorder of social and economic order.
Whether the basic accounting work is standardized not only affects the normal operation of the accounting work order, but also affects the social and economic order to a certain extent, directly affecting the operation and management of each unit and the operation of the whole market. Therefore, we must strengthen the basic work of accounting.
[References]
[1] Compilation Group of Training Textbooks for Basic Accounting Work Norms. People's Republic of China (PRC) Ministry of Finance Accounting Department Accounting Basic Work Standard Training Textbook. Beijing: Economic Science Press, 1998.
[2] Geng Jianxin and Hong Xu. Accounting in public institutions. Beijing: Economic Daily Press, 1996.
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