Since the early 1990s, the United Nations Economic and Trade Organization clearly put forward "knowledge-based", "knowledge economy" has become a global hot topic. Many experts at home and abroad have different views on what knowledge economy is, but their understanding of its essence is the same. According to the definition of knowledge economy by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), knowledge economy is based on the production, distribution and use of knowledge and information. Therefore, knowledge economy is essentially an economy with the possession and allocation of intellectual resources and the production, distribution and consumption (use) of technology-based knowledge as important factors, which is different from the previous economy with tradition as the pillar industry and resources as the main support.

First, the elements and characteristics of the knowledge economy

As the third economic form after agricultural economy and industrial economy, knowledge economy has the following basic elements.

(1) knowledge. This is the basic element of knowledge economy. The so-called knowledge is information that expresses people's knowledge and understanding of the world in a certain form and makes people contact with repeated information. Knowledge can be divided into four categories:

( 1)Know-what)； It is, that is, what it knows;

(2) Know why, that is, know why;

(3) knowledge of how to do it, that is, know-how;

(4) You know who the knowledge is.

(2) information. This is the driving force of knowledge economy. Society is an information society. It can be said that the lack of information knowledge and ability will make people "illiterate" in the knowledge economy.

(3) talent and. This is the core element of knowledge economy. The fundamental reason for the emergence and development of knowledge economy lies in the overall improvement of education level and national quality, and talents have become the decisive factor for the existence and development of all aspects of society. From the rationalization of decision-making thought to the knowledge of production factors, the premise is the primacy of scientific knowledge and the true establishment of the concept of talent-based intellectual resources in the whole society.

(4) Management and system. This is the structural element of knowledge economy. Being able to quickly respond to market changes and provide customers with satisfactory products and services has become the key to the survival and development of modern enterprises, which requires enterprises to adapt to this change in organizational structure and behavior and establish a brand-new management system.

From this, we can find that the basic feature of knowledge economy is the integration of knowledge, information, economy and industry, and the social value orientation has shifted from labor, resources and capital to knowledge and intelligence. Specifically:

(1) Intellectual capital has become the driving force of economic growth, and science and technology have indisputably become the primary productive force;

(2) Assets are mainly composed of intangible assets (patents, proprietary technology, goodwill, etc.). Invented by knowledge and intelligence, investment in intangible assets plays a decisive role in economic development;

(3) Personnel organization is dominated by employees with high IQ, and management has become a very important factor of production;

(4) Investment orientation focuses on intellectual investment, increasing investment in personnel training, scientific and technological development and new product development to ensure the long-term competitive advantage of enterprises;

(5) The information industry has become the mainstream of the economy. Computers, software and computers connect almost every corner of the earth, and knowledge spreads rapidly around the world without any time and space obstacles.

(6) With the integration of global economy, the input of knowledge economy is * * *, and any country can make full use of human intellectual resources to truly realize the integration of the world economy;

(7) Sustainable economic development, knowledge-based economy uses existing resources scientifically, reasonably, comprehensively and efficiently with high technology, and develops unused natural resources to replace nearly exhausted natural resources, so that knowledge-intensive industries gradually replace labor-intensive industries and become the main form of creating social material wealth and realizing low consumption, high efficiency and sustainable economic development. ,

Second, the impact of knowledge economy

Looking at the development of accounting, we can see that the development of accounting is mainly reactive, that is, accounting is mainly developed to meet the business needs of a certain period and is closely related to economic development. The emergence of knowledge economy will inevitably have a comprehensive impact on existing accounting. This influence can be mainly carried out from two aspects: accounting and accounting practice.

(A) the impact of knowledge economy on accounting theory The difference between the economic thought in the era of knowledge economy and the economic thought as the basis of the existing accounting theory objectively requires revolutionary innovation in accounting theory. This innovation is mainly manifested in the following two aspects.

1, the impact on basic accounting concepts and categories First, the impact on the capital system.

The existing accounting theory is based on material capital (including monetary capital and material capital) and does not recognize intellectual capital. The basic characteristics of this capital system are:

(1) Physical capital is the decisive factor and main driving force of economic growth;

(2) Entity capital is the center of social and economic power, and the basic economic system of society is the capital employment labor system. Corporate governance structure is a structure centered on physical capital, that is, investors of physical capital bear operational risks and enjoy the right to control and claim earnings. Therefore, the existing accounting information mainly serves the investors and creditors of the entity capital, and its basic task is to record the economic matters of the enterprise from the standpoint of the investors and creditors of the entity capital, reflect the movement state of the entity capital of the enterprise, help it make risk decisions and monitor its operation, and ensure its maximum income and minimum risk.

Under the condition of knowledge economy, knowledge is the most important and active factor in economic growth, that is to say, knowledge is the core element of production; Man is the carrier of knowledge, and the owner of knowledge should enjoy the right to distribute the rights and interests of enterprises. Therefore, the core of knowledge economy is to confirm the status of intellectual capital. In this case, the enterprise is no longer simply regarded as a production and financial unit invested by the owner of the entity capital, but a special market contract between intellectual capital and non-intellectual capital (entity capital). Intellectual capital owners and non-intellectual capital owners * * * bear enterprise risks * * * enjoy enterprise rights and interests, and intellectual capital can play a greater role than non-intellectual capital. This requires accountants to establish a new accounting system, which can reflect the central position of intellectual capital and reflect that intellectual capital owners and non-intellectual capital owners * * * bear enterprise risks * * * and enjoy enterprise rights and interests.

Second, the impact on the meaning of profit is related to the above viewpoints. The existing accounting theory holds that profits are created by entity capital, so they belong to entity investors. Employees, whether high-intelligence employees or ordinary manual workers, are regarded as employees, and their returns are only reflected in wages and expenses. The income statement only reflects their return on investment from the standpoint of the owner of physical capital. Under the condition of knowledge economy, profit is the return of intellectual capital and non-intellectual capital, which is mainly created by intellectual capital. In the value composition of intellectual products, the proportion of materialized workers transferring value is very small, and employees with high intelligence can turn their inventions into investments in enterprises. These employees and their intelligence can create a lot of profits in all aspects of enterprise production and operation. This requires accountants to adapt to this change, redefine the meaning of profit, divide the boundaries between employees' labor remuneration and intellectual capital return, and clearly confirm and measure the profits brought by intellectual capital.

Third, the concept of assets In the existing world, as a resource, assets mainly refer to tangible assets, although intangible assets are not excluded, but for various reasons, intangible assets always occupy a secondary position in assets. For example, China stipulates that the contribution of property rights and non-patented technologies shall not exceed 20% of the company's registered capital, even for high-tech enterprises, it shall not exceed 35%. The intellectual resources of talents can not be regarded as assets in theory. Under the condition of knowledge economy, knowledge and intelligence are considered as important factors of production, and its role in the production process also greatly exceeds tangible assets, and the value it creates also greatly exceeds tangible assets. Therefore, intangible assets, especially talents and intellectual resources, are very important forms of assets for enterprises. For companies like Microsoft and Intel, their value is almost completely reflected in their talents and intellectual resources, and tangible assets such as houses and equipment are insignificant. Ignoring this fact and still excluding the intellectual resources of talents from the asset form of enterprises without reflecting and accounting is obviously contrary to the objective economic environment.

2. Impact on accounting recognition and measurement theory In traditional accounting theory, monetary measurement is regarded as a basic assumption, and whether it can be incorporated into accounting information system is regarded as a basic standard. In the selection criteria of measurement attributes, the first consideration is its reliability, that is, this measurement must be based on what has happened, exist objectively, and can be verified and checked. Under this basic view, many economic phenomena, including the intellectual resources of talents, cannot be reflected in accounting. Although in recent years, with the progress of science and technology and the continuous transformation of high-tech into productive forces, people pay more and more attention to talents as an intellectual resource as a factor of production, and a new branch of accounting related to it, human resource accounting, is also paid more and more attention, and two basic human resource accounting models, human resource cost accounting and human resource value accounting, have initially formed. However, due to the limitation and influence of the basic theory of accounting recognition and measurement, the existing human resource accounting model can not be fundamentally solved. Human resource cost accounting is based on actual cost and fails to reflect people's wisdom and innovation ability and the evaluation of output value. Although human resource value accounting tries to measure the value of human resources and avoid people underestimating the value of enterprises, because it is not based on the actual cost, there is a' reliability' problem in measurement, so it cannot be integrated with traditional financial accounting and always stays out of the financial accounting system, and it cannot fundamentally solve the measurement problem of human intellectual resources. Under the condition of knowledge economy, the important role of knowledge and intelligence requires us to strengthen the research on the recognition and measurement of intellectual capital and talents' intellectual resources, which is bound to have a great impact on the existing accounting recognition and measurement theory.

(B) the impact of knowledge economy on accounting practice The impact of knowledge economy on accounting practice is multifaceted and can be summarized as follows:

1, the shift of the focus of accounting work The traditional accounting work is mainly that accountants collect, process, store and retrieve economic data by means of confirmation, measurement, recording and reporting, and finally output economic information that can meet the needs of information users for making economic decisions and controlling economic activities. In the traditional accounting work, due to the limitation of operation means and tools, the daily processing of economic and business data occupies most of the working time and energy of accountants. Under the condition of knowledge economy, with the popularization and maturity of computer-based information industry, a lot of daily work of accountants, such as filling in dormant account vouchers, registering general ledger and subsidiary ledger, compiling and submitting accounting statements, and inquiring voucher data when necessary, can be completed by computers. Objectively, this has freed the accountants from the complicated and repetitive daily accounting affairs, shifted their focus to participate in forecasting, decision-making and operation, and participated more in the operation and management of enterprise units, so that accounting work can develop to a higher level, play a more important role in economic management, and establish the position and role of conference work in economic management.

The shift of the focus of accounting work also puts forward new requirements for the quality, knowledge structure and working ability of accounting personnel. Accountants should not only have solid professional knowledge, but also relevant information processing knowledge, management knowledge and other related knowledge to enhance their awareness and ability to participate in operation and management.

2. The steady development of accounting computerization from low level to high level Looking forward to the future, with the development of knowledge economy and information technology, we believe that accounting computerization will continue to develop in the following directions:

(1) From single item processing to relatively complete accounting information system. In China, most computerized accounting systems are single data processing systems, such as accounting processing system, wage accounting system, material accounting system and so on. However, with the maturity of computerized application and the improvement of the overall level, the original single or independent computerized application can no longer meet the needs of enterprise management, and it is required to organically combine single processing, which can not only process data independently, but also realize information transmission and sharing, thus forming a relatively complete accounting information system.

(2) The development from stand-alone application to computer application At present, many enterprises in our country adopt stand-alone processing in accounting computerization. With the establishment of a relatively complete accounting information system, independent stand-alone applications can no longer meet the requirements of information processing and use, and more and more enterprises will adopt computer networks. Internet has accelerated the process of computer networking.

(3) Develop a complete accounting information system from simple accounting to management accounting, including financial accounting and management accounting. At present, China's computerized accounting system is mainly used in financial accounting. The data system adopted by management accounting is basically the same as that of financial accounting, but its purpose is to serve the operation and management of enterprises, so its treatment is different from that of financial accounting. Compared with financial accounting, management accounting uses more mathematical models and methods. Obviously, the computer can not only complete the accounting work of financial accounting, but also complete the management accounting work of forecasting, analysis and decision-making faster, better and more efficiently. Therefore, in fact, with the shift of the focus of accounting work, the traditional accounting information system can no longer meet the needs of knowledge economy, and the accounting information system should have the functions of analysis, prediction, decision-making, planning, control and responsibility evaluation at the same time, that is, develop towards the management accounting information system. In addition, with the development of computer technology, artificial intelligence technology will be introduced into management accounting information system. The application of expert system in prediction, analysis and decision-making is the development direction of accounting computerization in the future. Various types of expert systems are expected to help accountants and managers in many aspects, such as consulting accounting regulations, cost analysis and control, product structure, market analysis and marketing strategy.

3. The choice of accounting methods emphasizes rationality. Due to the limitation of means and tools, traditional meetings pay more attention to the operability between science and operability when determining the selection criteria of accounting methods. For example, although the real interest rate method is more scientific than the straight-line method, the latter is simpler, so the straight-line method is generally chosen in practice. With the wide application of computers and the continuous improvement of accounting information system, the complexity of calculation is no longer the standard to evaluate whether an accounting method should be adopted, but the only factor to be considered when choosing an accounting method is scientific and reasonable.

4. The timeliness and diversity of accounting information are enhanced. It is the responsibility of modern accounting to provide accounting information in a timely, accurate and complete manner so as to make corresponding business decisions and control and improve economic benefits. With the wide application of computer technology, many information that is difficult or impossible to provide in time under artificial conditions can be provided in time. For example, as long as specific procedures are added, enterprises can prepare accounting statements on both accrual basis and cash basis; Under the current complicated price changes, it will be very convenient to provide accounting information.

5. Weakening of accounting organization and strengthening of internal audit institutions With the popularization of computer network and the improvement of application technology, a large amount of economic data currently input by accounting personnel will be directly input by business personnel and automatically processed by computers, which will greatly improve the efficiency of accounting work, save accounting time and reduce the workload and labor intensity of accounting personnel. At the same time, the means of fraud by using computer technology will become more and more hidden. Therefore, in order to reduce all kinds of disadvantages, the accounting internal control system will undergo fundamental changes, the internal audit institutions will be strengthened, and the internal audit work will become more important.

6. The demand for international accounting standards is more urgent. As mentioned earlier, one of the characteristics that distinguishes knowledge economy from traditional economy is global economic integration. The inconsistency of accounting standards and systems in various countries is not conducive to the exchange and communication of accounting information, and runs counter to the general trend of global economic integration. In a sense, it hinders the process of global economic integration. This objectively requires the coordination and unification of international accounting standards. At present, although the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) has begun to formulate international accounting standards, the strength and scope of the norms are not enough and need to be further strengthened.

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