Paper Keywords: biological assets confirmation measurement
With the rapid development of economy, biological assets, as the basic economic resources of people's lives, will be invested by more and more enterprises and individuals in biology-related industries, which requires more accurate accounting information to reflect biological assets in order to optimize the allocation of economic resources. How to scientifically confirm and measure biological assets has become the first problem to be solved in accounting information disclosure. Based on the theory of biological asset recognition and measurement, this paper analyzes the influencing factors of biological asset recognition and measurement in China, and puts forward a biological asset recognition and measurement model suitable for China's national conditions.
China is rich in biological resources, and more and more enterprises and individuals are engaged in bio-related industries. The business scope is also diversified, and the confirmation and measurement of biological assets are facing severe challenges.
I. Confirmation of biological assets
According to the characteristics of biological assets, we believe that biological assets can only be confirmed as biological assets if they meet the following conditions, as follows: (1) They can be owned or controlled by enterprises or individuals due to transactions and events. Fundamentally speaking, it refers to biological assets that can be accounted for. Enterprises or individuals can obtain economic benefits from biological assets through transactions and circulation. Of course, although some biological assets are not owned by enterprises or individuals, they can also get economic benefits from them. Simply put, biological assets that cannot bring economic benefits to enterprises or individuals cannot be recognized as biological assets of enterprises or individuals. (2) Biological assets are unpredictable and can only be real biological resources. Only through actual transactions or events can the increase or decrease of biological resources of enterprises or individuals be changed, but biological resources cannot be confirmed through transactions planned or negotiated out of thin air, and biological assets of enterprises or individuals cannot be formed through expected transactions or events. (3) Being able to reliably measure the cost of assets. The recognition standard mainly emphasizes that biological assets can meet other conditions, and the cost of biological assets recorded by enterprises can also be measured reliably. Enterprises can classify biological assets through value transfer, which are mainly divided into consumptive biological assets and productive biological assets, and there are obvious differences between them in accounting and measurement.
Second, the measurement of biological assets
(1) Initial measurement. From a macro point of view, there are two methods to measure biological assets: one is fair value method; The second is the cost method. China's new enterprise accounting standards clearly stipulate that the measurement of biological assets adopts the mode of combining fair value method and cost method. Only when it is clear that the fair value of biological assets can be obtained stably and continuously can the fair value of biological assets be measured. (2) Follow-up measurement. First, after the self-bred young animals mature, enterprises or individuals should measure the actual cost of draught animals or livestock production according to the book value of mature young animals; Second, economic plants planted by enterprises and individuals, all kinds of poultry, livestock and fish. , recorded in the actual expenditure in the process of planting and breeding. Third, when suffering from natural disasters or pests and diseases, expendable biological assets are measured at cost.
Three. Factors affecting the recognition and measurement of biological assets in China
(A) the impact of biological asset characteristics on measurement attributes. Biological assets have a certain degree of biotransformation ability. It is precisely because the transformation of biological assets has obvious influence on its own value changes that historical cost measurement can not meet this characteristic of biological assets at all. Therefore, the fair value method is widely used to measure biological assets in the world, but it is affected by market conditions and market price fluctuations. When the fluctuation is large enough, it will affect the investment decision of enterprises or individuals. (B) the impact of internationalization of accounting standards. With the deepening of economic globalization, the internationalization of accounting standards has become inevitable. Accounting information plays a very important regulatory role in international capital flow and affects the process of resource allocation. China is a big agricultural country with relatively rich biological assets, which attracts a large number of overseas investors to invest in biological assets. With the increasingly frequent international exchanges in the field of biological assets, accounting standards must be in line with international standards, so the internationalization of accounting standards will have a great impact on the measurement of biological assets in China.
(C) the impact of biological assets theory
First, the concepts of information and contract. Information view is to use the accounting measurement method with the highest information content to provide effective investment decision-making basis for all kinds of investors in the capital market, while contract view is based on the contract theory of enterprises or individuals. Different parties to the contract will have different expectations of accounting information, so it is impossible to form a unified opinion on the choice of biological asset measurement methods. Second, the concept of fiduciary responsibility and the concept of decision usefulness. The different objectives of accounting information affect the measurement attributes of biological assets. The concept of fiduciary responsibility holds that the goal of accounting information is mainly to reflect the trustee of biological assets. Enterprises or individuals are entrusted with the responsibility of management, so they are from the provider of accounting information? From the perspective of enterprise and individual management, choosing a reasonable biological asset measurement model properly reflects the fulfillment of entrusted responsibilities by enterprises and individuals; On the contrary, the view that decision-making is useful comes from information users? From the perspective of investors, creditors and the public, provide users with accounting information useful for decision-making. From the above two points of view, different users and different goals will lead to different choices of biological asset measurement models.
Four, biological assets confirmation and measurement model suitable for China's national conditions.
Although the fair value method is regarded as the preferred measurement mode of biological assets in international accounting standards, under the current economic situation in China, the implementation conditions of the fair value method are not yet mature, and the historical cost measurement method still occupies the main position.
First, China's economic development is relatively backward. There are many enterprises and individuals with biological assets, but most of them are small. Many small businesses and individuals usually do not need to provide accounting statements to the outside world. In this case, the fair value measurement method for biological assets is not suitable for China's actual national conditions. Second, China's bio-asset-related industries are underdeveloped, the system is not perfect, the degree of informatization is generally low, the information sources of enterprises and individuals engaged in bio-asset management activities are not smooth, and the production activities are quite different from the market conditions. In addition, due to the relative dispersion of different markets in different regions, it can not represent the whole country's biological assets trading market, and the market situation obtained by fair value measurement is not perfect, which of course can not well reflect the actual situation of biological assets in China. Third, China's biological assets are widely distributed, the industry development is uneven, and most enterprises and individuals have a weak accounting foundation. However, it is impossible for many enterprises and individuals to obtain high-quality information by fair value method. The professional level of accounting practitioners in China needs to be improved, which affects the application effect of fair value measurement in China.
Conclusion: According to the actual situation in China, it is not appropriate to adopt the internationally accepted fair value method to measure biological assets at this stage. On the contrary, the historical cost measurement method is still in the main position. With the further development of China's economy, the fair value measurement method will also become the main measurement method of biological assets in China in the future. However, no matter which measurement mode of biological assets is not perfect, it has its own advantages and disadvantages. As long as it chooses its own measurement mode, it is the most correct and can play the greatest role.
Author: School of Management, Yangtze University
References:
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