There are two ways to deal with the accounting of related party transaction transfer pricing. One is to re-measure at fair market price in accounting statements, that is, to adjust according to market price when there is no correlation; The second is to disclose related party transaction information in detail in the financial report. Because many transactions are incomparable, it is almost impossible to re-measure all kinds of transactions with fair market prices. As an information system, accounting mainly reflects economic matters and should not re-price transactions. Therefore, for the transfer pricing of related party transactions, it is feasible to disclose the elements of transfer pricing in detail in the financial report. In fact, at present, most international standard-setting institutions and securities regulatory agencies do this. For example, in Canada, enterprises should not only disclose the measurement basis used in related party transactions, but also encourage the disclosure of information on how the transaction price is determined to help users evaluate the impact of related party transactions. For transactions measured by book value, the difference between book value and transaction value shall be disclosed. The British FRS guide also believes that other elements of related party transactions necessary to understand financial statements include the explanation of the difference between the transfer amount of important assets and the normal market price. On the other hand, HKEx requires listed companies that issue H shares not only to have full disclosure, but also to confirm whether such arrangements are in line with the interests of enterprises if there are transactions with related parties that are not stipulated in national policies or plans, such as the controlling shareholders providing raw materials, water and electricity to listed companies.
China issued "Disclosure of Related Party Relations and Transactions" on 1997, which requires that the nature, transaction types and transaction elements of related party transactions should be disclosed in the notes to the statements. The transaction elements to be disclosed include: transaction amount or corresponding proportion; The amount of unsettled items or the corresponding proportion; Pricing policy. The standard "Guidelines" explains the pricing policy as follows: "It refers to the principle of determining the transaction price when related parties conduct transactions, for example, whether the determination of the transaction price is consistent with the price of non-related parties. If the related party transaction has no amount or only a symbolic amount, it should also disclose how the transaction is conducted. " China Securities Regulatory Commission's Notice on Improving the Quality of Financial Information Disclosure of Listed Companies stipulates that if there is a big difference between the related party transaction price of a listed company and the book value of the transaction object or its current market price, and it has a significant impact on the company's financial status and operating results, the board of directors shall fully disclose the pricing basis. Certified public accountants should pay due attention to the authenticity, legality and validity of transactions, the fairness of transaction prices, the adequacy and accuracy of information disclosure, and appropriately express audit opinions.
Criteria for Contents and Formats of Information Disclosure of Listed Companies No.2; It is stipulated that in the reporting period, if the total amount of related party transactions exceeds 30 million yuan or 5% of the latest audited net assets of listed companies or 65,438+00% of the current net profits, details must be disclosed. If the transaction types are different, they shall be disclosed separately according to the following requirements:
(1) Related party transactions involving the purchase and sale of goods and the provision of services shall at least disclose the following contents: related party, transaction content, pricing principle, transaction price, transaction amount, the proportion of similar transactions, settlement method and the impact of related party transactions on the company's profits. If the market price of similar transactions can be obtained, the market reference price shall be disclosed. If there is a big difference between the actual transaction price and the market reference price, the reasons shall be explained.
(2) Related party transactions of assets and equity transfer shall at least disclose: related parties, transaction contents, pricing principles, book value of assets, evaluation value, transfer price, settlement method and transfer income obtained. If there is a significant difference between the transfer price and the book value or the assessed value, the reasons shall be explained.
(3) If there are creditor's rights, debt transactions, guarantees and other matters between the company and its related parties (including subsidiaries not included in the scope of merger), the reasons for their formation and the impact on the company shall be disclosed.
(4) Other major related party transactions. At the same time, it is stipulated that the board of supervisors should express independent opinions on whether related party transactions are fair or not and whether they harm the interests of listed companies. It should be said that these requirements are still relatively strict.
However, from the actual situation, there are many problems in the disclosure of related party transfer pricing of listed companies: many companies do not disclose the transaction amount or pricing policy, or do not explain the basis for determining related party transaction pricing, or explain the pricing method in various ways, which lacks comparability and understandability, and often only list "according to the agreed price", "according to the market price" or "evaluation price", "preferential price" and "cost price" without specifying the pricing method and cost. Normal market price, wholesale price, contract price, agreed price, planned price and other methods are actually vague concepts, and their relationship with market price is not clear. The information that disclosure can convey is very limited, and information users often cannot judge related transactions. The reasons for this situation are:
First, at the end of the year, listed companies use related party transactions to make their financial position and operating performance look better, that is, earnings manipulation. Therefore, in the case of lax supervision, listed companies deliberately keep their mouths shut about the transfer pricing of related party transactions to cover up the real situation of enterprises.
Second, some enterprises are worried that excessive disclosure will reveal the business secrets of enterprises. Because the disclosure of transfer pricing will involve the cost and sales price of enterprises, which are often business secrets of enterprises, once known by competitors, it may cause the competition of enterprises to go against the trend, so enterprises are often reluctant to disclose detailed transfer price information on their own initiative.
Third, the current accounting standards and other information disclosure rules are still far from perfect, lacking detailed and operational provisions. For example, "Disclosure of Related Party Relations and Transactions" requires the disclosure of the pricing policy of related party transactions, but neither the Guidelines nor the Guidelines are specific, and it does not require enterprises to disclose the basic factors that determine the pricing policy and its comparability with market prices, thus bringing ambiguity to disclosure and becoming a loophole in regulatory norms, leading some listed companies to be at a loss in specific operations, while others evade disclosure supervision. In fact, transfer pricing is the core issue in related party transactions, so the information disclosure of related party transactions should focus on the disclosure of transfer pricing information.