財務報告의 目的과 財務諸表의 要素 = Objectives of Financial Reporting and Elements of Financial Statements

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The need for a conceptual framework for financial accounting and reporting, with a consideration of its objectives is generally recognized. The Accounting Principles Board issued APB Statement No.4, "Basic Concepts and Accounting Principles Underlying Financial statements of business Enterprises" in 1970. When the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) came into existence, the Study Group on the Objectiveness of Financial Statements was at work, and its report, "Objectives of Financial Statements", was published in 1973 by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
The FASB issued a Discussion Memorandum dated June 6, 1974 and held a public hearing on the objectives of financial statements. The discussion Memorandum and the hearing were based primarily on the Report of the Study Group on the Objectives of Financial Statements. In December 1976, the FASB issued three documents : "(1) Tentative Conclusion on Objectives of Financial Statements of Business Enterprises : (2) FASB Discussion Memorandum Conceptual Framework for Financial Accounting and Reporting : Elements of Financial Statement and Their Measurement ; (3) Scope and Implications of the Conceptual Framework Project."
The FASB considered the 12 objectives of Financial Statements in the study Group Report but has not attempted to reach conclusions regarding these objectives, which include reporting current value and changes in current value, providing a statement of financial activities, providing financial forecasts, determining the objectives of financial statements for governmental and non-profit organization, and reporting enterprise activities affecting society. Some issues about reporting current values and changes in current values are discussed in the Discussion Memorandum and the other matters may be dealt with in later phases of the conceptual framework project.
The FASB held in August 1977 public hearing on the Tentative conclusions on Objectives of Financial Statements and on the Discussion Memorandum concerning definitions of the elements of financial statements. In December 1977, the FAZB proposed on exposure Draft of Statements of Accounting Concept, " Objectives of Financial Reporting and Elements of Financial Statements of Business Enterprises."
The purpose of the Exposure Draft is to set forth fundamentals on which financial accounting and reporting standards will be based. More specifically the Exposure Draft is intended to provide guidance in resolving problems of financial accounting an reporting that are not addressed in authoritative pronouncements. My purpose in this paper is first to examine these accounting objectives and concepts, and then to consider these guidances in resolving problems.
The Exposure Draft establishes the objectives of general purpose external financial reporting by business enterprises and defines the elements of financial statements for business enterprises. It does not specify financial accounting standards prescribing accounting procedures or disclosure practices for particular items or events: rather it describes concepts and relations that underlie financial accounting standards. Thus, financial reporting and financial statements are not ends in themselves but are intended to provide useful information about specified entities.
The Exposure Drafts mere existence and acknowledgement may have profound implications for the development of accounting standards and the resolution of accounting problems. No longer should it be possible to legislate accounting standards by fiat : no longer should it be possible to thunder "Thou shalt" without providing a "because" statement. If the existence of explicit objectives is acknowledge, then each proposed accounting standard should be evaluated in terms of how the standard relates to and furthers the objectives. Disagreement relating to alternative standards should be analyzed and resolved in terms of which standard better severs the objectives.
The development of a conceptual framework for financial accounting has long been viewed as a necessary keystone to the development of sound and consistent accounting standards. The search for such a framework was a principal part of the charter of the APB in 1958, and the APBs failure to develop such a framework has frequently been cited as one of the principal reason for that boards failure to survive.
The FASB was widely applauded for putting this matter on its first technical agenda in 1973. Since then, large segments of its constituency have expressed impatience over the slowness of its progress in this direction. Critics of some of the boards early standards have suggested that many of their perceived deficiencies result from the lack of a coherent and consistent framework for reasoning.
The Boards standards have been widely criticized because they to not conform to the critics conceptual framework, which is often unstated or left implicit. It is essential that a framework be explicitly established so that the Board and those evaluating its standards are basing their judgments on the same set of objectives and concepts.
An explicitly established framework is also essential in that it prepares auditors for making decisions about accounting issues that are not specifically covered by the FASB standards or other authoritative literature. Those decisions should be made with some degree of confidence that the decisions conform to commonly accepted standards and will thus be upheld by others. I the conceptual framework makes sense and leads to relevant information and if financial statement users make the necessary effort to fully understand it, their confidence in financial statements and their ability to use them effectively will also be enhanced.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 序言
• Ⅱ. Study Group 報告書의 財務諸表 目的
• 1. 財務諸表의 基礎目的과 利用者要望
• 2. 企業의 收益力과 經營者의 能力
• 3. 目標達成度와 豫測情報의 提供
• Ⅲ. 公開草案과 外部財務報告 目的
• 1. 暫定意見書에 提示된 財務諸表 目的
• 2. 公開草案의 基本目的과 經濟資源의 效率的 配分
• 3. 財務情報의 一般目的과 潛在的 利用者
• 4. 投資決定과 與信決定에 有用한 情報
• Ⅳ. 財務報告에 따른 財務諸表의 諸要素
• 1. 財務的 表現을 위한 諸要素
• 2. 諸要素에 관한 定義
• 3. 明瞭하게 작성된 財務諸表
• Ⅴ. 要約과 問題點
• 英文要約