关于网络会计的研究--外文文献及翻译

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1、华 北 科 技 学 院 2014 届本科毕业外文文献翻译及原文 文献题目: Economic consequences of internet financial reporting 文献作者：Alfred Wagenhofer 文献翻译：第 1 页至第 4 页 外文文献:第 5 页至第 10 页 学生姓名： 付琳 学 号： 201004044104 院（部） ： 管理学院 专 业： 会计学 班 级： B10-1 指导教师： 周江生 2014年6月8日文献翻译网络财务报告的经济后果阿尔费雷德过去的15年里，互联网有了巨大的发展，越来越多的人接受了它。互联网的主要特征是可以随时随地访问想要的信息

2、，而且通常可以以较低的成本获得最新的信息，并且用互联网搜索信息很少会限制数据的有效性。互联网上的信息包括动态演示和多媒体，这有利于互动信息的需求和供给的全面提高。这些事态的发展对信息的传播和对货物贸易，包括对股票以及一些经济活动的组织结构都有一定的影响。他们还制造新的震惊的机会影响财务信息的披露状况和所有有关各方，特别是企业、投资者、审计师和信息中介。多项研究显示，大多数上市公司在他们的网站上进行财务信息的披露，并且披露水平相较于几年前有所提高。互联网可能成为为用户搜索企业财务报告的主要来源。公司投入大量资源来发展其公司的网站，从而以创新的方式来呈现其财务信息。虽然人们对互联网披露的信息的接受

3、程度增加了，但其实互联网上的大部分信息的来源与从其他来源获得的信息大致是相同的，其实我们有很多机会来改变这种做法。实证研究表明，传统的财务报告的价值在下降。（列夫，塞若文，1999年）通过互联网提供的机会来减少产生和传播技术的信息，从而改变传统的财务报告模式的界限。例如，艾略特认为，“信息技术（IT）正在改变一切。艾略特（1999）和特里茨（2004）看到帕乔利范式到谷歌范式的转变。随着可扩展商业报告（XBRL）作为标准化的数据描述格式财务报告的出现，有许多研究表明XBRL是有利于所有财务报告编制者和使用者的财务报告。新信息技术对财务信息披露的影响已成为标准制定者和财务人员关注的问题。（财务会

4、计准则委员会2000年，莱蒙，1999年；特里茨，1999年；英格兰及威尔士特许会计师协会1998年）这些研究不仅是对未来信息披露发展潜力的探讨，而且对目前的财务报告模式的变化有着巨大的影响。例如，他们的预测包括：“21世纪的年度报告不是一年一次，也不单单是一份报告，它将是一个最新的，内容丰富的，长期的对话。”然而虽然对这种新技术进行了大肆宣传，但它的未来发展方向仍然是模糊的。虽然对新的发展机遇有远见的思想，但没有人想对财务报告的发展提供一个重要的推动力。同样清楚的是，技术本身并不会驱动财务信息的需求和供给。它是财务报告编制者和使用者提供信息、使用信息定义类型和财务信息数量的生产和消化过程。互

5、联网是独立于硬件的，不过，利用互联网处理数据类型是需要一个通用的格式，标准化信息是需要充分利用互联网的。最简单的触手可及的信息能诱导客户去要求得到更多的信息，包括假设、替代会计方法的影响、信息的多维属性和各种非财务信息。关于无形资产和价值驱动的信息很自然的成为了客户选择的候选者，这给信息提出了一个问题：有多少附加信息公司正在准备披露。除了审计或审核这些资料的直接费用，企业还可能受到竞争对手和其他使用该资料当事人的伤害。此外，额外的信息披露也会引起法律方面的问题。在诉讼环境下的法律费用可能是很大的。如果公司想要利用新技术和创新信息披露行为，一种方法是延长互联网信息披露的安全港规则，许多公司不愿透

6、露太多事都是基于这些负面影响。把公司的财务信息放在网站上，用户可以搜索、筛选、检索、下载，甚至可以及时的用较低的成本来重新配置这些信息。网络财务报告不局限于静态的文字和图形，它允许超链接、搜索引擎、多媒体和交互性。例如，用户可能被允许自定义财务报告的内容或定义用户特定的事件，从而满足他们的要求。网络财务报告将是一个互动型的对话报告，它使用户可以以他们之前收到的信息为基础明确提出报告的信息需求。用户也可以自己进行灵敏性分析，并插入自己的假设来衡量资产和负责。企业可以跟踪了解用户的需求来提供资料或者了解特定用户的需求，用户也可以用匿名的方式或者在某些存取识别中填写自己的资料。访问统计是衡量信息重要

7、性的市场驱动的直接措施，具体的来说可以解释为：可以通过用户显示的行为来引导企业和标准制定者对信息需求作出反应，企业在分析财务数据时可以使用互联网上应用程序编制者提供的软件，互联网也可以提高企业内部财务资料的可用性。互联网是一个适用于高频率报告的平台，企业的信息在得到通知后应立即发布，如果交付给用户的时间太晚，则该信息也就失去了它的价值。一个高频率报告的结果可能是：用户对季度盈利的关注度可能会消失，并且需要用公司的激励机制来管理他们。不过，这就如新的市场价格估计和判断需要一个实时的基础才能进入一样它需要在大多数会计制度发生重大改变的时候才会发生。互联网为访问企业财务信息提供了便利，公司利用这种技

8、术可以比通过其他通讯手段接触更多的潜在用户。互联网上财务信息的披露为所有用户和那些降低信息质量的机构投资者和其他人员提供了平等的机会，这也相应减少了企业的资金成本。提高互联网信息披露的速度，披露和归档的最后期限会变得更紧，在公司的全权控制下信息可以在某一时间公布。速度对于在会计年度股票价格信息的连续报告要求是相当重要的，财务报表的管理功能是欲速则不达，因为财务报表通常是由其他盈利预测等披露领导的，同时用户也要警惕放在互联网上的新的信息，如给用户发送的电子邮件等。尽管许多人认为使用电算化给各个业务流程提供了更多的弹性，但是带来好处的同时也往往出现了它的对立面。软件是用来捕捉软件开发者的预期标准流

9、程的，通常，从这些流程中离开是困难的，甚至是不可能的。计算机的信息过程需要机器可读的数据格式，这些格式难以插入新的项目或者离开给开发商承担所需信息的公开项目。而对于在公司内部的使用，数据库系统已经被引入了结构不同的格式，这使得公司能够使用共同的数据库。但是由于财务信息披露时由许多不同的用户使用，而且财务信息的标准化具有很高的外部效益，所以要创造一种具有共识的流程以及公司的数据传输方式是更加困难的。事实上，从1999年开始，标准化的财务报告在世界范围内开始推广。可扩展商业报告语言（XBRL）是一种基于XML的标记语言，用于商业和财务信息的定义和交换，超文本标记语言（HTML）是其中的一个子集。X

10、BRL是一个以市场为导向，会计机构、私营个体企业和其他有关各方提供企业决策者经营管理信息的商业语言报告（徳布雷塞尼，格雷，2001）。网络财务报告披露的信息质量是一个重要的问题，在互联网上不理性的用户提供的相关或无关的财务信息对其他用户会带来不利的影响。财务信息与其他信息相比具有更高的可信度，因为他是嵌在公司的治理机制中，并需要审计和法律的监督。互联网的一个主要优势就是它的灵活性，但是它同时也存在信息的可信度和真实性的劣势。因为互联网上的数据可以很容易被改变，并且往往不留下一点痕迹，尤其是如果该网站与动态的基础数据库相连接，那么这种数据被改变的可能性就越大。新的信息不仅可以添加信息，而且同时还

11、可以取代原始信息。利用XBRL，公司才有可能成为创造性的激励标签：例如，由于投资者会尝试提取用软件提供的数据，但是并没有对所有的信息进行双重检查，公司可能不会去标记它希望隐藏的一些信息，而是用特定的标签或者定义个人标签。为了保证信息披露的质量，审计人员必须认真检查标签任务的执行情况。另一个影响信息质量的因素是网站的安全性。因为很难控制进入网站或基本数据库的人员，恶意入侵者和黑客会找出公司的安全漏洞，改变数据资料。这些问题表明财务信息的披露通过互联网获得的信息来源相对于通过其他公司获取的信息可信度要差一些。诚信不仅仅是公司和用户所关心的问题，同时也是审计员和监管机关所关心的问题。解决上述问题的一

12、个方法就是限制那些通过互联网提供影响因素的机会。例如，审计人员可以不允许链接到审计报告，或者在审计过程中要进行自我审查或到官方认证的网站进行信息的审计。其实最普遍的做法就是提供一个只读传真版本（例如Adobe公司的PDF格式）的年度财务报告。这种格式被认为保证了互联网用户的界线和信息的质量。日益广泛的使用网络财务报告增加了标注化信息的需求，XBRL是最显著的产品。虽然XBRL的开发商认为，对于现有的披露标准和做法这些模型只有一个源语言，事实上，XBRL很可能在财务信息的披露中被广泛的应用。因此，信息披露的内容和形式是不能分开的。网络财务报告在互联网上建立信息质量的关注点,对于那些应用互联网技术

13、具有很高灵活性的企业产生的信息披露很容易被滥用，并且很可能因此制造出更多不同的审计服务和监管要求，从而我们不得不考虑其另一个成本因素。因此，对互联网和XBRL的压倒性优势简单的概括为：它不是建立深刻的经济理论上，而是需要更充分的考虑成本和财务报告的好处。网络对每一种信息流都有影响，这种影响是双重的：首先，网络改变了信息收集的方式，信息的处理成本和信息的传播方式。其次，它增加了对标准化信息的需求。信息成本的变化影响各种生产工艺和工具的交易成本和效益，现有的工艺会变得更加便宜，新的工艺成本可能低于他们的预期效益。互联网独立于计算机硬件，但尽管如此，需要计算机硬件处理的数据类型还是一种通用格式。标准

14、化的信息需要充分利用互联网，互联网为访问企业的财务信息提供了便利，与利用其他通讯手段相比，企业利用互联网技术可以接触更多的潜在用户。：阿尔费雷德，网络财务报告的经济后果，舒马兰巴赫商业评论，第55卷（4），2003（10）：262-279.外文文献Economic consequences of internet financial reportingAlfred WagenhoferThe last fifteen years or so have seen enormous development of the Internet and an increasing acceptance b

15、y its users. Major characteristics of the Internet are that information can be accessed（almost）anytime and everywhere, and generally at a low cost, the information is up-to-date; there are few limits on data availability; information can include dynamic presentations and multimedia; and there is the

16、 possibility of interactive information demand and supply. These developments have a possibility of interactive information demand and supply. These developments have a significant effect on the dissemination of information and on the trading of goods, including shares, and thus on the organizationa

17、l structures of how these activities are performed. They also open up new and astounding opportunities for financial disclosure that affect all interested parties, notably corporations, investors, auditors, and information intermediaries.Various studies show that most listed corporations now disclos

18、e financial information on their websites, and that the level of disclosure has increased over the last years. The Internet has probably become the primary source for users searching for corporate financial reports. Companies invest substantial resources in the development of their websites, and com

19、e up with innovative ways to present financial information. While the acceptance of Internet disclosure has increased, most of the information provided is still substantially the same that is available from other sources, too. There are many opportunities for this practice to change. Empirical studi

20、es suggest a decline in the value of traditional financial reports. (Lev, Zarowin 1999) Reducing boundaries for generating and disseminating information by Internet technologies may provide theopportunity to change the traditional financial reporting model. For instance, Elliott concludes that “Info

21、rmation technology (IT) is changing everything,” (e.g. Elliot 1999) and Trites sees a shift from the Pacioli paradigm to the Google paradigm (Trites 2004).With the advent of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) as a standardized data description format for financial reporting, there are man

22、y studies that describe this technology and promote the benefits to all preparers and users of financial reports.The effects of new information technologies on financial disclosure have been an issue for standard setters and accountants. (FASB 2000; Lymer et al. 1999; Trites 1999; ICAEW 1998) These

23、studies explore potential future developments not only for disclosure, but also for radical changes of the current financial reporting model. For example, they include forecasts like this:” The annual report of the 21st century will not be annual and it will not be a report: it will be an up to date

24、, informative, permanent dialogue.” However, the ballyhooed future directions remain vague. Although visionary thoughts on new opportunities no one has dreamed of before provide an important impetus for financial reporting developments, it is also clear that technology alone does not drive the deman

25、d and supply of financial information. It is the preparers and users whose supply and use of the information defines the type and amount of financial information that is being produced and digested. Standard setters and regulators follow up to see if there is a demand for standardization based on ch

26、anging demand and supply. The Internet is independent of hardware but, nevertheless, requires a common format of the type of data they process. Standardized information is needed to fully exploit the opportunities of the Internet.The easy availability of information may induce users to request more

27、and more information, including assumptions, effects of alternative accounting methods, multidimensional properties of information and all sorts of non-financial information. Information about intangibles and value drivers are natural candidates. This increased appetite for information raises the qu

28、estion of how much additional information firms are prepared to disclose. Besides the direct costs of auditing or reviewing such information, firms may be harmed by adverse actions of competitors and other parties that use this information. Moreover, additional disclosure raises legal concerns. In a

29、 litigious environment the legal costs can be substantial. If firms are to be motivated to experiment with new technologies and innovative disclosure practices, one way would be to extend safe-harbor rules for contents to Internet disclosures. The reluctance of many firms to disclose too much is bas

30、ed on these negative effects.By placing financial information on the firms website, users can search, filter, retrieve, download, and even reconfigure such information at low cost in a timely fashion. But Internet financial reporting is not restricted to static texts and graphs. It allows for hyperl

31、inks, search engines, multimedia, and interactivity. For example, users may be allowed to customize the contents of financial reports to match their demands or to define user-specific trigger events for reports. Even more use of interactivity would be a dialogue reporting by which users could specif

32、y information demands based on information they received previously. Users might be able to do their own sensitivity analyses and insert their own assumptions to measure assets and liabilities. Firms can learn from tracking users information requests or specific user demands, which users can pose ei

33、ther anonymously or by filling in some kind of access identification. Access statistics are market-driven direct measures of the importance of information, and if interpreted carefully, can guide firms and also standard-setters to react to the demand revealed by the users behavior. Software applicat

34、ions offered by a preparer on the Internet could allow firms to learn assumptions investors use in analyzing financial data. The Internet may also improve the availability of financial information within firms themselves. The Internet is a perquisite for high-frequency reporting, as the information

35、should be provided immediately after the announcement release and will lose value fast if delivered to users too late relative to the length of the period it covers. A consequence of more frequent reporting could be that the users focus on quarterly earnings may vanish, and with it the incentives of

36、 firms to manage them. However, it would require a major change in most accounting systems because events, such as updates of market prices, estimates, and judgments, would need to be entered on a realtime basis as well.The Internet offers easy access to firms financial information. Firms can use th

37、is technology to reach more potential users than they can by other communication means. Placing financial disclosures on the Internet offers equal access to all users and reduces the information asymmetry between some institutional investors and others This should also decrease the firms cost of cap

38、ital. Speed of disclosure is enhanced by Internet disclosure. Disclosure and filing deadlines can become tighter. Information can be published at a time that is under full control by the firm. To alert users that new information has been put on the Internet, there are several push techniques, such a

39、s an email notice distributed to identified users. Speed is particularly important for continuous reporting requirements of stock price-relevant information during the financial year. The stewardship function of financial statements is less speed-sensitive, because financial statements are usually l

40、ed by other disclosures, such as earnings forecasts.Although many people think that increased computerization offers more flexibility in various processes, generally the opposite apparently happens. Software is designed to capture standard processes that are anticipated by the software developer. Us

41、ually, a departure from such processes is difficult, if not impossble. Computerization of information processes also requires machine-readable data formats. These formats make it difficult to insert new items or leave open items that developers assume are required information. For use within firms,

42、data warehouse systems have been introduced to combine different databases with differing formats, which enables the firm to use the databases jointly. It is more difficult to create some kind of common understanding of processes, and particularly data across firms. Since financial disclosures are u

43、sed by many different users, standardization of financial information may have high external benefits.In fact, beginning in 1999, a standardization of financial reporting began on a worldwide scale. Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is based on extensible markup language (XML), an Intern

44、et document description language of which HTML is another subset. XBRL is a market-driven approach undertaken by the private efforts of accounting organizations, individual firms, and other interested parties (Debreceny,Gray 2001). The quality of financial disclosures on the Internet is an important

45、 issue. Unreliable financial information on the Internet is less relevant or irrelevant for rational users, and can have a detrimental impact on other users. Financial information generally has a higher degree of trustworthiness than other information because it is embedded in corporate governance m

46、echanisms, and it is subject to auditing and enforcement. A major advantage of the Internet is its flexibility, which, however, creates a disadvantage for credibility and authenticity. Data can be easily changed, often without leaving a trace, particularly if the website is dynamically linked with a

47、n underlying database. New information can be communicated not only by adding that information, but also by replacing the original information. With XBRL, firms may have incentives to become creative in their tagging: For example, because investors will be tempted to work with the data provided by t

48、he extraction software, and without double-checking all details, a company that wishes to hide a certain piece of information may well attempt to not tag it, to place it in a certain tag, or to define an individual tag. To assure the quality of disclosures, the auditor would have to check whether th

49、e assignment of tags was meticulously performed. Another issue affecting information quality is the security of the website. It may be difficult to control who has access to the website or its underlying database. Needless to say, fraud, hostile intruders, and hackers can and do find holes in the se

50、curity net and alter data without knowledge of the company. Issues like these suggest that financial disclosure provided via the Internet is less credible than is information from other company sources. The credibility is not only of concern to companies and users, but also to auditors and regulator

51、s.One way to cope with these concerns is to restrict the opportunities the Internet offers to those that are less affected by such possibilities. For example, auditors may decide not to allow links to and from the auditors report, or to require that it be stored on the auditors own or on an official

52、 registrars website. Actually, the most common practice is to provide the annual report in a read-only facsimile version (e.g., in Adobes PDF format). Such formats can be interpreted as assuring the Internet user of the boundaries and quality of the information. The increasing use of Internet financ

53、ial reporting increases the demand for standardization, of which the XBRL is the most notable product.Although the XBRL developers maintain that they model only a meta-language for existing disclosure standards and practice, it is likely that a widespread adoption of XBRL will in fact also standardi

54、ze the contents of financial disclosure. Thus, the contents and form of disclosure cannot be separated. Financial reporting on the Internet creates concerns about the quality of the information. The technological flexibility the Internet provides for the firms that generate the disclosures auditing

55、services and more regulation. These factors are another cost that should be considered alongside other effects. As a consequence, simple generalized statements about the overwhelming benefits of the Internet and XBRL are not well founded in economic theory, but require a more thorough consideration

56、of the costs and benefits of financial reporting.The Internet affects each of these information flows. The effects are twofold: First, the Internet changes the costs of the information collection, processing, and dissmination. Second, it increases the demand for standardization of information. The i

57、nformation cost change affects the cost-benefit trade-off of various processes and instruments. Existing processes will become less expensive, and the costs of new processes may fall below their expected benefit so that they are adopted, The Internet is independent of hardware but, nevertheless, req

58、uires a common format of the type of data they process. Standardized information is needed to fully exploit the opportunities of the Internet. The Internet offers easy access to firms financial information.Source: Alfred Wagenhofer,2003 “Economic Consequences of Internet Financial Reporting” . Schmalenbach Business Review,vol.55,no.4,October.pp262-279.第 10 页