盈余管理手段“注销”外文翻译.doc

原文： Write-Offs as Accounting Procedures to Manage Perceptions Introduction In recent years material, separately disclosed loss provisions have become increasingly common elements in earnings statements. Some accountants have been concerned that these write-offs often occur significantly after the related asset impairment, tend to be disclosed late in the fiscal year, and were frequently in excess of the reduction needed to reflect the new, lower market values. Thus the FASB and the SEC are considering the need for a new standard which specifies the accounting treatment to be accorded the impairment of value of long-lived assets. One objective of this paper is to characterize recent disclosures in ways which may clarify the policy issues. A related objective is to identify relations among material loss provisions, underlying economic events, and goals of management regarding financial disclosures. In general, economic events precede accounting recognition; an event occurs and then it is disclosed. For material writeoffs, this sequence implies that assets suffer an impairment of value, management realizes that impairment, and then an accounting entry is created to record the impairment. This characterization may misrepresent the underlying event in some write-offs, especially reorganizations. Typically, reorganizations involve an accounting entry before certain planned transactions are completed. The accounting event is the formalization of a reorganization plan which may anticipate relocating production, layoffs, firings, early retirements, or sales of assets. Since management adopts the plans, managements preferences affect the magnitude and timing of write-offs related to reorganizations in a more significant and direct way than in most accounting disclosures. The motivations for and structure of the accounting entry for such write-offs is linked to the underlying economic events which differ across reorganizations. Management may be responding to a decline in