The 1993 accounting reform dramatically changed the landscape of China's accounting. With the promulgation and application of the Enterprise Accounting Standard, China's accounting is moving closer and closer to international accounting practices. This paper first overviews the 1993 accounting reform and the Enterprise Accounting Standard, then addresses several important issues which were subject to great changes in this reform. The addressed issues include: (1) fund-based accounting; (2) the establishment of the capital system and the recognition of the principle of capital maintenance; (3) financial reporting; (4) the principle of conservatism, and (5) the role that accounting plays in the economy. In the meantime, the economic factors which induced these changes are analyzed and the...[ Read more ]

The 1993 accounting reform dramatically changed the landscape of China's accounting. With the promulgation and application of the Enterprise Accounting Standard, China's accounting is moving closer and closer to international accounting practices. This paper first overviews the 1993 accounting reform and the Enterprise Accounting Standard, then addresses several important issues which were subject to great changes in this reform. The addressed issues include: (1) fund-based accounting; (2) the establishment of the capital system and the recognition of the principle of capital maintenance; (3) financial reporting; (4) the principle of conservatism, and (5) the role that accounting plays in the economy. In the meantime, the economic factors which induced these changes are analyzed and their implications for the accounting information generating process are examined.