Reasons For Accounting Net Profit Distortion Of Enterprises

　   企业会计净利润一直以来都是投资者最关心的核心指标。但是上市公司财务报表中所披露的净利润在很多方面都存在着对股东真实收益水平的扭曲，这些扭曲部分来源于会计的记录方式，也部分来自于企业管理人员的主观操纵。对于想要了解企业真实经营状况的人们，净利润很可能会是一个美丽的谎言。

One of the reasons for the distortion of net profit is the unreasonable record of expenditure in accounting.

For example, the treatment of capital expenditure and income expenditure in accounting.

The so-called income and capital expenditures are mainly based on the benefits of expenditure only during the accounting period or several accounting periods.

The popular understanding is that this expenditure is only a necessary expense for the current income, or will play an effective role in the future income of the enterprise.

However, since accounting treatment follows the principle of prudence in "not counting assets or gains, less liabilities or expenses", some expenditures are beneficial to several accounting periods, but because of this uncertainty, they are treated as income expenses.

A typical example is the R & D cost of an enterprise.

Generally speaking, R & D costs will have positive effects on the long-term development of enterprises, but since R & D is a risk of failure, accounting fees are generally offset by the cost of R & D expenses.

Obviously, in this way of recording, the more the R & D expenditure is, the lower the net profit will be.

If the management overemphasizes the short-term net profit index, thereby reducing the necessary research and development expenditure, it will damage the long-term core competitiveness of enterprises and reduce the return on investment of shareholders.

Although the new accounting standards stipulate that the expenditure of the enterprise's internal development stage can be included in intangible assets under certain conditions, this obviously can not completely save the influence of accounting distortion on net profit indicators.

Similarly, there is a portion of expenditure that does not generate physical assets, such as advertising fees.

For enterprises, advertising fees expand the visibility of enterprises, and will have a positive impact on the operation of enterprises in the next period of time. From the initial division standard of revenue expenditure and capital expenditure, it should clearly be attributed to capital expenditure and included in the category of intangible assets.

But it is also due to the principle of prudence. Instead of being regarded as intangible assets, the company's self created goodwill accounting is written off as a profit expenditure, which results in the same result as the above research and development expenses, which may induce enterprises to abandon reasonable publicity plans and damage long-term development.

Capitalization of interest on borrowing will also have similar effects.

Capitalization is to treat expenditures as assets.

The interest on loan is the cost paid by the enterprise to the creditor. The accounting will be included in the cost of the account or the cost of the particular asset.

Under the original accounting standards, only the borrowing cost in the process of fixed assets purchase and construction can be capitalized. In accordance with the new accounting standards, some industries with longer production cycles are allowed to capitalization of the cost of borrowing for inventory production.

At first, we will not discuss which accounting treatment is more reasonable, but at least the change of accounting records, rather than the improvement of the operation of enterprises, will directly affect the size of net profit.

Another important aspect of accounting expense impact on net profit is accounting policy and accounting estimation.

Many expense items in the company's profit and loss account are based on the accounting policy and accounting estimate of the enterprise. If the enterprise chooses different accounting policies or chooses different assumptions in the accounting estimate, the related expense subjects may change greatly, which will lead to the reverse change of net profit.

A typical example is the depreciation policy.

Generally speaking, the useful life of fixed assets is only a basic interval. The annual depreciation cost caused by the lower limit and the upper limit of selection will be very different.

Although the longer depreciation period will bring about tax damage, it will become a possible choice for the management of the enterprise because it can whitewash accounting profits.

The accounting standards require enterprises to carry out impairment tests on assets and to make provision for impairment of assets showing signs of impairment, including fixed assets, inventories, accounts receivable and so on.

Such accounting estimates are also heavily influenced by human factors, thus becoming an important reason for the distortion of net profit indicators.

In addition to the problems of accounting methods, management can also control net profit levels through some non accounting means.

For example, enterprises through excessive relaxation of sales refund conditions and other ways to achieve the increase in book sales revenue, thereby enhancing the company's book net profit.

Such abandonment of corporate cash flow management will bring great risks to the financial safety and long-term development of enterprises.

　　总之，净利润并非一个可以百分之百信赖的指标。投资者在分析公司的净利润时，不能只关注净利润指标的大小，要时刻警惕净利润指标可能存在的失真，净利润的质量和持续能力同样是影响企业价值的关键要素。