On April 19th 2019, the final project review meeting of the " Research on the Comprehensive Revision and Improvement of the National Accounting Standards Regime " was held in Chengxin building, Beijing National Accounting Institute.

The review meeting was presided over by Ying Wei, Inspector of the Accounting Department of the Ministry of Finance. Di Kai, Director of China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, Jiao Xiaoning, Deputy Director of the Accounting Department of China Securities Regulatory Commission, Yang Zheng, Vice President of Xinhua Life Insurance Co., Ltd., and Dai Deming, Professor of Renmin University of China attended as review experts. Wang Pengcheng, Ernst & Young CPAs (Special General Partnership) Greater China Audit Service managing partner, Huang Shizhong, dean of Xiamen National Accounting Institute, and Professor Liu Feng of Center for Accounting Studies of Xiamen University, led other key members of their research team participated in this review meeting.

"Research on the Comprehensive Revision and Improvement of the National Accounting Standards Regime" is a sub-project of the technical assistance project "Modern Fiscal System and National Governance" supported by the World Bank loan. It is aimed to conduct in-depth research on problems and solutions related to the construction of China’ national accounting standards regime, and provide opinions and suggestions for its comprehensive and timely improvements, whilst conduct follow-up study of international financial reporting standards, and put forward feedbacks of high quality based on the actual situation of Chinese enterprises. The research project includes five topics, focusing on the following aspects:

1.Analyze and study the impact of business model development on national accounting standards, and put forward specific advice on its improvement.

2. Learn from international experience, conduct follow-up study on the amendments of  conceptual framework of the International Financial Reporting Standards and its translation. Conduct research on the impact of the revisions of international conceptual framework on China and its applicability in China, and make policy recommendations for the revision of China's basic accounting standards.

3. Systematically sort out the interrelationships and mutual influences between various accounting standards, and make suggestions for further standardizing and improving the consistency of the national accounting standards regime.

4. Conduct a comprehensive review of China's existing accounting standards, and put forward suggestions for enhancing the applicability of China's national accounting standards.

5. Conduct follow up study on the latest developments of International Financial Reporting Standards, provide technical support and feedback for China's participation in the standard setting process of International Financial Reporting Standards, and also provide suggestions on the impact of relevant International Financial Reporting Standards on China and their applicability in China.

A research team comprises people from Ernst & Young (special general partnership), Xiamen National Accounting Institute, and Center for Accounting Studies of Xiamen University was employed in July 2018 to undertake the project of " Research on the Comprehensive Revision and Improvement of the National Accounting Standards Regime". During the past 10 months, the team searched relevant information on implementation of accounting standards by various means, including online and offline questionnaires, seminars, exchange meetings, and multi-industry symposiums. The team collected related cases of accounting practice, listened to the opinions of users and preparer of financial statements, auditors and other related parties, and analyzed the experience and lessons on standard setting and implementation of International Accounting Standards Board, the Financial Accounting Standards Board of the United States and other major national / regional accounting standard setting agencies. Three research reports were finished, namely "Research Report on Comprehensive Revision and Improvement of National Enterprise Accounting Standards and its International Convergence", "implementation Cases of Comprehensive Revision and Improvement of Enterprise Accounting Standards" and "Proposals for amendments of Enterprise Accounting Standards".

At the review meeting, Wang Pengcheng, Audit Service managing partner of Ernst & Young CPAs (Special General Partnership) in Greater China region, introduced the overall situation of the research. Huang Shizhong, Dean of Xiamen National Accounting Institute, Professor Liu Feng of the Center for Accounting Studies of Xiamen University, and other key members of the research team reported on the five topics. The review panel listened carefully to the presentation, and discussed related questions, including the impact of business model on the basic and specific accounting standards, how the accounting standards achieve the dual goals of decision usefulness and accountability, how to balance the different interests of various stakeholders, how to amend the standards to guide the problem-solving in practice, what can be done to overcome the challenges facing business accounting standards resulting from the development of new economy and new business model, and the continuous convergence and future development of the business accounting standards to the International Financial Reporting Standards, etc. Those questions set off heated discussions.

Our center is a member of the research team, and made important contributions to the research reports which were highly appreciated by the accounting department of the Ministry of Finance. Together, we provided and will continue to provide targeted, high-quality and feasible advices and suggestions for the amendments to and improvement of China’s business accounting standards, and will make efforts to build an internationally convergent business accounting standards regime with Chinese authentic characteristics.