Transition Accounting: Basic Theoretical Issues,

The accounting reforms which happened in China are the background of the rise of Transitional Accounting. The practices, experiences and lessons of the reforms provide abundant source material for the analysis of Transitional Accounting. Transitional Accounting is a theory which studies the transition of accounting institution from the planned economy to the market economy. It can be viewed as a branch of the theory of Institutional Change. The most outstanding characteristic of the accounting reforms is that the way of reform is gradualism and consistent with the reforms of economy.The thesis is divided into three parts to discuss the related issues on Transitional Accounting.Chapter One constructs the basic theoretical format of transitional accounting. Because accounting institutions is closely related to economic system, it is meaningful for the reform of accounting to study transitional accounting at the time of economic reform. Therefore, we constructs the theory of transitional accounting on the basis of transitional economic theory, and put forward the primary objective and system of transitional accounting.Chapter Two explores the accounting reform at the transitional period. The transition from the planned economy to the market economy requires that our planned accounting system should be market-oriented. By reviewing the reform process, the author summarized characteristics of China's accounting reform; i.e. gradual, imposed, passive, experimental, deductive, path-dependent, in harmony with international conventions and Chinese characteristic. The gradual way adopted by accounting reform and imposed characteristic form the basis of analyzing the costs of accounting reform. At the end of this chapter, the author analyzed the influence of informal system arrangement on accounting reform.Chapter Three studied the building of accounting institutions at the transitional period. In order to ensure a right direction of accounting institutional change, realize the equilibrium of accounting institutions and promote the optimal distribution of social resources, we should make sure that there are sufficient profit-receivingrepresentatives in the making of accounting institutions. To perfect the execution of accounting institutions, appropriate collection choosing rules should be adopted. What's more ,the economic reform should be deepened, because the real and stable equilibrium of accounting institutions can only be realized on the basis of economysystem.