Comparative Analysis between Government Accounting System and Accounting Regulations for Universities

Shuting Zhang Xinrui Kang

【Abstract】October 24， 2017， the Ministry of Finance issued the “Government Accounting System： Accounting Articles and Reports of Administrative Institution”（new system hereinafter）. The Ministry required all administrative public institution to implement government accounting system before 1st， 2019. Comparing to the current administrative accounting system， the new system has established the accounting model of“Double Base”，“Double Function” and “Double Report”[1]（Meilan He， 2017）. This study aims at disclosing the differences between “Administrative Accounting System” and accounting system of higher learning and explores how to better integrate the new system.

【Keywords】Comparative Analysis; ?Government Accounting System; ?Accounting Regulation of Universities

【中圖分類號】G64 ?【文獻標識碼】A 【文章編號】2095-3089（2019）17-0018-02

1.Introduction

With the deepening of systematical reform of Chinese economy， accounting， as a tool of social， economic development and management services， has also undergone a series of reforms. Three major systems were basically set up in these reforms： enterprise accounting; NGO; Administrative accounting system[2] （Jiawei Zhu， 2018）. The first two systems has already issued and implemented a series of accounting instructions and standards. However， the reform of administrative accounting system lags behind.

The implementation of current administrative accounting system has begun since 1998， covering a wide range of industries， multiple systems and complex levels which include the general budget accounting system for financial departments at all levels， accounting system for administrative institutions and public institutions. However， the current administrative accounting system adopts the cash basis system which cannot accurately and completely reflect the governments assets and liabilities. Therefore， the reform of administrative accounting system is imperative. This paper will make a comparative analysis between the two accounting systems in order to effectively fulfill the accounting work in colleges and universities with the compliance of the new system.

2.Comparative analysis of administrative accounting system and college accounting system

2.1Reconstruction of government accounting mode

The “new system” constructs a new accounting model： “Double base” which means the coexistence of accrual basis accounting and cash basis accounting[3]（Jun Chen，2018）. It comprehensively reflects the financial information and budget execution information of the administrative accounting subject through the mutual complementation of financial report and final account report. The current accounting system of colleges and universities are based on cash basis accounting while part of economic operations adopt accrual basis accounting （such as depreciation of fixed assets and amortization of intangible assets）[4]（Fengjuan Lu， 2017）.

2.2 Strengthen budget and accounting functions

Under the current accounting system， budget accounting has been ignored. The new system introduces the concept of “Double function” which means the dual functions of financial accounting and budget accounting are realized in the same accounting system. Financial accounting is conducted through five elements： assets， liabilities， net assets， income and expenses. Budget accounting consists of three elements： budget revenue， budget expenditure and budget balance.

The new system has set up 77 financial accounting subjects and 26 budget accounting subjects[5]（MFPRC， 2017）. Involving depreciation or amortization of fixed assets， public infrastructure and intangible assets， the new system introduces the bad debt provision and other impairment concepts. Hence， the new system can accurately reflect the value of the assets. Besides， the addition of estimated liabilities， amortized expenses and pre？鄄charges further reflects the utilization of accrual basis system. In this way， on the basis of improving the budget accounting function， the new system can strengthen the financial accounting function and reflect the administrative accounting information more accurately.

The new systems “dual？鄄base” accounting model requires “parallel accounting” for cash receipts and payments that are incorporated into budget management. For example， parallel bookkeeping is required when funds are deposited with banks or other financial institutions：

Financial accounting：

Debit： Bank Deposit

Credit： Cash or Undertaking Revenue

Budget accounting：

Debit： Fund Balance？鄄Monetary Funds

Credit： Budget Revenue

2.3 Improvement of the reporting system and structure

The new system separates budget accounting statements and financial statements into two parts. The budget accounting statement is the basis of the financial statement， which is composed of the financial appropriation budget income and expense statement， the budget income statement and the budget balance change statement. Financial statements consist of accounting statements and statement notes. Cash flow statement， reconciliation of budgetary balance and net asset change statement are relatively new statements compared with the accounting system of colleges and universities. Reconciliation of budgetary balance and net asset change statement is used to reflect the differences between financial accounting and budgetary accounting of accounting units due to the inconsistency of accounting basis and scope which reflects the relationship between financial accounting statements and budgetary accounting statements.