编者按：2011年4月7日，中国注册会计师协会副会长兼秘书长陈毓圭接受《会计时代》杂志记者马卡斯•葛思兰先生(Mr. Marcas Ghothraigh)的采访。采访中，陈秘书长就中国会计师事务所的做强做大及品牌建设、注册会计师继续教育及国际化人才培养，以及中国注册会计师行业发展的未来前景等内容，回答了记者的提问。
全文由《会计时代》杂志记者马卡斯•葛思兰先生(Mr. Marcas Ghothraigh)整理撰写，英国会计时代杂志社出版。原文链接：
http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/profile/2041294/profile-chen-yugui-head-chinese-institute-cpas
此次采访的全文如下：
Profile: Chen Yugui, head of the Chinese Institute of CPAs
China may soon add its own voice to a global accounting scene dominated by the big four. “Internationally and nationally we don t think it s a good phenomenon that the big four take a dominant position, as it will harm the sustainability of the profession” says Chen Yugui, head of the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA). “We don t want to see just a few accounting firms dominate…” says Chen. “We want to see better competition, a competitive market.” Speaking at CICPA s spacious new offices on Beijing s west side, Chen describes how within the next 10 years China wants to have about five local accounting firms take a bigger share, “with a Chinese name, based on a Chinese market.” Similarly, Chen wants to see “Chinese accountants playing bigger role in decision of the international issues or in the boardroom”.
Chen acknowledges the Big Four “have been playing very important role with regards to progress of Chinese market and with regard to establishment of securities market and with regard to restructuring of state owned enterprises.” But given the scale of the Chinese economy, he doesn t think the big four are big enough to meet the requirements of the market. “We want more big firms to have a bigger share, and for the markets to have a better choice.”
An emblematic sign of how far local accountants feel they ve come in applying international accounting standards came in January when mainland corporation Tsingtao Beer dropped its international auditors for its subsidiary listed in Hong Kong. The firm explained the move as a cost-saving measure possible given mainland China s implementation of international accounting standards. Chen believes the Tsingtao switch is a “logical result with regard to Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong”. He cautions that the CICPA doesn t “think all the accountants in China have a good understanding and use of international standards” but believes “generally speaking in China we have a good base to adopt international standards or Chinese standards which are merged with international ones.”
Chen has spent two decades helping merge local standards with the international IFRS code. Recalling work as an official at the accounting regulatory department at the Finance Ministry he says the “first step was to adopt the general framework of international accounting, for example we changed the objective of the accounting to not only meet the needs of the government and the regulators but more important to meet the needs of the market players…After 10 years we moved to change the accounting standards for specific events to move the Chinese standards to international one, transaction by transaction. That s taken another 10 years.”
While grooming local talent and improving standards of local CPA firms, Chen sees a much weightier role for accounting firms in China – that of the Chinese economy – the world s second largest - expand globally. Pointing to the importance of protecting and using the country s massive forex reserves smartly, Chen says “we need big accounting firms not only to provide auditing but also to advise our manager on strategy formation and risk avoidance.”
Growing China s economic clout is obviously a good motivation to groom domestic champions, a task the CICPA is accomplishing by giving more information and encouragement to local firms while also drawing more input from regulators and accounting bodies globally. “We are training accountants and merging standards and providing guidance on how to emerge our accounting firms,” he explains. “We also encourage Chinese firms to join international networks to learn and get win-win cooperation.”
While learning from international peers Chinese accountants struggle with applying western-centric nature of international accounting and auditing standards to Chinese realities. “…All these are developed markets,” explains Chen. “All those market players, information users, regulators and preparers of the information are trained for a long time and playing a long time in those markets”.
The Chinese market by contrast is “maximum three decades old”, points Chen. “How to put the general standards to specific issues…when we move to the Chinese market all those case are not the same in form and substance with regard to the western world…that s one of the most difficult areas in which we have to train our accountants.”
Training: a long haul
Having spent a decade striving to improve the education and quality of local CPAs, Chen reckons he has plenty more to do: “In particular we want to pay more attention to the training of accountants in how to combine international auditing and ethics standards with practice.”
Overseas experience is clearly a priority for Chen in getting local talent up to speed. The CICPA helps send young Chinese accountants abroad to be seconded with international accounting bodies while it s also encouraged local CPAs to train in the UK and Australia. Revising curricula at local universities is another priority for Chen. His efforts seem to have the confidence of CICPA members, whose student members are growing fast: the organization has 500,000 members, up on 420,000 two years ago.
Chen s organization has focused on the quality as much as the quantity of its members. A new exam curriculum, based on Hong Kong and UK equivalents, proved a challenging transition for members: only a few hundreds out of 10,000 applicants passed the exam first time out at the final stage of the new exam.
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Still, China is in the curious situation of having a new wave of accounting graduates leaving university, yet a shortage of CPAs. Chen explains the “contradiction” thus: “we have more graduates but a shortage of trained or sophisticated graduates, especially graduates trained in international market instruments.”
Room for whistleblowers
On the issue of whistleblowers, a thorny one in China given the continued dominance of state in key areas of the economy, Chen believes accountants should speak out when they encounter problems in clients books. But he s also keen for “more understanding” among legislators and society about the precise role of accountants.
“As an accountant you not only speak on whether clients meet standards but we should do better.”
While calling for a balance between protecting the profession and the public interest，Chen wants the accountant s role in the market to be “well understood” by the public, especially regulators. “Legislators need more understanding, accountants are not public servants, they re market players though they are different from other players, so how to get a balance for the regulators with regard to responsibility is a key question…” Accountants, says Chen, need to be delegated more powers and a “more favourable position” in terms of deciding whether the accountant should take more responsibility while facing a specific issue or legal case.
Chen also believes that accountants internationally need to be more willing to speak out on the economy, “especially on the risk”. He explains “a part of the accountant profession think we just set standards…the accountant follows standards. The problem is on what base we set standards. If just aiming at protecting ourselves to exempt us from a legal case we do it the wrong way.”
Branding
Looking ahead Chen is clearly determined on improving local skills but he also points to another goal for the coming years: branding, or raising the profile of Chinese accounting firms. “The market economy is one of brands, if you have a good brand you ll have more customers. You ll ask a better price.” The country s accounting industry is young, explains Chen: “Thirty years is not enough for an accounting firm to get a good brand and have it widely recognized”. Their comparative youth means local CPA firms are not well recognized for their quality and integrity, says Chen. “But actually we do a good job, many of our accounting firms do good quality work.”
Chen himself could be emblematic of how far Chinese accounting has progressed. He recalls his university days three decades ago as part a small but pioneering class of accounting majors, on a campus more populated by engineering and science students. “When I was asked by other students what major I was they reaction was ‘oh, do we have a major in universities for accounting? ” Today by contrast accounting is a “very, very hot major”, as the country seeks accountants to spearhead corporate expansion overseas. Being popular is progress, believes Chen. But he ll not rest till China has quality accountants, and a global accounting player.
