国际会计准则委员谈对冲会计法
Hedge Accounting - the Dark Science
字号:小大2012-10-12 11:37来源：天和网我要评论(0)
核心提示：对冲会计法可以协调对冲活动和金融衍生工具在财务上的不匹配问题，如实反映实际的财务状况。
On the face of it, it seems odd that a practice utilised by so few companies other than financial institutions, and usually for something as mundane as risk management, should enjoy the attention that is accorded to hedging. However, a little thought quickly reveals some insight - hedging is a complex and difficult business, ill understood by markets and badly served by current accounting practices. It doesn’t help that hedging usually involves the use of derivative financial instruments, long regarded as the dark science of finance. In this article, I intend talking a little about what we are doing about current accounting practices.
天和网天和财务频道消息：从表面上看，似乎很奇怪的是，除了金融机构很少有其他公司机构使用对冲会计法，和通常的风险管理一样，对冲应享有同样的重视。然而，有人是这样理解的，对冲是一项复杂而艰巨的业务，市场上对其有误解，目前会计实务对其不规范使用。对冲长期被视为暗财政科学，这不利于对冲常涉及到的衍生金融工具的使用。在这篇文章中，我打算讲讲我们目前是如何处理会计实务的。
At the heart of any financial reporting relationship is the professional scepticism that exists between investors and managers of companies. Hedging activities contain all of the ingredients for exaggerating the discord in a relationship premised on scepticism. Hedging seeks to address well-understood basic risks in individual industries through the introduction of elaborate, complex, and often misunderstood financial instruments. These instruments usually behave in a predictable way, but occasionally go off the charts in an entirely unpredictable way. Essentially, what is a laudable business aim, the reduction of inherent risks, can seem to an outsider to effectively introduce new and unpredictable risks to the way a known and understood business operates. This perception has been exacerbated by the recent global crisis. During the course of the crisis, the complexity, some would say over-complexity, of derivative instruments, and lack of consistency and transparency in their reporting was exposed.
任何财务报告的关键部分都是公司投资者和管理者之间的职业怀疑态度。对冲活动包扩在怀疑前提下夸大不和谐关系的所有方面。对冲旨在通过引入复杂且经常被误解的金融工具,使我们处理个别行业的基本风险。这些金融工具的表现是可预见的，但偶尔也会打破常理让人完全出乎意料。从本质上讲，对冲是一个值得称道的经营宗旨，它可以降低固有风险。可在外人看来，一个认识和了解商业运作的方式有效地引进新的和不可预知的风险。最近的全球金融危机更加剧了这种看法。在近期的全球经济危机中，衍生工具复杂甚至是太复杂了，报告缺乏一致性和透明度都被暴露了。
The essence of a good risk management strategy is that when it is working, it is invisible, and therefore to an outside observer, of no consequence. However, when it fails, it becomes instantly and dramatically observable and the consequences are, almost inevitably, negative. But just as important, when seeking to understand risk management strategies, is the balance sheet presence of derivative instruments. They have, by their very nature, a small balance sheet footprint. Derivatives, like icebergs, hide most of their bulk out of sight below the surface. Whereas a minor change in the value driver of an on-balance sheet item will lead to a similarly minor change in its balance sheet value, a minor change in the value of a derivative will often lead to a major change in its balance sheet value. Since balance sheets are a point in time measurement, it is often difficult to represent the potential balance sheet and income statement impact of a derivative instrument that for the most part remains below the surface.
良好的风险管理战略本质是，其在执行时是不可见的，因此在旁观者看来它没有结果。然而，一旦策略失败，就能立即显示出来，消极的后果几乎是不可避免的。但在寻求理解风险管理策略上，同样重要的是资产负债表中存在的衍生工具。就其性质而言，衍生工具有一点资产负债表的痕迹。衍生工具，像冰山一样，在表面下隐藏了其大部分内容。资产负债表项目中价值的微小变化会导致资产负债表价值同样的微小变化，但是衍生工具价值的微小变化却往往导致资产负债表价值的重大变化。由于资产负债表是衡量一个时间点的财务状况，它往往难以代表衍生工具对资产负债表和损益表的潜在影响，因为衍生工具大部分都隐藏在其表面下。
It is in this dark and murky place that the IASB is endeavouring to amend hedge accounting rules. Currently part of the financial instrument accounting standard, IAS 39, these accounting rules were primarily intended to address accounting mismatches.
国际会计准则委员会（IASB）正致力于修改对冲会计法规中的阴暗之处。目前部分金融工具的会计准则，例如国际会计准则第39号（IAS 39），其过去的主要目的是解决会计不匹配问题。
Mismatch
不匹配
Accounting standards as they are currently written, define two distinct approaches to the valuation of assets and liabilities on the balance sheet. The historical cost approach is by far the most easily understood and traditionally more easily accepted method of accounting. Under the historical cost convention, a balance sheet item is valued at its original cost, less any reduction attributable to usage. The value is cash flow based, and is reliable. Arguably, cost presents the best indicator of value where an entity intends retaining the asset or liability. Fair value on the other hand, is a methodology for accounting that is somewhat newer and was introduced primarily for use with financial instruments. As the name implies, it reflects the current fair value of items on the balance sheet at any point in time. Fair value always presents the user of financial statements with a current view of the balance sheet, but arguably can be misleading when there is not a liquid market to price an instrument, and/or where the entity has no intent, ability or need to dispose of an asset or liability.
国际会计准则委员会正在编写的会计标准定义了两种不同估算资产负债表上资产和负债的方法。历史成本法是目前最容易理解的，也是传统意义上更容易被接受的会计方法。根据历史成本法，资产负债表项目的价值是其原始价值，而后减去消耗部分。价值是基于现金流量的，并且是可靠的。可以说，成本是体现经济实体打算保留的资产或负债价值的最佳指标。另一种方法是公允价值法，这种方法比较新，最初是为了使用金融工具而引入的。正如它名字所暗示的，公允价值法体现了资产负债表的项目在任何时间点的当前公允价值。公允价值总是以当前资产负债表的视角呈现给财务报表用户，但当没有流动性市场为金融工具定价，并且/或者经济实体没有意图，能力或需要处理资产或债务时，可以说公允价值法可能会产生误导。
Since the two valuation methods often produce substantially different answers, and since it is often appropriate that they are both used within the same set of financial statements, their use can give rise to a financial statement mismatch. A mismatch arises when an asset and a corresponding liability are measured on different basis, giving rise to different values for essentially the same event. Existing accounting under IAS 39, and prospective accounting under IFRS 9 permit changes in measurement methodology where it will reduce mismatches.
由于两种估值方法往往会得出明显不同的答案，而两者都适合使用同一组财务报表，所以其使用可能会引起财务报表的不匹配。以不同基础计量资产和相应负债时会产生不匹配，那么本质相同的事件就会产生不同的价值。根据国际会计准则第39条，允许现存会计和未来会计变化衡量方法以降低不匹配问题。
These matching exceptions however prove impossible under certain circumstances. Those circumstances include in particular hedging activities.
然而，事实证明在某些情况下不可能避免这些不匹配问题。这些情况包括特定的对冲活动。
Hedging
对冲
Hedging is a business activity undertaken when an enterprise seeks to reduce an inherent economic risk, by acquiring a financial instrument with risk characteristics opposite to those it seeks to hedge. The hedged item is usually an integral part of an entities business, and is often a financial instrument or obligation. The hedging instrument may also be an inherent part of an entities business (a natural hedge), but is more often a financial instrument and usually a derivative instrument. Derivative instruments are popular as hedges because they require little capital outlay and can be tailored to the specific risk the entity is trying to hedge.
企业可以利用金融工具要降低固有经济风险，就可以采用对冲这种商业活动。对冲的项目通常是实体业务的组成部分，往往也是一种金融工具或义务。对冲的项目也可以是实体业务的一个固有部分（自然对冲），但更多的时候是一种金融工具，通常是金融衍生工具。对冲这种衍生工具非常受欢迎，因为对冲只需要很少的资本支出，并且可以根据实体的具体风险定制相应的对冲方案。
