multiple currency accounting

[osama-abuasim]

مساهمة في الموضوع المطروح مني اليوم ابدأ ب multiple currencu accounting

Prof. Timo Salm0i

A Comparative Review of the Finnish Expenditure-Revenue Accounting

Based on a Working Paper 78-2. European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management, Brussels, January 1978. Rewritten for electronic publication in 1993. Technically revised in 1996. ISBN 951-683-724-7. Copyright © 1978 and 1996 by Timo Salmi.

CONTENTS

 Abstract

1. Purpose

2. Accounting for the Entire Life-Span of the Firm

21. Fundamental Concepts

211. Adoption of the Total Period

212. Expenditures, Revenues, and Financing

213. Determination of Total Profit

214. Entity, Money Measurement and Cost Conventions

215. Summary

22. The Accounting Process

221. Expenditure, Revenue, and Financing Accounts

222. Cash Basis

223. Accrual Basis

3. Accounting for Segments of the Total Period

21. Segmenting a Total Period

311. Reason for Segmenting

312. The Congruence Principle

313. Discussion on the Causal Relation between Annual and Total Profits

22. Principles of Annual Income Determination

321. Annual Closing of Accounts

322. Expenses and Unexpired Expenditures

323. The Matching Convention

23. Special Topics

331. Priority Order of Matching

332. Realization Depreciation

24. Treatment of Expenditure, Revenue, and Financial Accounts in Closing

4. Recapitulation

 Footnotes and References

Please use the following reference to this publication: Salmi, T. (1993), "A Comparative Review of the Finnish Expenditure-Revenue Accounting [online]", available from World Wide Web: <URL:http://www.uwasa.fi/~ts/comp/comp.html>. ISBN 951-683-724-7.

Timo Salmi

Professor of Accounting and Finance

A Comparative Review of the Finnish Expenditure-Revenue Accounting

ABSTRACT: In Finland the accounting theory put forward by Professor Martti Saario (in 1958, 1959, and partly 1945) is dominant in accounting legislation, teaching and research. This paper reviews the theory, states the unstated economic assumptions on which the theory must be based, and compares the accounting conventions inherent in the application of this theory with the conventions in the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). At the same time it is the purpose to subject this theory to an international forum, since this has not been done so far.

KEY WORDS: Accounting theory; Accounting principles; Financial accounting; Accounting model; Finland

Timo Salmi (1993), "A Comparative Review of the Finnish Expenditure-Revenue Accounting", published on the World Wide Web as http://www.uwasa.fi/~ts/comp/comp.html at the University of Vaasa, Finland.

1. Purpose

Accounting has, aptly, often been called the language of business. General accounting concepts are used in communication between researchers in the accounting field in different countries. The accounting rules, conventions and practices as well as accounting legislation vary, however, in some degree from country to country. The concepts used in teaching financial accounting to business students may also differ in a fundamental manner.

The purpose of this paper in the area of comparative accounting is to facilitate communication about Finnish accounting research and the concepts used in teaching financial accounting in Finland. This is done by reviewing the "expenditure-revenue-accounting" model applied in Finland. This accounting model is of general interest because it is an example of taking an unconventional approach to the going concern convention, and developing the accounting model starting from the income statement concepts rather than the internationally more common expansion from the balance sheet concepts.

The expenditure-revenue accounting model as propounded in the Finnish language is attributed solely to late professor Martti Saario _1/. This accounting theory has been the dominant basis of financial accounting legislation and teaching in Finland.

The the financial accounting practices based on the expenditure-revenue accounting theory resemble in many respects the accounting practices based on the American Generally accepted accounting principles, the GAAP. It will be assumed throughout this paper that the reader is reasonably familiar with the GAAP.

This paper is a review of Professor Saario's accounting theory. The presentation is based on my own interpretation of expenditure-revenue accounting and GAAP. An attempt is made not to express any personal preferences concerning the choice of the accounting concepts. The evaluation of the potential merits or dismerits of Professor Saario's expenditure-revenue accounting as a background for financial accounting practices and teaching, as compared with accounting practices based on GAAP, will be the reader's.

2. Accounting for the Entire Life-Span of the Firm

21. Fundamental Concepts

211. Adoption of the Total Period

Income determination is taken as the underlying purpose of expenditure-revenue accounting. This basic premise should continuously be borne in mind throughout this paper.

The fundamental difference between the Finnish expenditure-revenue accounting and GAAP is discarding the going-concern convention in the former. _2/ Instead, the total period from the firm's foundation to its liquidation will first have to taken under observation in order to define the total profit for the entire life-span of the firm.

212. Expenditures, Revenues, and Financing

In expenditure-revenue accounting the fundamental objective of the entrepreneur is taken to be earning a profit, because it provides the desired purchasing power. The objective of the business firm is assumed to be the same. In order to earn a profit the firm must commit expenditures as a prerequisite of revenues. Thus, in principle, there is a fundamental association between expenditures _3/ and revenues _4/.

For the entire life-span of the firm the sum of the receipts exceeds the sum of the disbursements if the revenues for the total period exceed the expenditures, provided that distributions of profits have not exceeded the profit for the total period. Expenditures, however, precede corresponding revenues. It is this discrepancy in timing that gives rise to the need of outside financing. Two mutually exclusive, comprehensive sources of outside financing are defined. The first is paid-in capital from the owners. The second is debt.

The life-span of the firm, i.e. the total period thus entails:

1. Acquiring outside financing

a. paid-in capital from owners

b. debt

2. Expenditures

3. Revenues

4. Repaying outside financing

a. debt

b. paid-in capital to owners

Furthermore, the financial flows through the firm, as will be illustrated by Figure 1, include the distribution of profits among creditors, government, and owners; in other words interest, taxes, and dividends.

213. Determination of Total Profit

The expenditure-revenue accounting approach was developed taking the total period under observation. When the going-concern convention is thus discarded and the total period from the firm's foundation to its liquidation is under observation, the matching problem automatically becomes solved and income determination trivial, in principle. For the total period all expenditures have to expire and become expenses, because no more revenues to match against exist, per definition, after the firm has been dissolved. Hence, the TOTAL income _5/ is the difference between the TOTAL revenues and TOTAL expenditures.

The aim of expenditure-revenue accounting is solely the determination of income. The evaluation and further usage of the observed income is strictly separated from income determination, and is limited outside expenditure-revenue accounting.

214. Entity, Money Measurement and Cost Conventions

Finnish accounting text-books introducing expenditure-revenue accounting usually elucidate financial accounting with the help of some version of Figure 1.

Figure 1. The Financial and Material Flows through the Firm

CAPITAL MARKET

paid-in and

debt capital

:

distribution :

of profits : repayment

-interest : :

-taxes : :

-dividends : +------+

(expen- ) : :

(ditures) : : (revenues)

payments +--------------+--+---------------+ payments

for inputs ! : : ! from outputs

{----------+- accounts {- cash {- accounts {-+--------------

! payable receivable ! financial process

...................................................................

! production flow ! physical process

---------} ! ------------------------------} ! -----------------}

physical ! ! physical output

input flow +---------------------------------+ flow

INPUT MARKET OUTPUT MARKET

In accordance with the entity convention the firm in Figure 1 is the relevant entity. It acquires a set of "physical" inputs, transforms the inputs into outputs in the production process and sells the resultant outputs. This physical process is reflected in the financial process as depicted by Figure 1. Financial accounting (in our case expenditure-revenue accounting) is defined as a description of the financial process of the business entity under observation. Figure 1 emphasizes the central conceptual role assumed for cash in expenditure-revenue accounting. _6/ Money measurement convention is used in registering the flows of the financial process. This is natural because, per definition, monetary flows are under observation. The measurement of the flows of the financial process is made according to the (historical) cost convention (c.f. "stable dollar" assumption).

Thus, in comparison with accounting based on the GAAP, no changes are made in entity, money measurement, or cost conventions in accounting based on the expenditure-revenue accounting model.

215. Summary

To recapitulate, I denote

r(i) = the i:th revenue observed from the financial process

d(j) = the j:th expenditure observed from the financial process

P = total income

I = the total set of revenue indices

J = the total set of expenditure indices

then

(1) P = sum r(i) - sum d(j) .

icI jcJ

22. The Accounting Process

221. Expenditure, Revenue, and Financing Accounts

Three sets of accounts are defined for recording purposes in expenditure-revenue accounting. They are

1. Financing accounts

2. Expenditure accounts (not "expense" accounts)

3. Revenue accounts

All transactions arising in financial accounting for the firm can be recorded on accounts belonging to the above three categories.

The following subcategorization of financing accounts can be used.

• cash

• receivables and payables

• capital

o debt capital

o owners' capital

o distribution of profits

222. Cash Basis

For instructive reasons first consider the recording of transactions on cash basis. _7/ Figure 2 depicts the recording of the basic transactions on T-accounts.

Figure 2. Recording Transactions

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. Sources of cash . Sinks of cash

. .

. +-------------.--------------+

. : Financing . accounts :

. : . :

. Revenue : Capital . C a s h : Expenditure

. accounts : accounts . + - : accounts

. ========= : ========= . --------- : ===========

1a . ! : ! -----+----} ! : !

b . ! : ! -----+----} ! : !

2 . ! : ! . ! ---------------} !

3 . ! ------------+------+----} ! : !

4a . ! : {-+------+------+-- : !

b . ! : {-+------+------+-- : !

. : ! +-------------.--------------+ ! :

. : . :

. . .:. . . . . . . . . . . . :

: :

: Total income :

: ------------ :

+------------------------!--} :

{--!-------------------------+

!

As is seen in Figure 2, the total income is the difference of the balances of the (total) revenue accounts and expenditure accounts.

All the rules needed for recording various transactions can be deduced from the following convention of expenditure-revenue accounting, which corresponds to the dual aspect convention of the GAAP.

Every transaction is recorded as a debit and

equal credit. An increase in cash is recorded

as a debit on cash account.

For example, it can be deduced with the help of Figure 2 that a revenue is credited on the relevant revenue account, whereas an expenditure is debited (charged) on the relevant expenditure account. The details of recording different transactions in accordance with the expenditure-revenue accounting model have naturally been described in great detail in Finnish accounting text-books.

The position of the cash account in Figure 2 (and later in Figure 3) reflects the central conceptual role of cash. In expenditure-revenue accounting cash is used as the reference account instead of owners' equity, which is the reference account for accounting based on GAAP. It must be stressed, however, that this does not imply a suggestion for cash-flow accounting. The rules for recording transactions do not differ from GAAP rules, since the equation "assets = liabilities + owners' equity" can be derived as a corollary of the "debit equals credit, and increase in cash is a debit"- convention.

Figure 2 shows that for closing purposes an additional account is needed outside the financing / expenditure / revenue accounts classification. Such additional accounts are called closing accounts. _8/ There are exactly two of them. One is the income statement ("total income" in Figure 2), the other is the balance sheet. When the total period is under observation, the balance sheet is not relevant, because in liquidation at the end of the total period the balance sheet becomes an empty set.

Note that no distinction has yet been made between expenditures and expenses.

223. Accrual Basis

Accrual basis is applied in the Finland just as it is applied in the USA. It is applied in accordance with the realization convention. Thus expenditure-revenue accounting is not any different in this respect from accounting based on the GAAP. In order to accommodate for the application of the accrual basis, accounts receivable and accounts payable are augmented. This is elucidated by Figure 3.

Figure 3. Accrual Basis in Recording Transactions

Revenue Accounts C a s h Accounts Expenditure

accounts receivable + - payable accounts

========= ---------- ------- --------- ===========

1 ! ! ! ! ---------} !

2 ! ! ! --------} ! !

3 ! --------} ! ! ! !

4 ! ! ---------} ! ! !

The transactions depicted in Figure 3 are

1. Purchase on credit

2. Settlement of this credit

3. Credit sales

4. Payment for the credit sales is received.

3. Accounting for Segments of the Total Period _9/

31. Segmenting a Total Period

311. Reason for Segmenting

It is obvious that income determination is trivial if the total period is under observation. Income must, however, be determined for periods which usually are much shorter than the total period. The total period must therefore be segmented into time intervals called accounting periods. In financial accounting this accounting period almost always is one year.

In expenditure-revenue accounting the stated reason for the need of yearly income determination is assessing annual distributable profit. Originally, nothing was said or assumed of managerial reasons for income determination.

312. The Congruence Principle

The adoption of the congruence principle is a central issue of Professor Saario's expenditure-revenue accounting: Per definition, the sum of annual profits (for accounting periods making up the total period) is equivalent to the total profit (providing that no mistakes are made). Thus in expenditure-revenue accounting the annual profits are considered nothing more than logically dependent slices of the total profit. The purpose of accounting is consequently defined as splitting the total profit into annual profits of the right size.

My ensuing interpretation is the following. In expenditure-revenue accounting the timing of the annual profits is considered inconsequential providing that it does not affect the distribution of profits. Thus early annual profits are not assumed to be preferred to later annual profits, since only the total profit is assumed to count. This means an implicit assumption of zero cost of capital to the owner (entrepreneur), i.e. there is no time value of money in the expenditure-revenue accounting thinking.

To recapitulate, I define

p(t) = annual profit in year t

P = total profit (same as total income Formula (1))

f = the year of the foundation of the firm

t(o) = the year of the latest accounting period

q = the year of liquidation

then in expenditure-revenue accounting we obviously must have

t(o) q The sum of

(2a) sum p(t) + sum p(t) = P if t(o) annual profits

t=f t=t(o)+1 is less is defined by

than q the total profit

P, not vice versa.

q

(2b) sum p(t) = P if t(o) is at or beyond q

t=f

313. Discussion on the Causal Relation between Annual and Total Profits

As can seen from the above, my conclusion is that in expenditure-revenue accounting model the annual profits are dependent on the total profit, _10/ not vice versa! The total period ends when the firm has served its task in generating a total profit, i.e. the desired purchasing power for the entrepreneur.

In my view the following counter argument, concerning the logic of the foundations of expenditure-revenue accounting, can be made at this point. If the annual income of the firm is positive, the firm is seldom liquidated. If, however, negative annual incomes are observed for a prolonged length of time, the firm is likely to be dissolved. _11/ Because the future is uncertain, the historical annual incomes are used by the management and other interested parties as (at least one) criterion in deciding whether to continue operations or dissolve the firm (assuming that the decision makers behave rationally). According to this practical reasoning, it would be the annual incomes that determine the length of the total period and the total income, rather than the other way round, as is assumed in the expenditure-revenue accounting model. Historical observations, which by necessity always are the basis for predicting future, would then be the determining factors rather than a completed profit earning task.

The direction of the relationship between the total profit and the annual profits used in expenditure-revenue accounting seems to indicate an implicit assumption of perfect knowledge of the future. Otherwise income determination is inconsistent until the firm is dissolved. If the argument put forward is accepted that the firm is dissolved when annual incomes continuously remain negative, a circular reasoning results in expenditure- revenue accounting model. This controversy has remained ignored and unresolved for nearly to fifty decades by now. _12/

32. Principles of Annual Income Determination

321. Annual Closing of Accounts

In expenditure-revenue accounting the underlying function of the annual closing of accounts _13/ is taken to be the allocation of the relevant portion of the total profit to the accounting period under observation.

In order to calculate the annual income, the realized revenues are first allocated to the pertinent accounting period. After that, the relevant expenditures are matched against these realized revenues as expenses.

The realization convention applied for recognizing the realized revenues of the accounting period, is the same as in GAAP, and is therefore discussed no further.

As will be seen, the matching convention applied is very similar to the GAAP convention. Differences occurring in the point of view result from the different assumption about the going-concern convention.

322. Expenses and Unexpired Expenditures

In order to determine annual income, the expenditures have to be divided into two categories. The expenditures, which are deducted from the realized revenues of the current accounting period, are called expenses. The other part, which is not yet deducted from the realized revenues, is called unexpired expenditures.

In the annual closing of accounts, the unexpired expenditures become assets._13/_14/ They always will be converted into expenses in the later accounting periods, latest by the end of the total period.

Technically, the unexpired expenditures are transferred to the later accounting periods via the balance sheet. For expenditure-revenue accounting the balance sheet thus becomes necessary as an auxiliary account, when total profit has to be allocated to individual accounting periods for annual income determination.

No accounting practice difference seems to exist here from accounting based on the GAAP, which includes the same dichotomy between assets and expenses. In American accounting literature, however, the sequence of reasoning is often given in a different order when compared with expenditure-revenue accounting. That is: "when incurred, expenditures represent assets, which then expire, either instantaneously or eventually, and thus become expenses". This is a noteworthy conceptual difference.

323. The Matching Convention

Expenditures are matched, as expenses, against the realized revenues of the different accounting periods. Finally all the expenditures must be thus allocated, in the form of expenses, to the accounting periods making up the total period.

The basis of matching in expenditure-revenue accounting is given by the association between expenditures and revenues, and the congruence principle discussed earlier. From the association principle ("expenditures are a prerequisite for revenues") it follows that expenditures expire only when the associated revenues are earned. From the congruence principle ("the sum of annual profits is equivalent to the total profit") it follows, if the principle is applied in a consistent manner, that no losses should be reported for individual accounting periods if the total income will be positive, i.e. a total profit occurs. _16/ The following principle has been propounded by Professor Saario in accordance with the reasoning above. "In periods with little or no realized revenues, little or no expenditures can become expenses".

In actual practice it is seldom possible to establish the true _17/ association between expenditures and revenues. _18/ This fact gives rise to various pragmatic rules for assessing which of the expenditures have expired and should thus be written off as expenses (and which expenditures still are unexpired, and should consequently be entered on the balance sheet). For example, the relevant Finnish legislation has adopted the rule that all expenditures which are no more expected to produce revenues, are expenses. This rule can be regarded as a corollary of the association and congruence principles, when applied to matching. -- The role of expectations is in my opinion important here. If the underlying principle for watching were given as "expenditures which no more produce revenues have expired (since corresponding future revenues are known not to exist)", then, taken strictly, a perfect knowledge of the future would be required with respect to future revenues.

Assumptions made about the knowledge of the future necessarily are critical in any accounting model, since by definition they should be based on historical transactions (ex post) rather than future transactions (ex ante). _19/

In the original presentation of expenditure-revenue accounting, it has been emphasized that in the framework of the dichotomy of expenditures ("expenses"/"unexpired expenditures = assets"), all assets valuation rules should be seen as nothing but matching rules for annual income determination. A point that will be taken up further on.

33. Special Topics

This section reviews the ideas of priority order of matching and realization depreciation method, which are sidelines related to expenditure-revenue accounting. This part can be skipped without a loss of continuity. Because of space limitations, it will not be possible to analyze the underlying concepts at length, but the priority order of matching, and realization depreciation are nevertheless taken up here because they are interesting facets of the Finnish accounting research history.

331. Priority Order of Matching

As has been seen, assuming a total profit, annual expenses must not exceed annual realized revenues according to the theory of expenditure-revenue accounting. This notion gives rise to the question of the manner in which the expenditures should be deducted from the revenues. The fact is that since expenditures precede corresponding revenues, the expenditures gradually become covered by the revenues as they are realized.

It has been suggested that costs, and hence expenditures are covered by revenues, not proportionally, but in a definite priority order. The statement in the Finnish language of the relevant theory, in Finland called "The Priority Order Theory of Costs" is attributed to Professor Martti Saario _20/, and its later refinement to Professor Jaakko Honko. _21/

Two criteria were originally considered for determining a priority order of matching. The first was the length of time it takes an expenditure to cycle once. This criterion was, however, found unsatisfactory already in the original presentation. Instead a second criterion was put forward as the theoretically right one. This was the number of products or revenue items associated with the expenditure. The smaller this denominator, the higher the priority of the expenditure. The following illustration gives the original priority order of matching suggested.

Direct labor

Direct materials

Variable overhead

Administrative expenses

Equipment and machinery

Plant

Land

Entrepreneur

332. Realization Depreciation

Depreciation is one of the most controversial issues in accounting. Depreciation is to allocate a "long-term" expenditure as expenses over the revenue-producing life-span of the expenditure. _22/ The most popular depreciation methods in company practice are the straight-line, double declining-balance, units-of-production, and the years'-digits _23/ methods.

Double declining-balance and the years'-digits methods are accelerated depreciation methods, i.e. methods with decreasing depreciation charges. They often are advocated on the basis of an alleged diminishing revenue-earning power resulting from economic and physical age. _24/

An entirely different pattern of depreciation is suggested in "compound interest" (or "annuity") depreciation method. The revenues associated with the long-term expenditure are assumed to be made up by two parts. The first is the return (interest) on the long-term expenditure. The rest is the amount of the long-term expenditure recovered = depreciation. With the passage of time the part due to interest decreases, when the unrecovered portion of the expenditure gradually decreases. Consequently, the annual amount of the expenditure recovered increases. Thus,a depreciation method with increasing depreciation charges results. _25/

Next we discuss the idea of realization depreciation in more detail.

The basic assumptions of expenditure-revenue accounting, discussed throughout this paper, originate from Professor Saario's doctoral dissertation in 1945 on the "realization principle and depreciation of fixed assets", and foremost from his papers in 1958 and 1959. _26/ In his dissertation and a later paper in 1961 _27/ he put forward the realization depreciation method:

As was discussed earlier, from the association principle of expenditures and revenues it follows that expenditures expire (become expenses) only when associated revenues are realized. As we saw, from congruence principle it follows that losses are not consistent for any of the accounting periods if the net income for the total period is positive. Depreciation (an expense) is, consequently, strictly tied to the revenues produced by a long-term expenditure. _28/ Therefore, in accordance to this thinking, depreciation has absolutely nothing to do with physical aspects of the relevant assets. In periods of no revenues no expense is relevant, and no depreciation can thus be made then. The idea of realization depreciation is, on the basis of the principles above, that depreciation is directly dependent on the associated revenues, being thus a function of them. The relation is given by the internal-rate-of-return model.

To illustrate, consider an extremely simple numerical example involving an expenditure of $100 at the beginning of the first year, and revenues of $57.6 at the end of the first and the second year. The internal rate of return on this investment is 10%, since $57.6/1.10 + $57.6/1.102 = $52.4 + $47.6 = $100. The depreciation for the first year is $52.4 and $47.6 for the second. Contrary to the compound-interest depreciation method, which is also based on the rate of return on the long-term expenditure, realization depreciation usually leads to an accelerated depreciation pattern. _29/

34. Treatment of Expenditure, Revenue, and Financial Accounts in Closing

Figure 4 illustrates the principle of the closing process by depicting the closing entries for expenditure-revenue bookkeeping. _30/

Figure 4. Closing Entries

Expenditure Revenue Financing

accounts accounts accounts

=========== ========= =========

! ! !

! : : ! :: ! ::

: : :: ::

: : .....................::...::

: : : ...................::....:

: : : : ::

.........: : : : ::........

: : : : : :

: Income : : : Balance :...... :

: statement : : : sheet : :

: account : : : account : :

matching ------------------- : : : ------------------ : :

o..} expenses ! revenues {.: : :.} cash ! : :

: ! : ! payables {.: :

: ! :...} receiv- ! :

: ! ables ! :

: ! ! capital {.....:

:.............+...................} unexpired!

! expendi- !

! tures !

! !

profit {-+------------------------------+-} profit

! !

In order to calculate the annual net income all realized revenues and expenses of the accounting period are gathered from the books on the income statement account, which is the first closing account. The annual net income is given by the balance of the income statement account.

Unexpired expenditures and financing accounts are closed on the balance sheet account, which is the second closing account. Undistributed profit is entered on the credit-side as retained earnings. _31/ Thus the concept of retained earnings, which is central in accounting based on the GAAP, does not come up in expenditure-revenue accounting at all before this stage.

The function of the balance sheet is to transfer the ending balances of the unexpired expenditures and the financing accounts on to the next accounting period, where they become the beginning balances of the relevant accounts. The balance sheet does not have the same conceptual emphasis as a statement of the financial position of the firm as in accounting based on the GAAP.

Income determination is the underlying purpose of expenditure-revenue accounting. As has been discussed at great length in this paper, matching naturally is the critical stage of annual income determination. All rules affecting matching through determination of expenses or unexpired expenditures affect the annual income.

It was stated earlier in this paper that in expenditure-revenue accounting it is emphasized that all asset valuation rules are nothing but matching rules for annual income determination. In other words any valuation of the balance sheet items should be considered a valuation of the annual income. The reasoning is easily demonstrated by writing out the fundamental equation of matching elucidated by Figure 4.

Expenditures = Expenses + Unexpired expenditures

(income statement) (assets/balance sheet)