华东政法大学 摘要：国际会计准则委员会和美国会计准则委员会正商讨于2011年底将关键准则定稿。去年，两委员会决定优先处理4个项目，以实现于2011年中期会计准则国际趋同的目标。国际会计准则委员会计划就 租赁、收入确认、保险合同和衍生金融工具制定新的会计准则。本文将针对国际会计准则和美国会计准则对收入确认的不同规定进行深入探讨，以阐明国际会计准则就收入确认的准则更改对欧洲企业的影响。
关键词：收入确认国际会计准则美国会计准则欧洲企业
Abstract：The IASB and the FASB have worked intensively with their aim of finalizing key standards by June 2011.The IASB and FASB decided last year to prioritize four projects in the aim of issuing converged standards by the middle of 2011,when the composition of the IASB will change significantly.The IASB aims to issue new standards on leasing,revenue recognition and insurance contracts as well as to complete the re-shaping of its financial instruments standard. this paper will investigate,in particular, the difference of revenue recognition between IFRS and US GAAP to elaborate the impact of mandatory IFRS adoption on revenue recognition of European coroporations, as The revenue recognition team is now working on an approach which differentiates the supply of service from that of goods, and has criteria based on transfer to the client.
INTRODUCTION
During these years,the IASB and the FASB have worked intensively with their aim of finalizing key standards by June 2011.At the same time changes in governance are in the air as the IASB moves into its second decade.
As early as 2009,The International Accounting Standards Board issued an important discussion paper,Preliminary Views on Revenue Recognition in Contracts with Customers.The paper"s key proposal is that a business should recognise revenue when it satisfies a performance obligation in a contract.A business satisfies a performance obligation when it transfers a promised asset to the customer.The asset is transferred when the customer has control of it.Services are also assets and a customer takes control of a service when it receives it.but It is difficult to be sure how far these proposals would change current practices.Much will depend on how key words are interpreted and on the terms of individual contracts.However,the proposals could eventually lead to fundamental changes in the way that many businesses recognise income,in Europe and internationally.
The revenue recognition team have accepted from the constituent feedback that their control criterion for recognizing revenue is not operational.They are now working on an approach which differentiates the supply of service from that of goods,and has criteria based on transfer to the client.DIFFERENE OF REVENUE RECOGNITION
Non-accountants must find it difficult to understand how he can recognise revenue differently depending on which side of the Atlantic he lives on. In a simple world, the customer buys a product, pays the cash and the sale is recognised.
As an accountant, I blame the marketing and sales department for making their lives difficult.In years gone by,the sale was made and the invoice hit the top line.Then they started to get products being sold with added services （or vice versa）;TVs being sold with long-term warranties, mobile phone contracts sold with a free phone, tickets sold for concerts which will not occur for a number of months and software sold with free upgrades.
In determining how to account for these sales,on this side of the Atlantic,they have managed to get by with one basic IFRS standard-IAS 18.On occasion,IFRICs have been issued such as one to provide guidance on accounting for customer loyalty programmes, but for the most part they have managed to apply the same general principles. Unfortunately for their US colleagues,the US marketing and sales departments must be slightly more imaginative, as on last count,over 100 standards on revenue recognition have been required under US GAAP.Some say this is because US GAAP is rules-based.
Why else would the US colleagues have had to issue such a large number of very specific standards, ranging from EITF 00-22 Accounting for "Points" and Certain Other Time-Based or Volume-Based Sales Incentive Offers,and Offers for Free Products or Services to Be Delivered in the Future to FASB Technical Bulletin 90-1- Accounting for Separately Priced Extended Warranty and Product Maintenance Contracts to Technical Bulletin 79 The Meaning of the Term ‘Customer’ as It Applies to Health Care Facilities under FASB Statement No.14.
REVENUE RECOGNITION CONVERGENCE
Convergence projects such as this one may ultimately be the route that ensures direct comparability between IFRS and US GAAP.
It is because of the difference that the IASB and FASB issued their discussion paper，entitled Preliminary Views on Revenue Recognition in Contracts with Customers.To attempt to issue one standard covering all industries requires a principle-based approach and much thought behind the scenes.
The boards propose that revenue should be recognised on the basis of an increase in an entity"s net position in a contract with a customer.Breaking this down，the discussion paper goes on to state that revenue is recognised when a contract asset increases or a contract liability decreases，which occurs as an entity performs the obligations inherent in the contract.
THE IMPACT OF IFRS ADOPTION INEUROPE
As noted above，for most entities，the proposed standard will have minimal impact on current practice in Europe.The revenue recognition team is now working on an approach which differentiates the supply of service from that of goods，and has criteria based on transfer to the client.we can foresee these changes will benefit to large extent most entities.so we should have confidence in the convergence between IFRS and US GAAP of revenue recognition.
LIST OF REFERENCES
Richard Howard.2009.Revenue Recognition Convergence between IFRS and US GAAP.Accountancy Ireland June 2009 vol.41 No.3.
Preliminary Views on Revenue Recognition in Contracts with Customers（2009）.
Epstein，B.2006.Interpretation and Application of International Financial Reporting Standards.Hoboken,NJ:John Wiley & Sons.
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