Position profit and loss, as opposed to position profit and loss. Also known as book profit and loss or floating profit and loss. According to the settlement price of the day, the difference between the position value of the contract held by the trader at the closing of the transaction and the original position value. Position gain and loss is an unrealized gain and loss, which is usually not recognized as investment income according to the income of accounting subjects in realization principle. However, due to the high risk of futures investment, it is necessary to disclose it in order to provide decision-making information to users of financial statements. Therefore, it can be reflected in the futures investment income account, and it can also be reflected by setting the position gain and loss of the secondary subject under futures, which is different from the realized futures investment gain and loss.
The Ministry of Finance [1997] No.44 Interim Provisions on Financial Management of Commodity Futures Trading clearly stipulates: "Floating profit and loss, also known as position profit and loss, refers to the potential profit and loss calculated according to the initial transaction price of the contract and the settlement price on the settlement date." There are the following provisions on floating profit and loss: the exchange "shall not calculate the floating profit and loss of members as the margin required for opening new positions"; The futures brokerage institution shall adjust the amount of the customer's margin deposit account on a daily basis according to the floating profit and loss of the customer. The floating profit of customers shall not be calculated as the margin required for opening new positions "; For futures investment enterprises, "for futures contracts bought or sold without reverse trading, the floating profit and loss caused by price fluctuation in the futures market, the enterprise shall adjust the amount of the margin account according to the floating profit and loss list and capital settlement sheet issued by the futures brokerage institution or futures exchange, and set up a special account for the excess of property losses to be handled accordingly, which are not included in the current profit and loss, but should be explained in the annual financial report", and "floating losses cannot be included in the current profit and loss in advance".
In the specific operation, the following two problems will appear:
The first question
Regardless of whether the provision that "no new positions can be opened for profit from positions" is consistent with the spirit of the daily settlement system in the Futures Regulations and the Measures for the Administration of Futures Exchanges, as far as its accounting treatment provisions are concerned, since the margin balance of futures investors is adjusted with the changes of futures prices and floating profits and losses, their initial investment margin will be different from the adjusted margin, so it is necessary to "set up a special account as the property loss to be handled, which is not included in the current profits and losses" according to the above provisions. However, according to the new enterprise accounting system, there are no outstanding property losses and surplus items in the format of the balance sheet. Then, at the end of the accounting period, the loss and surplus of the property to be processed will be handled, and there can be no balance at the end of the project, otherwise the accounting statements cannot be filled out. It is obviously inappropriate to deal with the position gains and losses whose final results have not been determined at the end of the period, so how to calculate the position gains and losses has become a new problem.
the second question
In accounting practice, investors' floating gains and losses can be operated in two ways. One is consistent with the daily settlement system, treating floating gains and losses as liquidation gains and losses, and adjusting the balance of the customer's margin account accordingly; The other is that the investor's floating profit and loss data is only listed as a risk indicator in the settlement document, which is not reflected in the accounting, and is only calculated according to the actual additional margin. The former method is simple in business processing and suitable for natural person customers, because there is no need to provide external accounting statements and abide by the provisions of relevant accounting systems (position gains and losses are not included in the current year's profits and losses). However, for legal person investors, because enterprises need to strictly account for liquidation gains and losses (realized gains and losses) and position gains and losses (unrealized gains and losses), they cannot do accounting treatment so simply. Generally, the second accounting method is adopted, that is, accounting only accounts for liquidation gains and losses and paid deposits, and does not reflect position gains and losses. In this way, at the end of the accounting period, there is often a settlement difference between the investor's accounting results and the daily settlement of the settlement department, which is actually the position profit and loss, so that its accounting can not truly reflect the current financial situation of the enterprise. That is to say, for legal person investors, in fact, the profit and loss of positions are not accounted for in accounting practice.
In this way, only from the accounting statements of futures investors can not truly show their futures investment. Moreover, due to the high risk of futures investment, the potential profit and loss are also great, which will have a certain impact on the report users; Secondly, before the settlement of futures trading, if investors have formed huge potential losses, they will not be included in the profits and losses of the current year, nor will they be able to deduct taxes, which will increase the cost and tax burden of investors.