In the new accounting standards, the preparation for asset impairment has become the focus of theoretical circles. The new standard draws lessons from the relevant international accounting standards, combines the accounting reality of asset impairment in China, and comprehensively regulates the recognition, measurement and reporting of asset impairment, which will have a great impact on the performance and asset value of listed companies. The problems and countermeasures involved in the implementation of this standard are as follows:

First, the problems existing in the accounting practice of asset impairment

(A) the use of asset impairment for profit manipulation

Asset impairment accounting has always been an important tool for earnings management of listed companies. 200 1 the full implementation of the "eight regulations" by listed companies further squeezes the assets of listed companies, but it also increases the policy choice space of listed companies to some extent. Listed companies make unrealistic provision for impairment, make huge write-offs and huge reversals, and adjust profits at will in the fiscal year. Loss-making listed companies use asset impairment for earnings management to avoid ST and market decline. The new standard has made new provisions on the reversal of impairment losses. When determining the impairment loss of assets, it is still consistent with the current system and standards in China, but on the issue of reversal, the standards stipulate that "once the impairment loss is confirmed, it cannot be reversed in future accounting periods". It is worth noting that "non-reversal" here refers to the impairment of long-term assets, and the impairment of current assets such as inventory, short-term investment and accounts receivable is regulated by other standards. The new asset impairment criterion closes the door for enterprises to manipulate profits through long-term assets, but enterprises still have other options for earnings management.

(B) On the introduction of asset groups

For some cases where it is difficult to make provision for impairment based on a single asset, the standard introduces the concept of "asset group". Judging from the current situation of enterprise management in China and the supervision mechanism of listed companies, asset group is a brand-new concept, and introducing the concept of asset group will face a series of difficulties. First of all, the application of the concept of asset group needs the corresponding level of cash flow budget management. Most listed companies in China do not have the practice of compiling long-term cash flow, but it is absolutely necessary to adopt asset groups. Managers and accountants generally lack experience in measuring cash flow. Secondly, there is no clear standard for the division of asset groups, and different methods directly affect the amount of asset impairment reserve, which is easy to induce earnings management behavior. Third, the scale of Chinese enterprises is generally small, and most of them are small and medium-sized enterprises, so they still face many practical difficulties in identifying asset groups. In addition, the quality of accountants is not high, and the degree of computerization is uneven, so adopting asset group will cause a heavy burden to small and medium-sized enterprises.

(c) Complexity of calculating net realizable value and recoverable amount

Net realizable value of inventory, market price of short-term investment, recoverable amount of long-term investment and recoverable amount of fixed assets are the basis for enterprises to confirm and measure asset impairment reserve. Among them, the net realizable value and recoverable amount depend on the subjective judgment of accountants to a certain extent, which is subjective and the results will vary from person to person. The determination of the present value of the estimated future cash flow in the recoverable amount needs to predict the cash inflow and discount rate in a certain period in the future, and the discount rate is a very unstable factor, which leads to the excessive flexibility of the provision for asset impairment, which makes the provision lack not only measurement standards, but also restraint means. At the same time, the confirmation of asset impairment reserve lacks authority. People outside the enterprise know little about the asset form and use value of the enterprise. Therefore, it is lack of authority for certified public accountants, securities regulatory authorities, audit institutions and other departments to reconfirm the impairment confirmed by enterprises.

(D) the impact of the reversal of impairment losses on the quality of accounting information

The new standard specifies in detail which assets impairment reserves can be reversed and which are not allowed to be reversed once confirmed, which is not only very different from the current international accounting standards, but also reflects the rule-oriented nature of China in formulating standards. Although more detailed standards are conducive to the implementation of accountants, we should also consider whether such detailed and specific standards can help avoid the profit manipulation of accountants or vice versa. One of the reasons related to the Enron incident is that American accounting standards are rule-oriented. However, too detailed accounting standards not only failed to curb the behavior of American listed companies, but made full use of loopholes in existing accounting standards to cause "frequent distortion" of accounting information. In addition, once the impairment of a considerable number of non-current assets stipulated in the No.8 Standard is confirmed, it is not allowed to be reversed without considering special circumstances. Therefore, even if the recoverable amount of these assets is recovered in the future and is higher than the book value, it can only be reflected on the balance sheet according to the book value, which is likely to cause the value of some assets to be underestimated for a long time. In this way, although accounting embodies the principle of prudence, it is at the expense of information relevance.

Two, improve the accounting problems of asset impairment countermeasures

(A) improve the overall quality of accounting personnel

The confirmation and measurement of asset impairment accounting requires high comprehensive quality of accountants, which requires not only solid accounting professional knowledge, but also strong comprehensive analysis and judgment ability and rich enterprise management experience. In the accounting environment, ① we should speed up the construction of specific accounting standards; Secondly, it is necessary to further improve the capital market and the securities market to provide a reliable guarantee for the choice of asset impairment measurement attributes; ③ Accelerate the cultivation and improvement of the accounting talent market, standardize the accounting professional system, and provide a good external environment for accounting professional judgment in accounting education. Ye Huili, director of ACCA Greater China, the world's largest international professional accountant organization, said that the new accounting standards issued by China marked the formal establishment of China accounting standards system which is similar to international practice. In the process of bringing the new accounting standards into line with international standards, China will need a large number of talents who are familiar with international accounting standards. According to the current situation, international high-end accounting talents will be a long-term demand. While there are135,000 certified public accountants in China, ACCA has only trained about 2,000 accountants in China in recent years, which is a big gap. We should strengthen the training of accountants to meet the needs of the new standards and the harmonious development of China's economy.

(2) Actively develop and improve the asset trading market.

The core of asset impairment is to determine the fair value of assets, but it is difficult to ensure the fairness of fair value at this stage, because the same assets will have different prices in the market; It is difficult to guarantee the fairness of the contract price. Even if the credibility of the intermediary is high, the appraisal of the intermediary will lead to high reporting costs. Therefore, a sound and active asset trading market is the most important aspect to determine asset prices. At present, China's asset trading market is not perfect and transparent, which makes the provision of asset impairment lack of objective data basis. Therefore, it is necessary to further improve and develop the securities market, futures market, means of production market, second-hand market, real estate market, science and technology market and financial market, so as to make the confirmation and measurement of asset impairment have a more objective basis, and at the same time enhance its operability and the authenticity of accounting data.

(C) Improve the corporate governance structure and restrain earnings management from the inside.

Corporate governance structure refers to "the institutional arrangement which is formed by the parties based on the contractual relationship and affects the management behavior of the company, and its essence is the arrangement of the relevant rights, obligations and interests of all parties". However, at present, there is a general phenomenon that the major shareholders are relatively concentrated and the minor shareholders are independent of the enterprise. The company law stipulates that institutions should play a role of mutual restraint, but it has not played a role at present. The board of directors and the board of supervisors exist in name only, and insider control is serious. Managers control the choice of accounting policies and the disclosure of accounting information. Managers can manipulate the preparation of financial reports according to their own needs and provide false accounting information. Therefore, in order to prevent profit manipulation, we must further improve the corporate governance structure, give full play to the mutual restraint mechanism among shareholders' meeting, board of directors, board of supervisors and managers, and coordinate their operations to effectively curb the occurrence of earnings management from the inside.

(4) Strengthen the audit and supervision of impairment provision for convertible assets.

According to the provisions of the new standards, asset impairment cannot be reversed in future accounting periods. But this is irreversible. For long-term assets only, the impairment reserve of current assets can be reversed when it is recovered in the future accounting period. Therefore, the new asset impairment standards only close the door of profit manipulation in some aspects, but they can still manage the income by making provision for impairment of current assets. Therefore, we should strengthen the audit supervision on the impairment of current assets, including both vertical audit supervision among enterprises and horizontal audit supervision among enterprises, especially comparing the differences of professional judgments and estimates among enterprises of the same scale, analyzing their rationality, finding out the behavior of enterprises manipulating profits in time, and putting an end to the phenomenon of enterprises using asset impairment for earnings management.

(5) Improve the assessment and incentive mechanism for operators.

The reason why listed companies manipulate profits is related to the government's regulatory policies to some extent. After being hired, managers often proceed from short-term interests and conduct inappropriate earnings management. It is suggested that the implementation of asset impairment accounting should be included in the assessment system, the proportion of profit and other indicators should be appropriately reduced, and the proportion of indicators reflecting social responsibility should be increased to curb the impetuous psychology of operators who are eager for quick success and instant benefit and pay attention to form rather than economic essence.

In short, with the development of social economy, it is necessary to make provision for asset impairment. All kinds of accounting treatment methods of impairment reserve have theoretical basis, but the difficulty of implementation can not be ignored. We should strengthen the research of accounting theory, further improve the operability of confirming the asset impairment reserve, and make the asset impairment reserve play a greater role in standardizing market behavior and improving the quality of accounting information.