Abstract: Certified public accountants bear public responsibility, and they must have professional competence. In recent years, more and more audit cases point to the professional competence of certified public accountants. With the exposure of a large number of fraudulent behaviors of listed companies, people doubt the professional competence of certified public accountants. In the angry denunciation of investors, the reputation of certified public accountants has dropped to a low point, and their professional competence has attracted everyone's attention.
Paper Keywords: certified public accountants, professional competence, core competence
At present, China's accounting system is in the stage of international convergence, new standards and regulations are constantly promulgated, and the business scope is constantly expanding. Therefore, certified public accountants should continue to strengthen follow-up education and training. However, many certified public accountants do not pay much attention to expanding their knowledge to meet the increasingly complex needs of business development. In recent years, more and more audit cases also point to the professional competence of certified public accountants. Therefore, the cultivation and improvement of professional competence of certified public accountants has become a very important topic.
First, the connotation of professional competence of certified public accountants
Independent audit is a highly technical economic supervision work, and only people with corresponding qualifications and abilities can be recognized by the society and realize their social goals. With the development of economy, the business scope of certified public accountants is constantly expanding, and the requirements for certified public accountants are getting higher and higher. It boils down to one point, that is, the professional competence of certified public accountants.
Professional competence means that an accountant should have professional knowledge, skills and experience, be competent for the work undertaken and effectively complete the business entrusted by customers. People who enter the professional team of certified public accountants do not need a lot of capital investment, but they must have a considerable education level and certain ability. Professional competence is a necessary condition for certified public accountants, and it is the knowledge, skills and quality that certified public accountants should possess in all aspects. Generally, it includes two aspects: professional knowledge and professional skills. The former means that a certified public accountant must first have knowledge of accounting, auditing and other related majors, including: general knowledge and basic knowledge, organizational and business knowledge, information technology knowledge, accounting, auditing and related knowledge. The increasingly complex economic activities and management behaviors of enterprises require the necessary expertise of certified public accountants to be broader and more profound. Professional skills generally include: intellectual skills, interpersonal skills and communication skills.
Second, the current problems in the professional competence of certified public accountants in China
(A) the training of professional competence before registration lags behind
The cultivation of professional competence before registration mainly refers to higher accounting education. In China's higher accounting education, it is basically common to emphasize theory over practice and knowledge over ability training. Accounting higher education lags behind the requirements of market economy development, mainly in:
1. From the perspective of education and training objectives and teaching contents, accounting majors in most colleges and universities mainly enable students to receive the basic training of general accountants, and pay insufficient attention to the basic qualities, abilities and knowledge structure required by certified public accountants. In addition, the teaching content is slowly updated, which makes it necessary for accounting majors to adapt to the professional requirements of certified public accountants after graduation.
2. From the perspective of educational methods, China's accounting education adopts exam-oriented education. The task of students' study in school is mainly to cope with the exams. This exam-oriented education method, which does not pay attention to the cultivation of students' basic quality and ability, is impossible to deliver high-quality reserve forces for the team of certified public accountants in China.
3. From the perspective of teaching methods and means, due to the constraints of the traditional education system and the difficulties in arranging internships for accounting majors, colleges and universities basically adopt a single traditional teaching method of classroom teaching. This kind of teaching method is greatly influenced by teachers' personal factors, so it not only affects the teaching effect, but also is not conducive to cultivating students' thinking ability, expression ability and ability to analyze and solve problems. It can be seen that the accounting students trained under the traditional education mode are difficult to adapt to and meet the professional competence requirements of certified public accountants under the market economy.
(B) the pre-registration entrance examination setting is unreasonable
The narrow scope of examination content and the long validity period of qualified scores in a single subject are not conducive to the improvement of the overall quality of certified public accountants and the renewal of knowledge structure. The setting of the CPA examination course and its corresponding teaching materials is directly related to the professional competence of the selected CPA. The "shortsightedness" of the five courses (accounting, auditing, financial cost management, tax law and economic law) and the national unified examination books in China is obvious, which is quite different from other famous CPA examination courses in the world. The current examination courses in China are biased towards the traditional audit and verification business, lacking the knowledge related to evaluation and consulting business. However, CGA and ACCA courses have a wider coverage, which not only greatly broadens the knowledge of certified public accountants, but also provides knowledge guarantee for them to engage in consulting-related business, and also reflects the characteristics of certified public accountants as a knowledge-intensive industry.
(C) There are defects in the follow-up education
Continuing professional education for certified public accountants refers to the study and research conducted by certified public accountants to maintain and improve their professional competence and practice level, and to master and apply relevant new knowledge, skills and laws. The problems existing in China's follow-up education mainly include:
1. The quality of employees is uneven, and it is difficult to teach students in accordance with their aptitude: China's certified public accountants include two parts, one is qualified through examination, and the other is qualified through examination. The knowledge structure of qualified personnel through examination is very different, so they may not really perform the audit function entrusted by law to certified public accountants and play the role of authentication, because it is difficult to evaluate the degree of knowledge renewal and ability improvement through examination. However, most of the certified public accountants who have passed the examination lack practical experience and stay at the theoretical level. The quality of personnel is uneven, and each has its own shortcomings. The difficulty of unified training and centralized teaching can be imagined.
2. The training content and means are backward: many CAPs can't keep up with the pace of knowledge updating, and they don't have the knowledge of accounting laws and regulations such as specific accounting standards recently introduced. The mastery and familiarity with other relevant laws and regulations, such as fiscal and taxation laws and company laws, is even lagging behind. However, most training institutions are limited to short-term special training and cannot provide continuous, practical and frequently updated training courses. At present, domestic follow-up education and training mainly adopts centralized training and classroom teaching, which is greatly limited by external conditions such as time, place, funds and scale.
3. The examination and examination are suspected of being perfunctory: at present, the examination and examination of vocational follow-up education are calculated by class hours, and it is stipulated that the cumulative time for practicing members to receive follow-up education in three years shall not be less than 180 class hours, of which the time for receiving follow-up training shall not be less than 40 class hours each year; The cumulative time of receiving full-time follow-up education for three years shall not be less than 120 class hours, of which the time of receiving full-time follow-up education and training shall not be less than 20 class hours every year. An obvious problem is that there is no necessary connection between the time spent by certified public accountants in continuing education and the goal of continuing education, and the assessment of the time spent does not motivate the goal of continuing education. The evaluation system that pays more attention to input than output directly affects the training effect. What is even more worrying is that the assessment system of "school hours system" itself is suspected of being perfunctory when it is implemented.
Three, the current need to focus on training the professional ability of accountants
(1) Professional judgment ability
Analysis and judgment is an important skill for certified public accountants, which runs through the whole audit process. The ability of analysis and judgment is a comprehensive reflection of the quality of a certified public accountant, which requires not only professional knowledge, rich practical experience, but also sufficient professional sensitivity.
(B) communication and negotiation skills
In China, the current professional environment faced by certified public accountants is poor. In the case that the CPA profession and its responsibilities are not fully understood by the public, it is particularly important to communicate with the management and management authorities of the audited entity and with investors, creditors and other relevant stakeholders. When undertaking business and expressing audit opinions, we must weigh the risks and benefits, and negotiate with all parties to ensure that the risks are within the scope of tolerance while obtaining appropriate benefits.
(C) the ability to provide value-added services
The CPA industry has developed to a certain stage, and the original accounting firm has carved up the main customers in all important business fields. At this time, the real opportunities for accounting firms should focus on new service areas, such as financial situation investigation, market environment assessment and investigation, management consulting and other business needs are increasing. At this time, certified public accountants should actively try to create new added value in related fields. The first thing that comes to mind is consulting, that is, financial consulting and management consulting.
(D) "Internationalization" ability
At present, China lacks international talents who are familiar with international practices, foreign languages and IT. The shortage of managerial talents in accounting firms is more serious than that of technical talents, which is very unfavorable to the development of the industry. The international development of accounting firms needs international professionals. For the training of international professionals, Professor Huang Shizhong suggested sending them abroad to study and train in MPAcc, EM-PA, international institutes, and domestic MPAcc and EMPA. Carry out study and training in accounting firms; Or join an international institute or "headhunter" from it, implement a strategic alliance, concentrate resources on training together, and participate in training and learning led by the CICPA or the National Accounting Institute. Carrying out the business of certified public accountants belongs to high-intelligence labor, and those who fail to meet the requirements are difficult to do the job. Moreover, the professional competence and professional ethics of certified public accountants are one of the foundations of the authenticity and fairness of accounting information in the capital market, so we must further strengthen the work of improving the professional competence and professional ethics of certified public accountants.
Four, the cultivation and improvement of professional competence of certified public accountants
The main ways to cultivate and improve the professional competence of certified public accountants are:
(A) school education should focus on mastering specialized knowledge.
First of all, the goal of college accounting education should be clear. The Accounting Education Reform Committee 1990 under american accounting association (AAA) summarized the objectives of accounting education in universities as follows: to prepare students to become professional accountants, rather than to train students to become competent professional accountants; The purpose of study is not to pass the CPA qualification examination, but to lay the foundation for the future accounting profession; Accounting education should pay attention to cultivating students' three abilities, namely, technology, knowledge and professionalism, so it is necessary to set up four courses: basic education, industrial and commercial enterprise and organization education, basic accounting education and specialized accounting education. In China, accounting education in universities, especially in the direction of certified public accountants, should aim at "preparing students to become professional accountants, laying the foundation for their future accounting career, and paying attention to the cultivation of professional ability", and accordingly set up courses and arrange a certain amount of practice or training, focusing on the mastery of students' specialized knowledge.
(B) the reform of the qualification examination, improve the entry threshold
Reform the examination curriculum and candidates' academic qualifications, and increase the examination curriculum. Drawing lessons from western countries, China can try to reform the current CPA qualification examination system and raise the entry threshold. In the course setting, it is necessary to add courses closely related to the practice of accounting firms, such as auditing and internal control, strategic financial management and advanced taxation. Examination questions should be closely related to practice, and the proposer should be composed of experienced practitioners and experts from universities or research institutes. In addition, it is also feasible to follow the example of Japanese certified accountants and the British Institute of Chartered Accountants (ACCA) and implement phased examinations.
(3) appropriately extend the working time before practicing and accumulate more practical experience.
In the process of practice, many problems need to be solved with the help of CPA's professional judgment ability, which comes from CPA's practical experience. At present, certified public accountants who apply for practicing in China must have two years' experience in auditing. However, quite a few students who have passed the qualification examination are students who lack practical experience and are good at memorizing. In the absence of good vocational training, even after two years of practice, it is difficult for them to master the essence of auditing and cultivate their due professional judgment. Therefore, if it is determined by special tests that two years later, certified public accountants are not experienced enough and their professional judgment ability is not enough to practice, it is necessary to delay their qualification.
(D) Improve vocational follow-up education
1. Adopt more flexible follow-up education methods.
In China, organized learning occupies the leading position in the current professional follow-up education of certified public accountants, while autonomous learning is in a subordinate position. For the busy CPA, it is difficult to spare full time to participate in organized learning, so we can consider adding ways suitable for autonomous learning, such as online learning. As long as they pass the prescribed tests and assessments, the effectiveness of their follow-up education can be confirmed.
2. Practical skills training should be the focus of follow-up education.
Follow-up education and training should focus on the training of practical skills, followed by the training of newly promulgated accounting and auditing standards, new relevant financial regulations, internal control and management consulting.
3. Strengthen the evaluation and assessment of follow-up education.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants stipulates that members should regularly report their participation in continuing education, and the date is the starting date of each calendar year after members join the association. The annual membership fee report contains the following statement: "When paying the membership fee, I ensure that I have fulfilled the relevant provisions of continuing vocational education." In China, we should strengthen the evaluation and examination of the continuing education of certified public accountants, and punish those who have not completed the continuing education by suspending their registration and increasing the hours of continuing education and training, so as to strengthen the awareness of continuing education of certified public accountants and improve the practice level and professional competence of the whole industry.
Carrying out the business of certified public accountants belongs to high-intelligence labor, and those who fail to meet the requirements are difficult to do the job. Moreover, the professional competence and professional ethics of certified public accountants are one of the foundations of the authenticity and fairness of accounting information in the capital market, so we must further strengthen the work of improving the professional competence and professional ethics of certified public accountants.
references
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