前言: 又到公開試的季節了, 中五及中七同學考完畢業試後便要離開了。老師們心情很是複雜, 既喜見大家的成長, 亦頗為依依不捨。我兩年前為5A班同學寫了一首英文歌, 鼓勵他們勇往前進。現以這歌, 輔以中文歌詞轉送應屆畢業同時, 謹祝大家考試順利, 心想事成。

畢業歌 – 與畢業同學共勉         (楊志鴻)

(1)  是時候要離開, 是時候要高飛了。

是時候要告別, 是時候要戰鬥了。

(2)  是時候要開花結果, 是時候要一展所學了。

是時候要訂定目標, 是時候要前瞻遠望了。

(副歌) 願你成功, 願你幸福,

祝你事事順利,  祝你一切安好。

(3)  須記得那些曾與你互相關愛的親切面孔啊!

須記得你曾在那裡學習與玩樂的校園啊!

(4)  請緊記過往光輝的時刻 – 無懼、無慮、亦無恨!

請緊記過往美好的時刻 – 甜蜜、真實、也非常美妙!

(副歌) 好好面對將來, 要堅苦卓絕!

好好地幹一番事業, 要自強不息!

Farewell Song (to 5^th and 7^th form graduates)        Sandy Yeung

(1)  It’s time for you to leave us.  It’s time for you to fly.    

    It’s time to say your farewells.  It’s time for you to fight.

(2)  It’s time for you to prosper.  It’s time for you to share.

    It’s time to make your wishes.  It’s time to look ahead.

(chorus)  Wish you every success.  Wish you happiness.

             Wish you all the goodness.  Wish you all the best.

(3)  Remember all the faces with whom you shared your love and care

    Remember all the places where you used to learn and play.

(4)  Remember all the glories – no fear, no worry, and no hate.

    Remember all the graces – so sweet, so real, and so great.

(chorus)  You’re gonna face your future.  You’re gonna be so strong.

             You’re gonna carry on.  You’re gonna get along, 

The Origins and Prospects of Accounting

By YEUNG Chi-hung, ACEA, ABIM

Modern accounting, as a meticulous science, has occurred for just around a hundred years.  However, traditional accounting has a very long history.  Account records can date back to centuries before Christ.  In the past several thousand years, the development of accounting has gone through many stages, ever improving itself. 

Its growth over the past two decades has especially been rapid and immense.  The history of accounting illustrates how it, on one hand, is a product of its environment and, on the other hand, a force for changing it. 

In ancient times, the function of accounting was mainly to serve the rich.  Rich people employed “stewards” to manage their daily business and to safeguard their huge wealth.  These stewards rendered periodic reports to the owners of the wealth so that the owners could know about their stewardship, for example, the trading results, the investment consequences, and the changes of debts.  This kind of service may be called “stewardship accounting”, and this notion still lies at the root of financial accounting today. 

Archaeologists believe that early record keeping originated in the ancient civilisations of China, Babylonia, Greece, and Egypt.  The rulers of these civilisations adopted accounting to keep track of the costs of labour and materials used in building structures such as the pyramids.  Some archaeologists really found such account records while studying the literature of as early as 4,500 BCE.  Clay tablets left from the ancient Babylonia with records of wages payments, tax receipts and mathematical equations inscribed on them were also unearthed.

Double entry bookkeeping

Double entry originated in the 13^th century when marine commerce was prospering.  Merchants from Europe transported their goods to the East by ship.  They rarely went along but entrusted the captain of the ship to sell their goods, exchange them, and then bring the money earned and the unsold goods back to Europe.  On the return trip, the captain would prepare the trading summaries so as to report the results to the merchants.

In the Renaissance during the 14-17 centuries, with the emergence of commercial activities, businessmen strived for a more systematic, more standardised, and more acceptable method of record keeping.  The skills and techniques of bookkeeping gradually improved.  In 1495, an Italian mathematician, Luca Pacioli, firstly described accounting as “a system that ensures that financial information is effectively and accurately recorded.”  He described a comprehensive method of double entry bookkeeping in his text, and the method has been being adopted till now. 

By the way, Pacioli called his description the “method of Venice”.  Venice, a beautiful Italian coastal city, was the most important trading centre in Europe at that time.  Tradesmen in Venice used to place a book on the ledge near the door to record business events.  Later, it has become a traditional practice to name an account book a “ledger”.

In the 19^th century, the growth of corporations spurred the development of accounting.  Corporation owners – the shareholders – were no longer the managers of their business.  Instead , they employed management experts for the job, and the managers had to create accounting systems to report to them how well their business was doing.  Then, the function of accounting shifted to serving outside users of business information.  Later, the independent audit function added credence to financial reports.  As British capital was invested in a growing US economy in the late 19^th century, British accountants and accounting methods landed on the United States.  The American have been trying hard to improve the British-style accounting and establish their own.  Now that the USA has become a leading country in the West, the US-style accounting has also become very influential all over the world.   

In 1953, another famous scholar Littleton further pointed out that: “The central purpose of accounting is to make possible the periodic matching of costs and revenues.”  The purpose of the matching was to calculate the profit.  It is no doubt that the function of accounting then was still to cater for individual needs.

In 1961, the American Institute of Certificate Public Accountants (abbreviated as AICPA) formulated the following definition: “Accounting is an art of recording, classifying, and summarizing in a significant manner and in terms of money, transactions and events which are, in part at least, of a financial character, and interpreting the result thereof.”

At present, accounting is in an age of rapid transition; its environment has undergone vast changes in the last twenty years.  An accelerating rate of change is in prospect for the future.  Accounting has moved away from its traditional procedural base, encompassing record-keeping and such related work, towards a role which emphasises social importance.  Factors affecting radically the environment in which accounting operates today include:

1. changes of social values and attitudes (environment protection, business ethics …),

2. adoption of new management philosophies, 

3. growing intensity of competition, both local and global, and

4. developments in information and manufacturing technology,

5. increasingly use of computers to do detailed bookkeeping.

Rules of Debit and Credit ─ Essence of Double Entry Bookkeeping

The terms “debit” and “credit” can be simply seen as the symbols of recording transactions, while “debit” means left side and “credit” means right side.  This method was originally used by the Italian businessmen in medieval time.  During a very long period, trading was carried out mainly on the cash basis.  As commercial activities became frequent and regular, some businessmen began to deal in money loans and a credit market was gradually established.  These businessmen acted like the bankers of today, specialising in borrowing and lending money to earn the interest differences. 

When the bankers borrowed money, they recorded the amount on the left side of the cash account to indicate the increase in cash.  They also recorded the same amount on the right side of the creditors account to indicate that they owed the creditors.  When the bankers lent money, they recorded the amount on the right side of the cash account to indicate the decrease in cash.  They also recorded the same amount on the left side of the debtors account to indicate that the debtors owed them.  In other words, for every transaction, there existed two corresponding entries with the same amount, one on debit side and the other on credit side. This principle was later spread to the treatments of other accounting items.

Career Prospects in the Accounting Profession

How can a person become a Certified Public Accountant (designated as CPA) in Hong Kong?  There are many routes available.  No matter how, he must obtain the required professional qualifications from the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA), which is by law the unique registered body in Hong Kong, specialised to regulate the professional accountancy. 

The HKICPA conducts the Hong Kong Practising Certificate Examinations, which are necessary to register as an auditor.  Participants of the examinations have to pass some paper examinations and gain three years’ relevant experience to obtain the designation of CPA.  The HKICPA also offers a Qualification Programme (QP) for university degree holders.  QP is a comprehensive training programme that provides the knowledge and skills necessary to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).  It offers a direct route to qualify as a CPA.  Completing the QP exempts a person from passing the Hong Kong Practising Certificate Examinations,

For non-degree holders, they can register as a student member and sit for the examinations required.  They can also choose to join the Hong Kong Accounting Technician (HKAAT) examinations, and then, having completed a foundation course, they can also join QP.  Another route to take is to firstly become a member of an oversea accountancy body which is recognised by the HKICP, like the British-rooted ACCA and American-rooted AICPA.  After completing their practising certificate examinations, their members can sit the HKICPA Aptitude Tests on local law and practice to become a CPA (practicing). . 

會計的起源和前景

(楊志鴻)

作為一門嚴謹的學問，現代會計出現至今只不過百多年。但其實人類建立財務紀錄的歷史是很長遠的，可以一直追溯至公元之前。在這幾千年間，會計經歷了不同的發展階段，不斷地改善，而近二、三十年的發展尤為迅速而急劇。一方面它既是社會環境的產品，另一方面，它又反過來推動了社會經濟環境的演變。

遠古時代，會計的功能主要是為富人服務。當時，富人常僱用有識之士替他們打理日常的事務，當然亦包括保管他們巨大的財富。這些受僱人士必須定期向富人遞交報告，讓富人了解自己的財務情況，包括買賣成績、投資結果、債務及資產的增減等。這種專為富人服務的會計，可稱之為「管家式會計」，而這觀念尚且植根於至現今之財務會計。

考古學家相信早期之記帳方式源於遠古文明地區。當時中國、巴比倫、希臘及埃及的君主已懂得利用會計知識來瞭解用於諸如金字塔之建築物成本，包括勞動力和材料的開支。考古學家在研究公元前4,500年遺留下來的文獻時，便已發現這類會計紀錄了。從古代巴比倫遺留下來的出土陶製石碑上 (見圖二) 亦刻有發糧、收稅的紀錄以及苦干數學計算公式。

複式簿記

複式簿記源於13世紀歐洲的航海業。船長受商人委託將貨物運往東方出售，然後將換來的財富運回歐洲。輪船回航後，船長會對整個航程進行收支結算，然後向商人交代銷售的成績。

至歐洲文藝復興時代，個體企業開始興起，經營者需要一套比較有系統、比較規範及共同認可的記帳方法，簿記技術遂得以逐漸完善。1495年，意大利數學家路加．柏喬里(Luca Pacioli)首先將會計描述為：「一個確保財務信息被有效且正確地記錄的系統。」他在著作內詳細介紹的複式簿記方法，更一直沿用到現在。

順帶一提，柏喬里將他所介紹的稱為「威尼斯方法」。當時意大利的威尼斯是歐洲的重要貿易中心，商店東主慣常在店舖門口的小茶几(拉丁文為ledge)上放置一本帳簿，用來記錄店舖的買賣情況。由此，記帳簿的英文名稱後來便演變成為ledger了。

十九世紀股份有限公司的出現，大大刺激了會計的發展。股東不再是直接管理者，而是將公司日常業務交給受僱之專家打理。這些支薪管理人員理所當然須創造一套會計制度向股東匯報公司的業務情況。於是，會計的功能轉往服務那些並非管理階層之公司以外用家，向他們提供有關公司之業務信息。其後，獨立會計師的出現令財務報表更為可信。十九世紀末，英國資金湧入美國，英式會計人員及會計方法亦在美國著陸。經過若干改良之後，美式會計隨著美國之強大而盛行全球。

1953年，另一位學者黎吐頓(Littleton)進一步指出：「會計的首要目標是定期將經營收益與經營成本進行配對。」從收支配對的結果便可知悉企業是否有利可圖了。可見當時會計的功能是以服務個體企業為主的。

1961年，美國執業會計師協會(AICPA)正式將會計定義為：「一種用嚴謹態度及以貨幣為單位將交易事項加以記錄、分類和總結的藝術，這等交易事項必須全部或部份具備財務性質，而且須將彙報結果進行分析和解讀。」

過去廿年之社會環境出現了巨大的改變。目前，會計正處於迅速過渡之年代，未來之變革將更加速進行。會計已漸從傳統狹隘之記帳功能，過渡到重視社會影響，加強社會效果之廣泛功能。急劇衝擊會計工作環境的因素包括：

1. 社會價值和態度之轉變 (環保意識、商業道德等)，

2. 創新之管理哲學， 

4. 愈趨激烈之本地及全球性競爭,

2. 資訊科技及生產技術之躍進，以及

5. 盛行以電腦處理帳務。

借貸原則──複式簿記的靈魂

借貸記帳是將「借」和「貸」來作為記帳符號的一種方法。這種記帳習慣源於中古時代的意大利，當時由於商業日趨發達，漸漸出現一些類似今天銀行家的商人。他們專門從事借入及貸出款項的生意，除了開設現金帳戶，也會開設債權人帳戶及債務人帳戶。當他們借入款項時，除了記錄現金增加之外，也會在債權人帳戶紀錄借入金額及解釋款項來源。當他們貸出款項時，除了記錄現金減少之外，也會在債務人帳戶記錄貸出金額及解釋款項去向。換句話說，每個事項，不論借入或貸出，均會牽涉兩個帳戶。這種做法沿用至今，已擺脫了原來借款貸款的局限，演變成可用作處理所有交易事項的會計系統了。

香港的青年人，立志從事會計行業，是有很多途徑的。不過，由於香港會計師公會（HKICPA）是唯一握有法定監管會計專業權力之組織，因此，青年人必須首先獲得該會頒發之認可專業資格，才可晉身成為獨立會計師，得享CPA之名號。

香港會計師公會設有公開執業資格考試，考生成功考取指定之試卷數目，再加上三年相關之工作經驗，才可登記為核數師 (auditor)。香港會計師公會亦開辦了「資歷課程」（QP）供大學學位持有人報讀。該培訓課程提供了成為獨立會計師所必需的知識和技能，完成後可免考執業資格試。非學位持有人亦可先登記成為香港財務會計協會 (HKAAT) 之學生會員及參加該會舉辦之考試，然後修讀該會之基礎課程，成功者亦可接上香港會計師公會之資歷課程。另一途徑是首先登記成為海外之專案會計師公會之會員。比較常見又受香港會計師公會承認的團體包括英國的特許會計師公會 (ACCA), 及美國會計師公會 (AICPA)，它們的會員只要能參加香港會計師公會提供有關本港法律及會計實務的「能力傾向測驗」，便可成為執業會計師，享有CPA (practising) 的名稱。