Our reporter Bao Xingan Xing Meng
For a long time, while actively promoting the construction of the data element market, all parties in the market have paid more and more attention to the issue of data assets entering the balance sheet.
On December 9, the Ministry of Finance issued the "Interim Provisions on Accounting Treatment of Enterprise Data Resources (Draft for Comment)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Interim Provisions"), which intends to standardize the accounting treatment of enterprise data resources, strengthen the disclosure of relevant accounting information, and give full play to data elements. Value, serving the development of the digital economy and the construction of a digital China.
"Data resources, as the element resources of national economic and social development, have important commercial value. Data resources have been included in the market construction system as a new element, and accelerating the cultivation of data element markets is the key basis for building a high-standard market system." Beijing National Cui Zhijuan, a professor of the School of Accounting, told a reporter from the Securities Daily that the basic system corresponding to this needs to increase the supply, so as to break down the institutional barriers that hinder the free flow of factors.
For this reason, the "Interim Regulations" provides accounting standards for data resource assets, and the relevant accounting treatment of data resources provides an institutional guarantee for data element market transactions, which can promote the realization of the data element price market decision mechanism.
System supply of rich data elements
Accelerate the development of data assets
Specifically, the "Interim Provisions" mainly include the scope of application, applicable standards for accounting treatment of data resources, and disclosure requirements.
"Currently, data, as the fifth largest factor of production, has become the core growth engine in the era of digital economy. However, a large number of enterprise data resources are currently facing a series of problems such as imperfect rights and interests system, lack of classification mechanism, and unsound security system in the process of circulation. Problems have restricted the circulation and healthy development of the data element market, and relevant systems and rules urgently need to be further improved.” Chen Xiaohua, an evaluation expert for major new infrastructure projects of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and executive director of the Metaverse Industry Collaborative Innovation Center of Beiyou Science and Technology Park, told the Securities Daily reporter, The "Interim Regulations" clarifies the scope of application, guidelines and disclosure requirements for accounting treatment of data resources, further enriches the basic institutional supply of the data element market, and lays the foundation for the era of priceable data assets in the future, which is conducive to helping China's digital economy develop rapidly. quality development.
Zheng Ding, president of the Shenzhen Information Service Industry Blockchain Association, told the "Securities Daily" reporter that the foundation of the digital economy lies in mining the value of data elements.
In recent years, the focus of all walks of life has been on the attribution of data ownership, which restricts the activation of data value.
At present, it is inclined to adopt a separate property rights operation mechanism to allow data to circulate first.
All localities also regard data assets "into the table" as the fundamental way to solve problems. Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and other places have made some explorations on data assetization.
Combined with the attributes of relevant assets in accounting, the "Provisional Provisions" determine the scope of application, and clearly apply to data resources recognized by enterprises as intangible assets or inventory and other asset categories in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises, as well as data resources that are legally owned or controlled by enterprises and are expected to be The relevant accounting treatment of data resources that bring economic benefits to the enterprise but are not recognized as assets because they do not meet the relevant asset recognition conditions of the Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises.
Zheng Dingxiang said that the Ministry of Finance directly stipulated the realization path of data assets from the perspective of accounting treatment, clarified the debate on data assetization from all walks of life, and clarified the development direction of data assetization.
It is foreseeable that the promulgation of this regulation will greatly activate the vitality of data elements. The data element industry market is expected to usher in a blowout development, and the digital economy driven by data as the core will usher in a big explosion.
"Data assetization has become a consensus. The formulation of accounting regulations related to data resources can fundamentally solve problems such as how to evaluate the value of data assets, how companies do accounting processing, and how listed companies disclose data assets, so as to promote the implementation of data assetization business. Promote the standardized development of the digital economy." Zheng Ding said.
Reveal the economic value of data resources
Empowering the development of the digital economy
The "Interim Regulations" clarify that the accounting treatment of data resources at this stage should be implemented in accordance with the accounting standards for enterprises, and further subdivided into "data resources used internally by the enterprise" and "data resources for external transactions by the enterprise" according to the way in which economic benefits are realized in accounting. category, clarifying the specific guidelines that should be followed in the confirmation, initial measurement, subsequent measurement, revenue recognition and other links of the two types of data resources. guide.
"In the information age, with the continuous development of the new economy and new business formats, it is urgent to allow data to enter the market for transactions. First of all, it is necessary to solve related issues such as the confirmation, measurement and reporting of data assets. For this reason, it is time to clarify the accounting treatment of enterprise data resources." Li Xiaohui, a professor at the School of Accounting of the Central University of Finance and Economics, told the reporter of the Securities Daily that the "Interim Regulations" stipulate the relevant principles of accounting treatment for the data resources used internally by the enterprise and the data resources for external transactions, and are related to relevant accounting standards. 1. The consistency of revenue recognition not only conforms to the general principles of accounting, but also meets the primary needs of data asset recognition, measurement and reporting.
"However, because the large amount of data assets outside the financial statements are databases formed during the operation of various organizations, different organizations will generate massive amounts of data during operation. These data assets cannot be initially confirmed as elements in the financial statements without confirmation of ownership. At the same time, the value of a single piece of data is not great. Only by accumulating data and digging deeply can it be valuable for business empowerment. And its value will increase with the expansion of data size and dimension, which is a follow-up measurement problem of data assets , This kind of follow-up measurement should not involve amortization, depreciation, impairment, but how to confirm value appreciation, which needs to be clearly stipulated in the "Interim Regulations." Li Xiaohui said.
Talking about how accounting can better empower the development of the digital economy, Cui Zhijuan said that high-quality accounting information needs to objectively reflect economic activities of elements, including data elements.
The digital economy covers digital industrialization and industrial digitization, and empowers economic development through data resources.
For this reason, accounting can reveal the economic value of data resources from the perspective of assets, objectively reflect the inflow of economic benefits brought about by digital empowerment, and provide services for cultivating data resource element markets, promoting enterprise transformation and upgrading, and better empowering the development of the digital economy. information standards.
Li Xiaohui said that in modern enterprises, there are various scenarios of digital empowerment business and management, and different scenarios are inseparable from outsourced system development and secondary development of business personnel penetration, which involves the ownership and security of data assets For this reason, if accounting can better empower the development of the digital economy, more detailed targeted regulations are needed for the formation, confirmation, measurement, accounting and disclosure of data assets.
(Securities Daily)