Research On The Asset Retirement Obligation In Accounting

The destruction of the natural environment and ecology is becoming more and more serious.A large part is due to the rapid development of technology and economy.People began to think the sustainable development of economy and environment,and the research and development of environmental accounting also happened.Asset retirement obligations,that is,in the development or construction of assets in the current period,enterprises should be in accordance with national laws,regulations and accounting standards related to environmental protection and be responsible for ecological restoration related costs.Compared with the western developed countries,China's research on asset retirement obligations started late and did not develop a set of specialized accounting standards,but have scattered provisions in the specific accounting standards "fixed assets","contingencies" and "oil and gas".It can be seen that the accounting standard of asset retirement obligation in our country is not perfect,and the research on the accounting treatment of asset disposition has important practical significance and theoretical value.This paper takes the confirmation,measurement and disclosure of asset retirement obligation in accounting as the object of study.Firstly,it introduces the theoretical basis of asset retirement obligation and the current stipulation related to asset retirement obligation.Secondly,through the data analysis of listed companies,this paper discusses the current situation and studies the problems of the recognition,measurement and disclosure of asset retirement obligations in China,and explores the causes of the problems.The problems existing in the assets retirement obligation of China's listed companies are as followed,one is some listed companies avoid the confirmation of assets retirement obligation,the second is it's hard to determine whether the measurement method of the asset retirement obligations is reasonable,the third is the disclosure of asset retirement obligations information is not complete.Thispaper presents the following recommendations.First,to improve the current "very likely" standard of assets retirement obligation and to reduce the subjective degree of the standard;secondly,to clarify the measurement method of asset retirement obligations,this paper proposes to use the expected value method based on the fair value as measurement method;third,more detailed disclosure of information related to asset retirement obligations should be provided,such as in the balance sheet adding the "asset retirement obligations" subjects,in the notes disclosing detailed information of confirmation and measurement of asset retirement obligation.Also,in social responsibility,the report can discloses the specific measures of the enterprise to fulfill the assets retirement obligations,environmental restoration and ecological protection and other environmental information.This paper uses normative research method and data analysis method.Firstly,using normative research method to analyze the basic concept,theory and the accounting rules of asset retirement obligations of different countries,and then discuss the difficulties and financial influence in asset retirement obligation.Next,the paper uses the data analysis method to select the estimated liabilities data related to the asset retirement obligation of the listed companies in China from 2007 to 2015.