The Ministry of Finance ("MOF") has recently issued the Circular on Operating the System of Government Accounting Standards (the "Circular").
The Circular expressly states that, the system of government accounting standards comprises provisions in seven aspects, including the Government Accounting Standards – Basic Standards. Further, the Circular provides that, from January 1, 2019, the system of government accounting standards will be implemented by nationwide various administrative organs and public institutions at all levels. However, this system of government accounting standards will not apply to the army, public institutions that adopt the accounting standards for business enterprises or accounting standards for small-sized business enterprises under the financial management system for enterprises, or social groups subject to the Accounting System for Private Non-profit Organizations. Furthermore, the Circular calls for efforts to strengthen publicity and training, ensure solid work on the connection between previous and new systems, reinforce the accounting information construction among governments, and improve policy coordination. As required by the system of government accounting standards, actions shall be taken to further sort out, verify, classify and statistically count the fixed assets, intangible assets, objects in stock, external investment, and other assets data, so as to provide basic data for the accurate depreciation.