The Ministry of Finance ("MOF") has recently issued the Government Accounting Standards No.8 - Liabilities (the "Accounting Standards"), with effect from January 1, 2019.
Comparatively, the Accounting Standards, comprising 37 articles organized in seven chapters, comprehensively provide for the classification, recognition, measurement of government accounting entities' liabilities and relevant information disclosure. Among others, Chapter II Public-financing Debts mainly clarifies the concept of public-financing debts, the content, recognition and measurement of such debts, and the concept and accounting treatment of borrowing costs. Chapter III Account Payables and Advance Receipts clearly specifies the concept and categories of account payables and of advance receipts, and the recognition and measurement of different kinds of account payables and advance receipts. Chapter IV Temporary Liabilities clearly defines what are temporary liabilities and provides its categories and the recognition and measurement of various types of temporary liabilities. According to the Accounting Standards, the borrowing costs incurred from borrowings obtained by a government accounting entity, rather than a government body, exclusively for engineering projects, such as the purchase or building of fixed assets, may be counted into the project cost, provided that certain requirements are fulfilled; borrowing costs incurred from other public-financing debts shall be included into the current expenses.