外文翻譯--小企業(yè)決策中財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的使用（節(jié)選）

1、<p>　　英文1770單詞，10300字符；中文3250漢字</p><p>　　出處：Shawn Carraher, Howard Van Auken. The use of financial statements for decision making by small firms[J]. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 201

2、3, 26(3):323-336.</p><p><b>　　外文文獻(xiàn)：　</b></p><p>　　The use of financial statements for decision making by small firms</p><p>　　Shawn Carraher，Howard Van Auken</p>

3、<p>　　Abstract This paper uses a sample of 312 small firms to examine the use of financial statements by analyzing factors that (1) affect the use of financial statements and (2) owners' comfort in interpreting

4、 financial statements. Financial statements provide important information that should be used to help guide decisions. The findings showed that owner comfort in using financial statements to make decisions was inversely

5、associated with frequency of preparation and directly associated with level</p><p>　　Keywords: Small firm financing; Small firm decisions</p><p>　　Financial statements allow stakeholders to use

6、available financial information to gain a better understanding of and manage their firm. Although the use of financial statements can help stakeholders and owners make better decisions, owners of small firms often are po

7、orly equipped to use financial statements effectively. In this case, even reliable, timely financial statements are insufficient, if owners do not know how to interpret and use them (Van Auken 2005).</p><p>

8、　　Furthermore, the use of financial statements is closely linked to and supportive of the firm's strategic goals, because decisions made without regard to their financial impact can lead to a confused company focus a

9、nd financial distress (Horngren et al. 2009). The importance of the decisions is evident from the high discontinuance/failure rate among small firms (van Praag 2003). Owners of small firms often lack strong finance skill

10、s and may not fully understand the impact of their decisions; thei</p><p>　　Such usages and interpretations tend to be influenced by owners' perceptions of their firms' potential. Entrepreneurs gener

11、ally are optimistic—perhaps overly so—about their firm's financial potential, which can lead to inaccurate assessments of the probability of failure, ineffective decisions, and financial distress (Landier and Thesmar

12、 2009; Smith 2011). Assistance with interpreting the meaning of and appropriate usage of information contained in financial statements therefore might help owner</p><p>　　To address the issues associated wit

13、h owners' use of financial statements, we examine which factors determine the use of financial statements by small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as their owners' comfort in interpreting them. Both i

14、ssues are critical, especially considering that financial statements affect all stakeholders, yet most research on the use of financial information and financial statements has focused on large firms, with few examples o

15、f studies of how SMEs use financ</p><p>　　A key determinant of decision making tactics is the entrepreneur's background and firm characteristics (Avery, Bostic, and Samolyk 1998; Chaganti, DeCarolis and

16、Deeds 1996; Watson 2002). For example, business owners who lack knowledge about the likely impact of their decisions on their firms may make choices that create risk and reduce potential returns (Van Auken 2001). Romano

17、and Ratatunga (1994) and Romano, Tanwwski, and Smyrnios (2001) recognize that decision making in small firms is complex</p><p>　　Owners' comfort with using financial statements to make decisions</p>

18、;<p>　　Owners who are not comfortable using financial statements to inform their decisions likely use the statements less than do owners who are more comfortable. This type of comfort may be affected by various fa

19、ctors. For example, firms that prepare financial statements internally rather than externally have employees who are knowledgeable about financial statements. Such internal expertise should facilitate greater interaction

20、 and explanations between the owner and the hired expert (Smallbone, North</p><p>　　Educational level also influences financial decisions (Watson 2002). Advanced levels of education increase the likelihood t

21、hat business owners have access to traditional debt and investment funding (Carter et al. 2003). They also help owners understand financial statements and communicate more effectively (Hanlon and Saunders 2007; Neeley an

22、d Van Auken 2010). Cassar (2009) thus reports that owners with a stronger finance and accounting background are more likely to use external sources for advic</p><p>　　In terms of firm characteristics, the le

23、vel of revenue, which can serve as a proxy for firm size, affects many small firms' decisions, including both operational and strategic decisions. Higher revenue suggests that the firm has greater resource levels and

24、 access to more resources. Changing levels of revenue also alter the firm's perspective on its resource constraints and needs (Byers, Groth, and Wiley 1997). Neeley and Van Auken (2010) confirm that the level of reve

25、nue affects small firms' dec</p><p>　　Finally, the frequency of preparation may be an indicator of an owner's comfort in using financial statements to make decisions. Firms that have financial statem

26、ents prepared less often likely are less sophisticated and suffer from less understanding of their importance for decision making (Cassar 2009; Cassar 2008). The reduction of uncertainty, especially in competitive enviro

27、nments, is directly associated with the frequency of financial statement preparations. Small firms that have their fina</p><p>　　H1: An owner's comfort in using financial statements to make decisions is

28、associated (a) positively with whether financial statements are prepared internally, (b) positively with the firm's total revenue during previous year, (c) negatively with how often the firm's financial statement

29、s are prepared, and (d) negatively with the owner's level of education.</p><p>　　Owners' actual use of financial statements to make decisions</p><p>　　Few published studies examine the u

30、se of financial statements by small businesses. Bruns and McKinnon (1993) report that managers want better information and that the quality of information they obtain determines the effectiveness of their decisions (Berg

31、er and Udell 1998; Gibson 1992). Traditional finance theory assumes rational decision making, but behavioral finance also acknowledges the potential influence of overconfidence and optimism on decisions (Barberis and Tha

32、ler 2002; Ritter 2003). S</p><p>　　Holmes and Nichols (1988) also note that the use of annual financial statements is associated with firm characteristics and demographics. For example, the frequency of fina

33、ncial statement preparation varies with the use of outside funding and venture size (Cassar 2009). Small firms also may tend to be less financially sophisticated (McMahon 2001; McMahon and Stanger 1995), so they rarely u

34、se financial statements when making decisions (Halabi, Barrett and Dyt 2010). In addition, the type of finan</p><p>　　Sales, often used as a proxy for firm size (Carter and Van Auken 2005), may help signal t

35、he likely complexity of a firm's operations and financial reporting needs. Berger and Udell (1998) suggest that smaller firms are more financially opaque but become more financially transparent as they grow; accordin

36、gly, owners' use of financial statements should vary with sales. Higher sales imply higher resource needs, greater financial exposure, and the need for more financial information. Lower sales ins</p><p>

37、　　Not only are owners who are better educated more likely to use financial statements,but so should owners of firms with higher levels of revenue be, because they have needed to learn about financial statements as the f

38、irm grew. That is, they should be more likely to use and more comfortable interpreting financial statements. In firms that prepare their own financial statements internally, as we reasoned previously, the firm and its ow

39、ner should be more capable in using financial statements. Fina</p><p>　　H2: An owner's use of financial statements to make decisions is positively associated with (a) the owner's comfort with using f

40、inancial statements, (b) the internal preparation of financial statements, (c) the firm's total revenue during the previous year, and (d) the owner's level of education.</p><p><b>　　中文譯文：</b

41、></p><p>　　小企業(yè)決策中財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的使用</p><p>　　摘要 本文運(yùn)用312家小型企業(yè)作為研究樣本來(lái)檢驗(yàn)財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的使用情況，其中主要分析了兩方面的因素: (1)影響財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表使用情況的因素；(2) 企業(yè)所有者在財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表解讀過(guò)程中獲得的舒適感。財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表通常會(huì)揭示重要的信息，從而幫助企業(yè)高層做出決策。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，企業(yè)所有者依據(jù)財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表使用時(shí)獲得的舒適感來(lái)做出決策, 這種舒適

42、感與財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的編制頻率呈負(fù)相關(guān)關(guān)系, 而與企業(yè)收入水平呈直接相關(guān)關(guān)系。此外，研究結(jié)果表明，企業(yè)所有者在做決策時(shí)是否會(huì)采用財(cái)務(wù)決策與他們的受教育水平以及非內(nèi)部人士編制的財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表呈間接相關(guān)關(guān)系，而與他們?cè)谪?cái)務(wù)報(bào)表信息的解讀過(guò)程中獲得的舒適感呈直接相關(guān)關(guān)系。研究結(jié)果應(yīng)該有助于中小企業(yè)所有者和中小企業(yè)服務(wù)供應(yīng)商，以便他們更好地理解哪些因素影響了財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的使用，以及財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表納入決策過(guò)程。</p><p>　　關(guān)鍵詞：小企業(yè)

43、融資；中小企業(yè)決策</p><p>　　財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表允許利益相關(guān)者使用有效的財(cái)務(wù)信息，以便更好地了解和管理他們的公司。盡管財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的使用可以幫助利益相關(guān)者和企業(yè)所有者做出更好的決策，但是小企業(yè)的所有者往往都沒(méi)有充足的準(zhǔn)備，難以有效使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表。在這種情況下，如果企業(yè)所有者不知道如何解讀和使用它們，即使是可靠的、及時(shí)的財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表也是不夠的 (Van Auken 2005)。</p><p>　　此

44、外，財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的使用是與公司的戰(zhàn)略目標(biāo)緊密聯(lián)系在一起的，并且支持公司的戰(zhàn)略目標(biāo)，因?yàn)闆](méi)有考慮財(cái)務(wù)影響而做出的決策可能會(huì)導(dǎo)致公司陷入混亂和財(cái)務(wù)困境(Horngren et al. 2009)。從小公司高中止/失敗率中可以很明顯看出決策的重要性(van Praag 2003)。小企業(yè)的所有者往往缺乏強(qiáng)有力的財(cái)務(wù)技能，可能沒(méi)有完全理解他們決策的影響；他們不恰當(dāng)?shù)臎Q策威脅到企業(yè)的生存能力，造成運(yùn)營(yíng)問(wèn)題(Timmons和Spinelli 2004)

45、。相反，企業(yè)必須利用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表中包含的信息來(lái)評(píng)估和創(chuàng)造投資機(jī)會(huì) (Breen,Sciulli和Calvert 2004)，獲得信息以管理他們的業(yè)務(wù)，并能夠有效地運(yùn)作(Shields 2010)。考慮到糟糕的財(cái)務(wù)管理是資金緊張和經(jīng)濟(jì)失敗的主要原因，所以說(shuō)有效的解讀和使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表尤為重要(Carter和Van Auken 2005; Coleman 2002;Headd 2003; Wiklund和Shepherd 2005)。</p&

46、gt;<p>　　這種使用和解讀往往會(huì)被企業(yè)所有者對(duì)公司潛力的看法所影響。對(duì)于他們公司的潛力，企業(yè)家普遍感到樂(lè)觀，甚至是過(guò)于樂(lè)觀，這會(huì)導(dǎo)致對(duì)失敗概率、無(wú)效決策以及財(cái)務(wù)緊張的錯(cuò)誤評(píng)估 (Landier和Thesmar 2009;Smith 2011)。良好解讀和有效使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表中包含的信息，會(huì)有助于企業(yè)所有者做出更好更明智的決策(Breen,Sciulli,和Calvert 2004)。然而Gooderham（2004）等人

47、指出，小企業(yè)往往不會(huì)尋求外部的財(cái)務(wù)建議；相反，他們依賴于將會(huì)計(jì)人員作為財(cái)務(wù)顧問(wèn)，并根據(jù)所提供的服務(wù)質(zhì)量來(lái)確定對(duì)財(cái)務(wù)顧問(wèn)的信心。</p><p>　　為了解決企業(yè)所有者使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的相關(guān)問(wèn)題，我們研究了哪些因素決定中小企業(yè)（SMEs）財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的使用，以及企業(yè)所有者在財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表解讀過(guò)程中獲得的舒適感。這兩個(gè)問(wèn)題至關(guān)重要，尤其是考慮到財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表影響所有的利益相關(guān)者，不過(guò)大多數(shù)關(guān)于財(cái)務(wù)信息和財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的使用的研究都集中在大公司

48、，而有關(guān)于中小企業(yè)如何在決策中使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的研究寥寥無(wú)幾 (Shields 2010)。財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表中的重要信息必須納入到公司所有的運(yùn)營(yíng)和戰(zhàn)略決策過(guò)程中，因?yàn)楹鲆暬驗(yàn)E用信息會(huì)損害公司的所有領(lǐng)域：不可靠的經(jīng)營(yíng)，無(wú)效的營(yíng)銷，以及無(wú)法雇用合格的人員(McMahon 2001;Timmons和Spinelli 2004)。</p><p>　　決策策略的一個(gè)關(guān)鍵因素是企業(yè)家的背景和企業(yè)的特征(Avery,Bostic,和Sa

49、molyk 1998;Chaganti,DeCarolis和Deeds 1996;Watson 2002)。例如，如果企業(yè)所有者沒(méi)有意識(shí)到他們的決策可能會(huì)對(duì)企業(yè)產(chǎn)生影響，那么他們所作出的選擇可能會(huì)導(dǎo)致風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，并減少潛在回報(bào)(Van Auken 2001)。Romano和Ratatunga(1994)以及Romano,Tanwwski和Smyrnios(2001)認(rèn)識(shí)到小企業(yè)的決策是復(fù)雜的，涉及到許多因素，而busenitz和Barney（

50、1997）指出，有限的經(jīng)驗(yàn)和過(guò)于自信往往會(huì)導(dǎo)致不適當(dāng)?shù)臎Q策，在這種情況下，由于資源的局限，小企業(yè)特別容易受到糟糕的財(cái)務(wù)決策的影響。</p><p>　　企業(yè)所有者依據(jù)財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表使用時(shí)獲得的舒適感來(lái)做出決策</p><p>　　在使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表時(shí)，相比于那些能夠獲得舒適性的企業(yè)所有者，不能獲得舒適性的企業(yè)所有者更少會(huì)在決策中使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表。這種類型的舒適性可能會(huì)受到各種因素的影響。例如，與其聘用了

51、解財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的外部雇員，不如企業(yè)內(nèi)部編制財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表。這種內(nèi)部的專業(yè)性能夠促進(jìn)企業(yè)所有者和聘請(qǐng)的專家更好地互動(dòng)和理解(Smallbone,North和Leigh 1993)，這反過(guò)來(lái)又可能使企業(yè)所有者更舒適地使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表。</p><p>　　教育水平也影響到財(cái)務(wù)決策 (Watson 2002)。高等的受教育水平增加了企業(yè)所有者獲得傳統(tǒng)債務(wù)和投資基金的可能 (Carter等人，2003)，還可以幫助企業(yè)所有者了解財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)

52、表，溝通起來(lái)也更加有效(Hanlon和Saunders 2007;Neeley和Van Auken 2010)。Cassar (2009)因此報(bào)道說(shuō)，具有較強(qiáng)財(cái)務(wù)和會(huì)計(jì)背景的企業(yè)所有者更容易采用來(lái)源于外部的建議。</p><p>　　就代表公司規(guī)模的企業(yè)特征、收入水平而言，影響了許多小企業(yè)的決策，包括具體運(yùn)營(yíng)和戰(zhàn)略決策。更高的收入表明，該公司具有更大的資源水平以及獲得更多的資源。收入水平的變化也改變了企業(yè)對(duì)其資源

53、的約束和需求的看法 (Byers,Groth和Wiley 1997)。Neeley和Van Auken(2010)確認(rèn)收入水平影響小企業(yè)的決策，而且Busenitz和Barney(1997) 認(rèn)為組織規(guī)模影響決策，大的公司有更多的資源和信息，并以此為基礎(chǔ)做出決策。反過(guò)來(lái)，財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表是了解收入水平如何影響小企業(yè)的關(guān)鍵，因?yàn)樗麄儽仨殲橄嚓P(guān)的資源需求作出規(guī)劃。</p><p>　　最后，財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的編制頻率可能是企業(yè)所有者

54、依據(jù)財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表使用時(shí)獲得的舒適感來(lái)做出決策的一個(gè)指標(biāo)。由于對(duì)決策的重要性認(rèn)識(shí)不足，不經(jīng)常編制財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的企業(yè)相對(duì)不那么成熟(Cassar 2009;Cassar 2008)。減少不確定性，尤其是在競(jìng)爭(zhēng)激烈的環(huán)境中，直接與財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表編制的頻率相關(guān)。財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表較少，其花費(fèi)的編制成本也就越少，因此較少編制財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的小企業(yè)可能從中發(fā)現(xiàn)到好處。這些企業(yè)可能無(wú)法認(rèn)識(shí)到更及時(shí)的財(cái)務(wù)信息的好處，不愿意承擔(dān)更高的成本，并且在使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表信息時(shí)難以獲得舒適感。結(jié)合

55、這些影響，將產(chǎn)生以下假設(shè)：</p><p>　　H1：企業(yè)所有者依據(jù)財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表使用時(shí)獲得的舒適感來(lái)做出決策與以下因素有關(guān)：（a)與財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表在內(nèi)部編制正相關(guān)，（b）與企業(yè)過(guò)去一年的總收入正相關(guān)，（c）與企業(yè)財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表編制的頻率負(fù)相關(guān)，（d）與企業(yè)所有者的教育水平負(fù)相關(guān)。</p><p>　　企業(yè)所有者實(shí)際使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表做出決策</p><p>　　發(fā)表過(guò)的關(guān)于探討小企業(yè)財(cái)務(wù)

56、報(bào)表使用的研究寥寥無(wú)幾。Bruns和McKinnon (1993) 報(bào)道稱，管理者想要更好的信息，并且他們獲得的信息質(zhì)量決定了其決策的有效性 (Berger和Udell 1998;Gibson 1992)。傳統(tǒng)金融理論假設(shè)理性決策，但行為金融學(xué)也承認(rèn)在決策中過(guò)度自信和樂(lè)觀的潛在影響(Barberis和Thaler 2002; Ritter 2003)。Sian和Roberts (2009)宣稱，企業(yè)所有者對(duì)財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的理解千差萬(wàn)別，使得很

57、多企業(yè)所有者都被信息所迷惑。財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的復(fù)雜性使得它們對(duì)中小企業(yè)所有者的用處不大，中小企業(yè)所有者反而會(huì)依賴其會(huì)計(jì)師來(lái)向他們解釋信息。不能從財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的解讀中獲得舒適感的企業(yè)所有者在做決策時(shí)，不太可能使用這些財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表。而財(cái)務(wù)技能的缺乏，則意味需要對(duì)企業(yè)所有者就如何使用財(cái)務(wù)表進(jìn)行培訓(xùn)(Cassar和Ittner 2008;Berger和Udell 1998)，具有較強(qiáng)的財(cái)務(wù)和會(huì)計(jì)背景的企業(yè)所有者更可能使用外部報(bào)表的意見(jiàn)，因?yàn)樗麄兠靼诇?zhǔn)確的財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)

58、表的重要性 (Cassar 2009;Sian和Roberts 2009)。</p><p>　　Holmes和Nichols (1988)也注意到，每年財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的使用與公司的特點(diǎn)和人口統(tǒng)計(jì)有關(guān)。例如，財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表編制的頻率隨著外部資金的使用和風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的大小而變化(Cassar 2009)。小企業(yè)也可能財(cái)務(wù)不那么成熟(McMahon 2001; McMahon和Stanger 1995)，所以他們?cè)谧鰶Q策時(shí)很少使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)

59、表 (Halabi, Barrett和Dyt 2010)。此外，編制的財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的類型隨著企業(yè)的特征會(huì)有所不同</p><p>　　銷售量，通常用于衡量公司規(guī)模(Carter和Van Auken 2005)，有助于預(yù)示公司經(jīng)營(yíng)可能面對(duì)的復(fù)雜性和財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)告的需求。Berger和Udell (1998) 表明，小企業(yè)在財(cái)務(wù)上是不透明的，但隨著他們的成長(zhǎng)，財(cái)務(wù)會(huì)越來(lái)越透明，因此企業(yè)所有者對(duì)財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的使用應(yīng)該隨著銷售量而變化

60、。更高的銷售量意味著更高的資源需求，更大的財(cái)務(wù)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，以及需要更多的財(cái)務(wù)信息。較低的銷售量反而可能刺激企業(yè)所有者將更多的注意力放在相關(guān)財(cái)務(wù)對(duì)其公司的影響上。</p><p>　　不僅受到更好教育的企業(yè)所有者更有可能使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表，而且擁有更高收入水平的企業(yè)所有者也更有可能使用財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表，因?yàn)殡S著企業(yè)的成長(zhǎng)他們需要理解財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表。也就是說(shuō)，他們應(yīng)該更容易使用和更舒適地解讀財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表。在內(nèi)部編制自己的財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表的企業(yè)，正如我們前