Figure 3.1 Organization of Chapter 3
圖 3.1 第 3 章的組織

In Chapter 2, we concluded that the present value model faces some severe problems in practice. It is doubtful that a complete set of financial statements based on this model is feasible. This inability to value the whole firm on a present value or market value basis means that a theoretically well-defined concept of net income does not exist in the complex real world in which accountants operate.
在第 2 章中，我們得出結論，現值模型在實踐中面臨一些嚴重的問題。基於此模型的完整財務報表是否可行是值得懷疑的。這種無法以現值或市場價值為基礎對整個公司進行估值意味著，在會計師經營的複雜現實世界中，不存在理論上定義明確的凈收入概念。

Nevertheless, all accountants agree that financial statements should be useful. This leads to an important concept in accounting: decision usefulness-that is, the ability of financial accounting information to help users make good decisions. To properly understand this concept, we need to consider other theories (that is, other than the present value model) from economics and finance. This is because we cannot make financial statements more useful until we know what “usefulness” means. We also need a precise definition of
儘管如此，所有會計師都同意財務報表應該是有用的。這就引出了會計中的一個重要概念：決策有用性——即財務會計資訊幫助使用者做出正確決策的能力。要正確理解這個概念，我們需要考慮經濟學和金融學的其他理論（即，除現值模型之外）。這是因為，除非我們知道“有用性”的含義，否則我們無法使財務報表更有用。我們還需要對
information. Decision theories and capital market theories assist in conceptual izing the meaning of useful financial statement information.
資訊。決策理論和資本市場理論有助於概念化有用的財務報表資訊的含義。

The main purpose of this chapter is and to discuss its relevance to accounting. Figure $3_{\text{:-}}$$3_{\text{:- }}$3_(":- ")3_{\text {:- }} the theory of rational decis of this chapter.
本章的主要目的是討論它與會計的相關性。圖出 $3_{\text{:-}}$$3_{\text{:- }}$3_(":- ")3_{\text {:- }} 本章的理性先例理論。

As we can infer from Section 2.6, the decision-usefulness approach to accounting theory takes the view that "if we can’t prepare theoretically correct financer in 1966,1 and least we can try to make financial statemen of the Trueblood Commission, ${}^2$${}^2$^(2){ }^{2} this simple observa. forced has had major implications for accounting theory and practice. In particular, we must now pay much closer attention than we did in Chapter 2 to financial statement users and their decision needs, since under non-ideal conditions it is not possible to read the value of the firm directly from the financial statements.
正如我們從第 2.6 節中可以推斷的那樣，會計理論的決策有用性方法認為，「如果我們不能在 1966 年準備理論上正確的財務官，1 至少我們可以嘗試讓 Trueblood 委員會的財務國家， ${}^2$${}^2$^(2){ }^{2} 這個簡單的觀察。Forced 對會計理論和實踐產生了重大影響。特別是，我們現在必須比第 2 章更密切地關注財務報表消費者及其決策需求，因為在非理想條件下，不可能直接從財務報表中讀取公司的價值。

Decision usefulness includes the assessment of stewardship, defined as management’s success, or lack thereof, in managing the firm’s resources. This role is more past-oriented than the role of helping investors predict future firm performance that we discussed in Chapter 2. Of course, motivating manager performance is also future-oriented, in the sense that knowing that past and current performance is monitored will, hopefully, encourage managers to plan for the future. We regard stewardship as an important factor in assessing the usefulness of accounting information. In this chapter, we begin our discussion of decision usefulness generally. Our in-depth consideration of stewardship begins in Chapter 8 .
決策有用性包括對管理能力的評估，定義為管理層在管理公司資源方面的成功或缺乏。這個角色比我們在第 2 章中討論的幫助投資者預測未來公司表現的角色更注重過去。當然，激勵管理者的績效也是面向未來的，從某種意義上說，知道過去和現在的績效受到監控，有望鼓勵管理者為未來做規劃。我們將管理視為評估會計資訊有用性的重要因素。在本章中，我們開始一般地討論決策有用性。我們對管家職權的深入思考從第 8 章開始。

In adopting the decision-usefulness approach, two major questions must be addressed. First, who are the users of financial statements? Clearly, there are many users. It is helpful to categorize them into broad groups, such as equity and debt investors, managers, unions, standard setters, and governments. These groups are called constituencies of accounting,
在採用決策有用性方法時，必須解決兩個主要問題。首先，誰是財務報表的消費者？顯然，有很多使用者。將他們分為幾大類是有説明的，例如股票和債務投資者、經理、工會、標準制定者和政府。這些群體被稱為會計選區，

Second, what are the decision problems of financial statement users? By understanding these decision problems, accountants will be better prepared to meet the information needs of the various constituencies. Financial statements can then be prepared with these information needs in mind. In other words, tailoring financial statement information to the this way, the financial statements are made more useful.
二、財務報表使用者的決策問題有哪些？通過瞭解這些決策問題，會計師將更好地準備滿足各個選區的資訊需求。然後，可以在考慮這些資訊需求的情況下編製財務報表。換句話說，以這種方式定製財務報表資訊，財務報表會變得更加有用。

Of course, determining the specific decision needs of users is by no means an obvious process. For example, what information does an investor need to make a rational decision dered by current value accounting? Would it be the bell Would this decision be helped or hinin economics and finance for assistance. The theory accountants have turned to various theories theory for short, is a good place to begin to undeory of rational decision-making, decision decisions under uncertainty.
當然，確定使用者的具體決策需求絕不是一個明顯的過程。例如，投資者需要哪些資訊來做出符合當前價值會計的理性決策？會不會敲鐘這個決定會得到幫助還是 hinin 經濟和金融尋求説明。會計師們已經轉向各種理論，簡稱理論，是一個開始理性決策、在不確定性下做出決策的好地方。

The theory enables us to appreciate the concept of information, whicn decisions. It sion-makers to update their subjective bel investment risk, and how risk can be at least also helps us to understand the concept of illest through a strategy of portfolio diversification.
該理論使我們能夠欣賞資訊的概念，從而做出決策。它促使製造商更新他們的主觀 bel 投資風險，以及風險至少如何也有助於我們通過投資組合多元化策略理解 illest 的概念。
Decision theory is important to accountants because it underlies pronouncements of accounting standard setters. For example, an examination of the Conceptual Framework, introduced in Section 1.2, shows that decision theory lurks under the surface. We examine the Framework more fully in Section 3.7. In particular, the Framework adopts the decision needs of investors and creditors as the major purpose of financial reporting. Consequently, an understanding of theories of decision and investment enables a deeper understanding of the pronouncements themselves.
決策理論對會計師很重要，因為它是會計準則制定者聲明的基礎。例如，對第 1.2 節中介紹的概念框架的檢查表明，決策理論隱藏在表面之下。我們將在第 3.7 節中更全面地研究該框架。特別是，該框架將投資者和債權人的決策需求作為財務報告的主要目的。因此，對決策和投資理論的理解有助於更深入地理解聲明本身。

Accountants have adopted a decision-usefulness approach to financial reporting as a reaction to the impossibility of preparing theoretically correct financial statements. However, the decision-usefulness approach leads to the problem of identifying the users of financial statements and the information they need to make good decisions. Accountants have decided that investors are a major constituency of users and have turned to various theories in economics and finance-in particular, to theories of decision and investment-to understand the type of financial statement information investors need.
會計師對財務報告採用了決策有用性方法，作為對無法編製理論上正確的財務報表的反應。然而，決策有用性方法導致了識別財務報表的消費者以及他們做出正確決策所需的信息的問題。會計師已經確定投資者是使用者的主要支援者，並轉向經濟學和金融學的各種理論，特別是決策和投資理論，以了解投資者需要的財務報表資訊類型。

Single-person decision theory takes the viewpoint of an individual who must make a decision under conditions of uncertainty. ${}^3$${}^3$^(3){ }^{3} It recognizes that state probabilities are no longer objective, as they are under ideal conditions, and sets out a formal procedure whereby the individual can make the best decision by selecting from a set of alternative actions. This procedure allows additional information to be obtained to revise the decision-maker’s subjective assessment of the probabilities of what might happen after the decision is made (i.e., the probabilities of states of nature). Decision theory is relevant to accounting because financial statements provide additional information that is useful for many decisions, as illustrated in Example 3.1.
單人決策理論採取了必須在不確定條件下做出決定的個人的觀點。 ${}^3$${}^3$^(3){ }^{3} 它認識到狀態概率不再是客觀的，因為它們處於理想條件下，並制定了一個正式的程式，個人可以通過從一組替代行動中進行選擇來做出最佳決策。該程式允許獲得額外的資訊，以修改決策者對決策后可能發生的事情的概率（即自然狀態的概率）的主觀評估。決策論與會計相關，因為財務報表提供了對許多決策有用的附加資訊，如例 3.1 所示。

Bill Cautious has $\mathrm{\$}10,000$$\mathrm{\$}10,000$$10,000\$ 10,000 to invest for one period. He has narrowed down his choice to two investments: Buy shares of $X$$X$XX Ltd. at current market price, or buy government bonds yielding $21/4\mathrm{\%}$$21/4\mathrm{\%}$21//4%21 / 4 \%. We will denote the act of buying the shares by $a_1$$a_1$a_(1)a_{1}, and the bonds by $a_2$$a_2$a_(2)a_{2}.
Bill Cautious 必須 $\mathrm{\$}10,000$$\mathrm{\$}10,000$$10,000\$ 10,000 投資一段時間。他將選擇範圍縮小到兩項投資：以當前市場價格購買 Ltd. 的 $X$$X$XX 股票，或購買收益率的 $21/4\mathrm{\%}$$21/4\mathrm{\%}$21//4%21 / 4 \% 政府債券。我們將用 $a_1$$a_1$a_(1)a_{1} 表示購買股票的行為，用 $a_2$$a_2$a_(2)a_{2} 表示購買債券的行為。